Speaking at the Craftcation Conference

Well Saturday is a big day for me. I am one of the scheduled speakers at the Craftcation Conference and I'm just a little nervous about it! I will be speaking about raising chickens of all things. I hope I don't bore the crowd to tears talking about poultry for an hour!

Most of you know this here blog as a sewing blog but when I originally started it , the idea was to chronicle our family's move to an old farmhouse from Santa Monica, to try homesteading out here in a rural agricultural valley of Ventura County, an hour and a half and a world away from Los Angeles, where Santa Monica is.

 When we first moved out here seven years ago I had major culture shock but I adapted slowly. No one knew a Prada bag from a Gucci or cared, and the mothers around here went to church in the mornings instead of the gym. I eventually caught on and started attending church myself but that is another story.

We made a decision to homeschool, grow our own food, raise chickens and rabbits, and I even got a horse and started learning how to herd cows. Those horsey people down at the stable must have had a good laugh at my expense, that's for sure. The truth was I was terrified of my giant quarter horse and he knew it and loved to let me know he was the boss, not me! I did have some pretty boots. What a poseur.
Although we live in a farm area the quality of the food in the local markets is pretty bad and I had to drive a half an hour to find anything organic. ( Another good reason to try growing what we could..)
So now we grow food, raise chickens, and buy our cows and pigs from a local rancher and have them processed by the local butcher. I do a lot of canning with the girls and my husband does most of the outside work. He is very excited about his new tiller and is planning to expand the garden. I guess you could say we are country people now.
Of course the next step in homesteading was to try making clothes. Sure I always sewed, having a degree in fashion design. But for years I only sewed Halloween costumes and was too lazy to actually make my own wardrobe.

With all the time I saved not shopping,  I had a lot more of it than I thought I would. ( The shopping out here was pretty atrocious, except the thrift shop which is pretty good...) Shopping was like an addiction for me and no matter how much I bought I was just thinking about getting something new. It's like a hole that never got filled. I still am like that a little bit, but at least I am thinking about what I can make for me or the kids instead of what I can buy.

So if you have read this far, thanks for reading this little story about our life. Let me know if you will be attending the conference and we can meet up. Wish me luck! I still have to write my speech.

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