The Gothic Homesteader

Ok, so I have been in the Phoenix Metro with its awesome Goth sceen ( thank you, PhxGoth.Com ! ), but my heart is not in this overly hot, urban spread.  My heart is longing for my wide open spaces, plenty of room for my Gothic Garden and Dark Veges, and room for a cat or a dog to run free!  I know we will never have that here in Phoenix, so it is time to start scouting for where we will settle long term... and it needs to be rural. When you consider where you are going to settle homesteading, bit it rural like us or urban like we have been, you have to take many things into account.  One of the key ones is where is your soul at rest.  In the big city, I get depressed far worse than were I can get out, go adventure, raise big gardens, and have animals.  But you have to go were your heart is. So, Gothic Homesteading - rural version, here we come big time! ~ Morria

Sometimes, even with the Gothic Homesteading I do, I feel like there could be some much more I could be doing.  I also feel very disconnected from the land sometimes.  Living close to nature, be it a desert, a forest, the sea, or great prairies/savannas, is healing to the soul.  To be close to the earth, to feel it beneath the feet, to be connected.  Closeness, connectedness, a feeling of belonging.  So many of us struggle with those feeling those thoughts.  Yet out here in the garden, it seems so easy to find, even if a bit thorny at times...literally! One of the easiest way to start restoring ourselves, and getting back to our roots, is starting connecting to the land again.  How? Grow plants in windows. Work a a co-op/urban garden. Learning to preserve our own foods. Walk daily at a wild space or park. Swimming in the wilds Vacation camping out in tents in the wilderness. Save up and buy land. So many ways to start working towards...

I am just so delighted to have discovered this book: Black Plants by Paul Bonine!  He has complied an engaging book with 75 Black Plant choices for the garden.  Easy are stunningly photographed for the readers pleasure, giving this book a coffee table quality not just one for the Gothic Homesteader's bookshelf. While there are many other black plants out there, Paul Bonine has chosen some of the most majestic and offered them to us in full color splendor!  I persoanly am thrilled to learn a few plants  I grew up with made the list.  Among them: Black Hollyhock, Purple Leaf Elderberry, and "Ace of Spades" Ornamental Sweet  Potato.  All in all a wonderful book, and a must have for any Gothic Homesteader or Gothic Gardener! ~ Morria