The Urban Domestic

I've been feeling increasing pressure to become an Urban Domestic, my term for this new trend of radical homemaking.  The trend pre-dated the recession but the recession exacerbated things all the more and now radical homemaking is being embraced, especially in the blogosphere, with serious fervor.

What do I mean when I say RH?  It's the return to farmer days.  Now going to the farmer's market and eating locally and responsibly is no longer enough.  You've got to grow your own.  You've got to keep egg-laying chickens (a la Kate Gosselin; you thought I was going to say Martha Stewart).  We know people that will be raising their own cattle.  Yes, we do.  Beyond food, it's sewing your own clothes, homeschooling, building your own furniture, doing all manners of house renovation.  Now nothing is bad about any of this - it's green (hot button) and frugal (hot button).  But is it possible?  I don't have 10 sprawling acres for cattle grazing and chicken coop building and garden planting.  I've got terra cotta pots spilling over with herbs on the back deck.  And I've got a roofdeck that has a perfect view of the July 4th fireworks and that looks like it's going to cost us a brand new car to resurface.  No, not build.  Resurface only.  So for me and other urban dwellers, it seems virtually impossible to live up to this UD standard. 

Part of the appeal of living in the city center is that you can walk to many things and take public transit to many others.  If you know me, you know I am often walking with the boys to run errands.  I haven't driven to work in 5 years.  We eat and use organic for as much as we can.  But I also pay dearly to live where we do.  That means C and I need jobs, good jobs to float the household.  And although I've pulled back from the private sector recently to have a better quality of life, I still don't have the time to tend a meaningful garden or take care of a chicken coop on our roof or even sew clothes.  So therein lies the impossibility of the UD.  Does it require that you be a SAHM or SAHD or that you live in the suburbs or exburbs?  I know many people have turned to RH to really help make ends meet and I'm not discounting that but it would do me no good to quit my career and try to make it up with RH.  Whether I'd want to quit my job or not aside, it seems the RH lifestyle is a bit of a luxury for the upper middle class.  Hey, lets build a garden on the roofdeck of our city townhome.  Lets move to a farm in the exburbs and raise chickens and cattle. 

Okay, why am I writing this? Obviously there is a part of me that is feeling a little inadequate. I haven't made anything for DD or BB, although I did crochet myself a scarf once.  Deeper than that I guess I've somehow accepted this ideal and now have set an ultimate goal of Urban Domestic for myself.  Anything short of that would be failure.