It’s so human nature for folks to be curious. Ever use someone’s bathroom and curious as to what’s in their medicine cabinet?
Well, what we try to over here at Little Homestead in the City is let you take a peek into our lives through musing and photos (lots of photos!) By writing and showing first hand accounts we feel that we are “keeping it real” and not just filling up cyberspace talking about green or sustainable living.
You can determine a lot from people by what’s not seen. We can talk green but do we actually live green -each and every day? Sure there are setbacks but when it comes down to it “what’s in your closet, drawers, cabinet, refrigerator” says a lot about you as a person, where you but your values and money.
We are definitely far from perfect, heck, it’s a daily, hourly struggle. Besides, if we were perfect it would take all the fun out of being a human. We are just striving to do what we can, with what we have, right now.
When we urban homesteaders say we make meals from scratch, try to eat local ( in season) and stay away from too much packaged and process foods we are doing just that. Here’s a look at our fridge, cabinets and pantry.
The pantry. Bulk supplies from the food cooperative.
Kitchen cabinets full of homegrown, home preservation
The fridge (energy star rated and energy efficient!). A few dairy products , eggs and produce (no store bought – from the urban homestead) and wine (leftover from a gathering) Why is the fridge so empty? Well, mostly it’s used for business. A cool place to store our produce, after we pick and pack it, until we deliver it to our clients.
Freezer full of homegrown produce. Yes I know look at those Ziplocks. Gasp – plastic. Sheesh, didn’t I say we aren’t perfect. 
We constantly strive for our “insides” to reflect our outsides. Sure, the journey if full of setbacks, failures but it’s the journey that counts not the destination.
Open up your life, care to say ahhhhhh?
What I marvel at more than anything is how organized you folks are. Everything always looks so tidy and well designed. Maybe sometimes you can write a post about how you keep all the balls in the air and get so much accomplished without having the place look like it’s been hit by a hurricane (as mine so often does!).
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Hi Folks!
If we start the journey thinking we ‘know’ ourselves,then the challenges along the way soon make us realise that we ‘know’ very little about our strengths,weaknesses and sharing abilities.Through the ever expanding portal of PTF we are learning so much along our journey there is sometimes little time to reflect as to when we started out.One thing is for sure,there aint no ‘going back’!
thanx for a brilliant post!
gerry mx
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Thank You. I’m one of those nosey people that want to know what your kitchen looks like…I have no ideal how you organize it so well…I second the article on your tips!
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Hi there! What a cool blog. Love your ducks (I used to have a few in our prior home) and the lifestyle you’re espousing, and most of all, your gorgeously orderly pantry….
will keep checking in to say hi…
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We too use ziplocks, and though we’re far, far, far from perfect in sustainability, we do reuse the outer ziplock bags (it’s good to double bag to keep fresh longer). And really, is there a sustainable way to freeze?
You’d cringe at our fridge. It’s so disorganized that left overs get tossed when the mold. *gasp*
Well done folks! I second the organizational tips entries suggestion. How you do it all I’ll never know.
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*gasp* An empty fridge! Don’t you know what an energy drain that is?
I fill my fridge or freezer with water bottles when it’s near empty. Cold items inside help keep the fridge temp down so it doesn’t have to kick on as much.
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Tara, there is a little logic behind what you’re saying (filling up the airspace in the fridge reduces the amount of cold air lost each time you open the door), but if you keep adding and removing the water bottles you’re actually using more energy than just leaving the fridge empty.
Every time you add a water bottle, the fridge has to work hard to reduce its temperature from room temp to fridge temp – and that’s probably using more energy than you’re saving by reducing the air volume in the fridge.
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I liked this so much I did it myself.
My pictures are not nearly so interesting as yours but I think I will do this every year after harvest is over to show the sort of progress we make from year-to-year.
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I love how tidy and organized everything is! Where did you get the jars for your bulk dry goods?
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