Why Are We Doing This Again?

I have had many questions asking why we are interested in Urban homesteading….even from our own children.  So I figured that it was time to discuss it a little further.
As I have mentioned before, we have a huge backyard that is just begging to have work done to it.  It needs it. It is a desolate piece of land that is mighty sad looking.  It is full of weeds and the landscaping that was done many, many, many years ago has all but diminished.   We want a space that we can sit on the deck and enjoy.  We want a space that others will enjoy.  .  We want trees (a living fence actually!), and flowers and to continue our garden.  But most of all we want a space that is unique to us.
The idea came together this year.  It all happened by chance.  We completed our deck, went on a diet, and attempted planting our own plants and garden from seed.  It was all such a success that we decided to continue it.
Like most growing families, we have a monthly grocery budget.  Over the years we have had to develop creative ways to stay within the budget.  Through trial and error we have come up with a system that works.  It is by all means not perfect; I know we can do better.
None the less I am always looking for ways to improve our health, our budget, whatever the case might be.  With this new diet we have been on, it calls for eating a lot less processed foods.  And truth be told, we all feel much better.  I have personally learned through this new healthier diet what sets my stomach issues off.  I have learned what foods NOT to eat.  And the goal is for my husband to control his cholesterol through exercise and eating habits. Heart disease runs in my husband’s family. We want to keep his heart healthy naturally and to keep him off the medicine as long as possible.  12 years ago he was told he would be on medicine to control his cholesterol by the time he was 30!  And through minor changes made over the years he has managed to stay off the meds, but we knew what we were doing wasn’t enough. Plus with heart disease being hereditary in his family, that means our children are at risk as well. And cholesterol issues start building very young. Teaching our children NOW how to live a healthy lifestyle will only be more of a benefit to them later in life!  So in July we made the big step to eliminating about 80% of the processed foods we were eating.  We started eating gluten free, and have cut way back on sugar.  We also added in more veggies.  VEGGIES being the key word here……..Turned out we all LOVED eating fresh veggies and we love to garden!  Light bulb!!!! Ding, ding, ding!  I thought “Why buy the veggies when we can grow them ourselves?”   Then I thought well………the growing season is only so long and got disappointed. But through research I came to the conclusion that many of the veggies we LOVE can be frozen.  So…….the idea was born.
We are going to attempt to grow and preserve our own veggies and herbs.  There is something very rewarding to know that we will be growing our own food (minus the meat of course).  We love the idea of having fruit and veggies and herbs in abundance.  The bonus to this is the fact that we will be saving on our budget.  It is also a bonus that we will be doing it in a way that our yard will have a purpose rather than to just look pretty!  It is a bonus that should a disaster arrive we will be ready and be virtually self-sustained.  We will know where most of our food comes from!
There are more pro’s to this idea than cons so why not landscape with a purpose?