Raised Beds

New Urban Homesteading Hick Is the New Hip trick 2012

in the new beginning, Diane and David Blackett simply wanted to give their two young children the opportunity to pick berries in their Denver backyard. Four summers later, that first small communion with nature has blossomed into abundant varieties of homegrown fruits and vegetables, two composting piles for soil nourishment, a beehive filled with 12, 000 Italian bees spinning honey, and three chickens for farm-fresh eggs -- all dotting the property surrounding their small, three-bedroom bungalow within Denver's city limits.Connected to the LandDiane Blackett says she was ready to implant in her children a sense of appreciation for the land, particularly now that her family would be living in a more forgivable climate, after moving to Denver in 2008 from Tucson, Arizona."When we moved to Denver, I realized my kids just were not in touch with the seasons, " said Blackett. "We really liked the idea of growing our own vegetables. We were buying organic, but it was so expensive. But more than that, it was having a connection to nature, a connection to the past. You know, everything is so technologically advanced these days. This is a way to feel connected to the land. You're aware of things like the seasons and the weather."Blackett says she got her grand inspiration for living off her land after reading Barbara Kingsolver's 2007 best-selling novel, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, " a nonfiction account of the author's own attempts to live off the land and only buy locally for one year. It was not long before the chicken coop, the composting piles and the beehive joined the Blacketts' vegetable garden."My husband and I thought about how there is such a karmic cost to food, and it would be valuable to let the kids know where their food comes from, " Blackett said.