About

During the mid 90s my family and I lived in the Minnesota woods. Located a mile past the power and telephone lines, we used butane lamps to read at night and had a generator we flipped on when we got ready for school in the mornings. We had a wood burning stove that my dad spent all summer chopping wood to fill and we line-dried our clothes in summer and winter.

At the time I resented it as only a teenager could, but now I can romanticize about the simplicity of it all. Although my husband and I lead pretty simple lives we still feel pretty tangled up in all the things we have and the pace we keep. Recently a friend of mine confided that she’s been dreaming of when she has “Director” as a title. I confided in her that I’ve been dreaming of a time when I don’t have a title at all.

Until a few months ago I was the director of education at a film festival, worried that if I bowed out of that job we’d starve. So I kept with it even though it was taking all of my free time and much of my happiness. But then I decided to just leap. Now I work for a locally-based clothing and handbag designer, and as a freelance writer. I live in Indianapolis with my husband and dog. We have a small backyard with 12 square feet of garden space which has historically yielded enough food for a single meal each summer we’ve planted.

With my extra time and new energy I’m excited to devote more to sustaining us. I want to learn how to grow a garden that will feed us for more than one meal. I’d love to learn to draft my own patterns so that I can wear things of my own creation. The more meals I can make for us from scratch, the happier I’ll be. It’s not any large-scale revolution, but it’s a cottage revolution.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Let me know if you have any questions about projects whether through the comments or in an email to cottagerevolution@gmail.com.

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