The Challenge....

I guess I should begin by telling you that I am not your average blogger. I rarely have the time to read blogs or transverse the bloggosphere, so I am reaching out into unknown territory in many ways with my new lifestyle. I do not currently have a Facebook page, a My Space account, nor do I Twitter. Having said that many of you will probably find it hard to believe that I'm not already living in the 19th century, or on some commune in the desert imbibing in odd barrel cactus fruits. :) NOPE, I'm just your "average" mom of an 11 year old boy, married to a great man who you will get to know as one of the cheapest men you will meet. I mean frugal...the word I hear is frugal, although my family has never been offended by the word CHEAP! Both my husband and I work for the same company about 45 minutes away from our hometown. I work as a LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and my husband as a "Construction Contract Administrator". We live in your typical suburban cul-de-sac community with all of the homes having been built in the mid 1980's by the same developer who apparently had no "Drug Free Workplace" policy in place when they were building our homes. (More on that later) By all standards I guess one could say we are the "Average American Family". Then again nothing is ever average when it comes to our family.

A few months ago I posed a challenge to my family after a discussion on the current economic status had made our morning coffee and breakfast about as depressing as reading a Faulkner novel. Ohio was 3rd in the nation for unemployment and job loss. We have been bleeding manufacturing jobs left and right since 9/11 and the news just keeps getting more and more chipper with each new "Morning Joe" broadcast we watch. With all of this in mind I thought about how our family could help protect Ohioans, and their jobs. I did a little research and found out that for each $1 dollar spent in our local economy it would stay here 3 to 4 times longer then if it were spent with a non-local vendor. The idea of being able to attribute to our own recovery in some small way made me more determined to find out just who were my "Local Vendors". Quickly spurred on by my own urge to live more simply, eat more seasonally and be able to reconnect to the world that this fast paced, drive through, buy in bulk, 24/7...365 mentality has seemed to place outside of the realm of possibility. I kept thinking of my grandparents who lived a "hard" life scratching out their mark on this world on a farm in SE Kansas, and my own childhood on the very same farm. To me the thought of reconnecting to the basic elements of life seemed not only a natural thing to do, but more of a gift I wanted to ensure that I bestowed upon my son, so that he would grow up knowing that life is not packaged in a Hot-Pocket, and does not taste like freezer aisle fish sticks.

My family was interested, but hesitant at first. They happen to know me better than anyone else in the world, so rightfully so they were worried what their full and unabidding acceptance of this challenge meant to their everyday lives. I promised them that I would research all the things we would need to get us through the next 6 months without disrupting their lives too much. Of course I am sure the picture of the Yurt on the Mongolian plains, eating goat everyday had to have passed through their fearful little minds at least twice while I sat there smiling.

I made the choice that we should attempt to spend at least 70% of our buying power locally. If there was not a local choice to be found the alternative would be to seek a sustainable choice in it's place. My husband added that all choices needed to be fiscally responsible as well. I told you that our family motto is "Cheap is the New Black". We then set off to make a check list of our daily lives. What we ate, what we drove, where we spent our money, etc. Then after compiling the laundry list of what is our daily lives, I began to research local alternatives in order to make the challenge work. We believe that if we just maintain a pattern that once the 6 months is over living this way will have become a way of life for us and it will require little management. Needless did I know that we are all in for one crazy roller coaster of a ride! I'm still looking for local hygiene products that are both sustainable as well as fiscally responsible. My husband wasn't down for the "Bath and Body Works" tour, even if they were local to Ohio! Being a veteran he's kind of the Irish Spring man if you will. Can we do it? Can we successfully maneuver the 21st century while attempting to step back in time to when the food you ate tasted as it should, when the matter of planting a garden wasn't a fight between "Will the neighbors kill us for tearing out our landscaping and putting in fruits and vegetables?" Will we end up ostracizing ourselves, our friends, our family?!?!?! I guess the next 6 months will let us know if living the American Green Gothic on "La Frattora Verdi" is possible!