It’s very rare that words elude me but I have to say, I am stumped. I am trying to come up with the right word for an important project and it’s driving me bananas! Last night I dreamed about flipping through the pages of the dictionary, y’all.
I need a word (or short phrase) that describes the current movement towards gardening, cooking, DIY, crafting, etc. I am rejecting “homesteading” and “urban homesteading” both because the word “homestead” is inherently racist and because I don’t think it really describes the majority of my readers and customers. (Too 70s. Too granola.)
“Self-sufficent” is neither catchy nor true- even those of us with giant gardens can’t come close to claiming self-sufficiency. “DIYers” seems too closely tied to home improvement to serve the purpose. I’ve always thought “crafters” was slightly deeming and it only covers a fraction of what I’m trying to describe.
So what do you call the well-read, thoughtful people who are making deliberate decisions to grow their own food, sew their own clothes, maybe keep a couple of hens or beehives while maintaining a serious profession and living in the city or suburbs? There needs to be a word for these people and I can’t find it.
EDITED TO ADD: Keep in mind that it will work best if the word can be used as a noun, a la homesteaders, crafters, intentionalists (clearly I made that one up.)
So I’m turning to you, my well-read, thoughtful readers, for help. And I’m prepared to pay for the perfect word, in the currency that knitters and crocheters like best- yarn, and lots of it. $300 worth, to be exact.
Here’s how it works:
Leave your suggestion in the comments section of this post. One entry per person and only one suggestion per comment. (In other words, you can’t just throw up a bunch of half-assed suggestions.) Entries with more than one suggestion will be disqualified, because it violates the rules and without rules, chaos. UPDATED TO ADD: I am dropping the “one suggestion per person” rule because we still aren’t quite there and I want y’all to keep thinking and coming up with ideas. So consider the floodgates OPENED.
The deadline for entering is 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday, May 22. Entries posted after that date and time will not be considered.
The winner will be chosen by me, with help from Caroline, Zac and Carrie. The first poster of the winning word or phrase will be declared the winner. The winner gives JMF permission to use their entry in any way we see fit. The winner will receive an enormous amount of yarn and will probably roll around in it when it arrives at his/her house. Photos of said rolling would be appreciated but are not required.
Ready…set…GO!
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Ah! I love this so much! I am loving all the suggestions and can’t wait to see what you decide on! I love so many of them!
(Also, thanks for the love and keeping the conversation going!)
We are part of an agrarian renaissance.
I would name it ‘take your time’, because these days people keep on complaining that there are not enough hours in a day.
Or it could be ‘don’t hurry be happy.’ For the same reason as above.
Nope, I am not spamming. I just like the question of this contest and it means a great deal to me to live a life in full glory, realizing that that can mean be highly personal and have a different meaning for everyone. Some people are limited in the way they feel they need to fill their day with all things they want to achieve, get done, see and visit. I am limited for not having the energy to be up and running. So what I do, I try to do passionately.
Living Intentionally with Mother Earth. This of course has an acronym of
LIME
I was trying for L.I.M.B. as in the branches of our own actions growing and spreading but I am tired and can’t make the B work.
Downshifters / downshifting, perhaps?
i don’t have a word.. but I think it’s cute that free yarn brings more comments out than anything else possible!!!
Hand-aide A play on the word “band-aid”. This is a non-gender term that applies to all folks who work with their hands in one capacity or another. Can be a gardener, quilter, DIY’er, etc. They aide our lives by the work done with their hands in a positive way. We are used to the terms, teacher-aide, health-aide, so it is a comfortable term to which people already relate, so it would be easy to incorporate into their lingo. And after I repeated it out loud several time, it seems to roll off the tongue easily. I hope you like my idea.
Lois
I can’t think of anything better than Joel Salatin’s term “The Non-Barcode People”.
The Makers/Making–simple, yet all-encompassing
“Life-Tilling” (though someone else’s earlier submission of “Greenjeaning” is genius – in my humble opinion!)
New-old wave makers
I like to think of myself as a “Producer”. I produce knitted items, vegetables, clothes, bread. So many great suggestions, here. I’m sure mine’s not “the one” but what a fun idea!
I loved this challenge, and I can definitely consider myself a part of this wonderful movement! Here’s what I’ve got:
The New Folklife
Old-Time Awakening
SOULCRAFT !
ReView. ReNew. ReGroup.
eclectic life? Fun to think about!
Whatever we’re calling this movement I’d consider myself a member! My vote is for “reclaimers” because I think so much of what we are doing is reclaiming skills and knowledge that has been lost in the last 50-75 years, but which was the norm before that.
How about “Basics”. We are getting back to basics by making our own clothes, food, sustaining our selves.
Or, “Reliants” as we are relying on ourselves to create projects, can food, set personal deadlines that are outside of our hectic lifestyles/jobs. Heaven knows I set ridiculous “deadlines” for myself
Good luck finding your answer!
How about Ox-Carters? (See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140504419/)
(This is a blatant appeal to your previous career in children’s lit, natch.
“Life embracers” These are the people who make a big commitment to living positively, responsibly, and with compassion. Whether it be growing their own food, knitting preemie baby caps for their local hospital, or giving of their time and talent to the less fortunate, they truly leave the world a better place.
“Intentionalists” for me its about living intentionally, giving thought and time to stuff that is often purchased/consumed without thought and time.
