Radical Homemakers (Mac)

"We have lost the innate knowledge and traditional crafts essential to countless functions for our daily survival, with the end result being a disconnection from our communities and our natural world.  So complete is this detachment that we are unaware of the ecological and social damage created by mass production for our daily needs.  Screened from the production process, we buy chicken breasts without considering the workers in poultry factories who must breathe toxic fumes, or the loss of topsoil from irresponsible grain production.  We purchase our detergents and cleaners without considering the ingredients that might be poisoning our families and our water supply.  We buy inexpensive clothing, never considering who must produce the fiber, weave the cloth and sew the garments for paltry wages, or what country must have its rivers polluted with dues.  No matter where we live, we expect fresh tomatoes in December and iceberg lettuce in January, regardless of the fact it took more calories to grow and ship them than they deliver when we eat them.

This is not to say that every homemaker must start weaving cloth and hand-washing their family's clothes: with few exceptions, most of us will always rely on the broader industrial system for something.  But for each daily need that we re-learn to provide within our homes and communities we strengthen our independence from an extractive and parasitic economy.  As we realize the impact of each choice we make, we discover ways to simplify our demands and rebuild our domestic culture.

When we regain connection with all that sustains us, we regain creative spirit.  We rediscover the joy that comes with using our hands and our minds in union to nourish, nurture and delight in our families; we tap the source if true creative satisfaction, the ecstasy that accompanies a home that lives in harmony with the earth's systems, and the certitude of a life guided by principles of social justice and nonexploitation."

~Shannon Hayes
Radical Homemakers