I'm different, Aisle 2!

Julie is quite the big saver, and has a coupon system that would make most women jealous!  I know I  learned a  lot!

I was over at my friend Julie's house the other night and ended up accompanying her on her weekly grocery shopping trip.  It seemed so normal and initially it was no big deal to go to the grocery.   But, as soon as I stepped through the sliding glass doors, I was reminded just how much my life has changed in the last 2 years.  The grocery store was almost like a foreign land to me and I suddenly realized it was really no longer a place I depended on.

As we were wheeling through, I realized just how much I make/grow here at home:

All of our cleaning products
Laundry detergent
Fabric softener
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Bell peppers
Strawberries
Portobello mushrooms
Chicken
Eggs
Salsa
Lettuce
Butter
Bread
Peanut Butter

Urban homesteading is something I started doing, sort of as a joke, but what I realized is that it's no joke.  What I am able to create here in just a backyard is amazing. Look at that above list?!  I would have never in a million years thought that it possible to make all of this stuff at home.  And truthfully, this is only half of it!  The above mentioned items were only what was on Julie's list.

I also grow here:

Peas
Green beans
Popcorn
Sweet corn
10 different types of tomatoes
Tomatillos
Hot peppers
Watermelon
Pumpkin
Squash
Broccoli
Rabbit
Eggplant

I won't lie, for a minute I sort of missed the grocery store and the ease of going into a place to buy whatever I wanted.  I love the guaranteed success of having what you want available to you.  It's not always like that here, if what I am growing doesn't produce I am out a lot of time, money, and possibly hungry.

Where I acknowledge it would be a lot simpler for me to go back to grocery shopping, I think for right now this homesteading thing is exactly where I am supposed to be.  It challenges, amazes, and nourishes me everyday.  It also reminds me to be humble, patient, and allows me to bear witness to the surrounding miracles I would otherwise miss, and that is just something you won't be able to find in Aisle 2!