I’ve been using the phrase Seattle Smallholder for myself. I was a large scale sheep farmer in Washington state (I miss it!), and thus I know the diffence between a largehold and a smallhold. And, this word, smallhold, refences my Western European ancestors, who were all modest, make-it-work people.
I come from peasant people many generations back, and as a struggling middle class person in the near-post industrial US, raising food, making, re-making, and repairing clothing and other household goods can seem anachronistic. I choose to reframe it as the best of many worlds: I am educated & work in the non-profit sector, I carry forward the many generations of women’s skills – sewing, gardening, cooking, baking, canning, small animal husbandry – as a way to balance my life and make a happy and comfortable life on less.
Smallholders!
Cultivators
Cultivating knowledge. Cultivating crafts. Cultivating the next generation. Cultivating healthy natural foods. Cultivating our land, our animals, our friendships, relationships and our lives!
Per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, cultivate means:
** to prepare or prepare and use for the raising of crops; also
** to loosen or break up the soil about
** to foster the growth of
** culture (the act of process of cultivating living material in prepared nutrient)
to improve by labor, care or study: refine further, encourage to seek the society of ** make friends with
Not sure if it’s been suggested already, but I like “at home producers/producing”
I also like “living with intention” and “intentional livers”
More thinking…
Purposeful Planners
Conscientious Providers
Joyful Modern Fabricators (JMFers?)
I live the Involved Life– meaning I play an active role in what happens to me and my family and my neighborhood. I don’t buy processed foods- I buy local ingredients and COOK them not defrost them. I make clothes that fit well and knit garments that hug the wearers with love. I’m not just passing thru.
domestic steward.
What about Sustenance – like sustaining life, nourishment, livelihood, etc. I like some of the other suggestions here too.
My idea is Eco pioneer, this generation is focused on earth preserving crafts, yet doing old things with a new twist. Thanks for making my brain work and all your great ideas. I don’t think you sleep!
Living Well or Good Living or Makers or Making or Making Well. Hmmmm…..maybe I am just rambling here. I love what you’re doing. I hope you find the perfect phrase.
Self-sourcing/self-sourcer
insourcing
Retroneer. Retroneering. Retroneerist.
I am not sure I agree with the problem of “homesteading” since I think the same thing could be said of almost anything we white people did in the past. Nor am I sure we need another neologism. But anyway…great idea.
To borrow from Daniel Quinn’s _Ishmael_, “The Leavers”.
How about “self-sustaining”?
Well, I like intentionalists, but that doesn’t really explain what it is for or what it means.
Maybe another good word would be localist? Someone who keeps their work, food production/consumption/etc. on as small a scale as possible. It is very broad, so it includes people who make their own clothes but don’t garden, people who garden but buy clothes from big box stores, people who try to do everything, and everything in between.
Abilitarian
derived from ABLE: 1) having sufficient power, skill, or resources to accomplish an object 2) marked by intelligence, knowledge, skill, or competence
I like it because, while alluding to skill & competence and the power they confer, it:
covers the wide, multi-disciplinary universe you’re talking about
has echoes of “utilitarian,” an allied concept
doesn’t mean anything else yet
I’m glad you opened the floodgates! I actually did read the thesaurus last night to try to come up with a word for “of the earth” that wasn’t earthling. And still can’t quite find the right word, but maybe it’ll inspire someone to think of something.
Greenpurposeful just called out to me.
The word that keeps coming to me is “mindful”. I like the sound of “mindful living”, though I am not sure how to go about noun-ifying that.
I haven’t fully read through the comments, so these might have been suggested already!
I know “Makers” has been suggested… perhaps with an adjective? Mindful Makers? Modern Makers?
Hmm… I’ll keep thinking.
I would think “Nature-Intended” might do. Or “Naturally-Intense”?? Ha!
“Green-Nature Living”? Living a “Green-Nature Life”? Or a “Green-Natural Life”?
mindful making / mindful makers
non-industrial living
EPICUREAN LUDDITES
; )
simplicity
How about Good-Lifers or Good-lifeing!
How about “homemaker”? Have you’ve read “Radical Homemakers”, by Shannon Hayes? I don’t have my copy in front of me, but Hayes had a lovely definition for the word (as she was using it), and my recollection is that it encompasses the vibe you are aiming for. In the book she also points out that “homemaker” is gender-neutral. Mind you, the Google searches that I ran for “radical homemaker” more closely met your concept than just “homemaker”. I wonder if you could use “radical homemaker” without impinging on Ms. Hayes’s work-product? Just throwing the idea out there …
I suggest Urban Settler
Like the settlers of old, the urban settler embraces a sustainable life meeting the challenges of food production, clothing, shelter, etc. using their skills and energy. They recognize the value of working with your hands and taking care of the environment. They appreciate the joy and peacefulness of the snuggling in an afghan you made, savioring the taste of a tomato you grew, and resting in a bed you refinished. They know the contentment of being settled in the life they want.
Following the history of settling, the urban settler also contributes to community, improving schools, caring for the land, and helping neighbors. Barn raising may have given way to playground building, but the spirit is the same.
Verb: Urban Settling Initials: U. S.
Motto: Live a life of U.S.
I’m going to try my hand at naming the ‘movement’ as well. I’ll try to edit my suggestions down to ones I think are good. How about…
Authentic or Heritage or Respectful living?
Self-reliant?
Something involving “antecedere” or “antecessor” (from the Latin for “go before”, root of “ancestor”)?
Moving forward, looking back?
Handiworkers/Hands to work?
Mindful modernism?
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