My friend Victoria lives a life a lot of folks claim to dream of, myself included.
She lives in a house next to a state park, warmed by a wood-fired stove. She, her husband and toddler keep a garden and raise ducks and turkeys, the structures of which she and her husband built themselves. When she isn’t baking or cooking what her husband hunts and fishes, she and her business partner go hiking and foraging for the ingredients they use to make their botanical lotions and cosmetics as Wily Coyote Botanicals.
She is still a wife and mother, still maintains a household, and somehow has all the energy needed to maintain all these things AND co-run a business.
“Simplifying your life” takes a lot of work, learning, and relearning. Victoria has been fascinated and working at it for most of her life, but what can a tragically urban writer/baker with “#bighobbitenergy” do?
I caught up with her to ask a couple questions about the “simple life” and for most of us, it will start small- with hobbies and curiosity.
I am looking to expand my already-Alpine To Read pile, but specifically with books on foraging and Chinese Medicinal Cooking. My first delicate forays into foraging were delicious and fun (though I’m not sure how fun it might be in winter) and my career in food creates a natural tangent toward food as medicine.
My Boy Scouting history, limited DIY skills, homebrew hobby, and probably way too much Stardew Valley have gotten me wondering in a Dunning-Kruger fashion “Could I live like Victoria does? Out in the woods, growing or foraging much of my food and raising animals?”
If I’m being honest with myself, probably not under normal circumstances. I have enough of a time owning a cat- I couldn’t see myself cleaning out chicken coops or mucking out a barn to keep cows and horses. My wife and I have already determined that, while I may be able to find some edible plants, growing them is a talent I simply do not have.
No, it’s not a case of “you just have to learn” folks. My brown thumb has killed both a mint and a rosemary plant- the kind of thing that theoretically can only be killed by deliberate and active mistreatment and neglect. I am simply not a farmer and will remain a mooch at the table of Mother Nature.
All the same, I wanted to find out just what was involved in living an earthier life- so I caught up with Victoria for a quick interview.
BHB: It’s really easy to romanticize the homesteading/“simple” life. What’s the reality of it? (In terms of investment of time/energy/money/etc)
Victoria: The reality of homesteading is that it is far from simple. All the things people tend to romanticize like chicken coops, sprawling gardens and shelves full of canned goods require time and skill to create. It can be as expensive as you want to make it depending on how thrifty you are and what kind of skills you already have.
For example, you’ll need to invest in tools like a drill and power saw to make that coop or raised bed. Can you see yourself pounding in t-posts for a fence to keep your chickens safe? Are you willing to put the time into keeping a garden or standing over a hot pressure canner?
All this being said, you can and most definitely should start small and wherever you can. Teaching yourself how to cook is the absolute best place to start because we all need to eat three times a day. “Living simply” simply means living a less materialistic lifestyle. Instead of supporting corporations and supermarkets, homesteaders and herbalists seek to keep a life generated by their own hand with the help of the earth.
BHB: What do you think stops the average urban/suburban person (I.e. me) from embracing that lifestyle?
Victoria: I think what stops most people who are interested in this kind of life from getting started is that they just don’t know where to begin. If you already know how to cook, try growing your own food. Live in an apartment? Grow in containers. Forage! Find a community garden. Read books about gardening, keeping chickens, canning, keeping a milk cow! Look for and support foragers who offer plant walks and foraging classes.
Another issue is lack of skill. It really pays to have any sort of simple carpentry experience. Build a table or something simple from scratch and by figuring out what tools you’ll need for that and how to use them, you will already be halfway there to completing all the small projects on the homestead.
BHB: Well I’ve got my Scouting know-how, cooking and baking skills, some basic home maintenance knowledge, and a knack for homebrewing, so I might be doing better than I think. Still don’t know about raising livestock though…
Speaking of foraging, I’ve found some fascinating creators on TikTok and YouTube who discuss it and I’ve lately had some fun dipping my toes in, especially dandelion greens and spruce tips around Mt Tabor Park. It seems like that might be the “gateway” interest to lead people to eating better and simpler and having a better connection with their food. What’s your take on that, and do you have any resources you might suggest for folks who want to get further into it? (It’s me. I’m Folks.)
Victoria: That’s awesome Matt! Definitely buy a medicinal herb book and a PNW plant identification guide. With those two in hand, you can go a long ways feeding yourself. I have Making Plant Medicine by Richio Cech and Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Porter and MacKinnon. That last book was required reading for my forestry class.
BHB: Great! Love an excuse to buy more books, and I imagine having a love of walking around in nature might be a prerequisite for all of this as well. What’s your next project going to be?
Victoria: I want to start a long term pantry! I want to organize my utility room to feature shelving for preserved garden/foraged goods and general dry goods- something we actually eat from so I avoid going to the grocery store once or more a week. Eating from my pantry and garden more consistently and with a plan is definitely something I’m trying to hash out!
So even for a seasoned pro like Victoria, it’s always a work in progress. From my chat with her though, it’s comforting to know that even city folks like me can take small steps to “simplify” our lives and that it just takes curiosity, self-development, and a change in priorities. It means the willingness to live, as Victoria put it, less materialistically and reconnect with where we get things from- especially our food.
It’s also important to remember than humans were not meant to be isolated. Victoria has her family and still goes to the market every now and again. Humanity’s greatest survival skill has always been it’s ability to cooperate, so in the Shire-like idyllic visions of my mind I certainly won’t be the farmer- but I might be able to make a place for myself as the town baker and brewer.
Stardew Valley is a fun game and all, but don’t let it deceive you into thinking the simple life is always simple- or that you can woo someone into marrying you by giving them enough Coconuts and Pink Cake.
Stay Classy,
The Black Hat Baker 