Homestead Pretty^TM

There is a post up today on ethicurean.com regarding the engaged and rooted movement of young farmers across America. The guest post written by Severine von Tscharner Fleming is a beautiful read and reflects on her experience filming the movement over the past two years. She writes:

This Obama spring finds the young farmers as unlikely poster children of a new zeitgeist. Aptly so…I have met hundreds of new and aspiring young farmers. I have found them a powerful, proud and wily sub-culture. I have found them to be charismatic icons of change, patriots of place, sensible and sensitive stewards of land and resources. They are the creators of a retrofit future, and just in time. We now have the political change. We have reawakened our democratic will and discovered a dilation in the realms of possibility.

I share this article because it expresses my own sentiments: the Obama administration has refueled many of us to create our own futures. And when I say “us” I am referring to those who have previously distrusted the power structures of our country. There is optimism surrounding my community right now, even amidst the recession. I have seen more of my peers interested in planting gardens than in years past, and I am convinced there have been way more commuter bikes in Boulder this spring than ever before. A few simple changes this spring mark an empowerment in this community, perhaps encouraged by a political body that is actively seeking the opinions of it’s citizens, to make positive change. We are living in a time of hope, and as a young homesteader, I too hope for a future where our communities are more food and skill secure.