Householding

The blog Cheap, Healthy and Good pointed me to this article by Harriet Housenfest about the fine art of householding.

To quote:

I’m a mother and wife, but not because I’m afraid to be otherwise. I am making a case for revisionist gender politics as it relates to homemaking. Some are good at it and some are not, and it has nothing to do with what’s under your skirt (as it were).

Now that I’ve made that clear, I want to connect the dots, or revise the dots:

1. Householding is not a gender-specific act
2. Householding seeks to revise small-scale systems of home economics
3. Householding eschews fast food, fancy packaging, and marketing hype
4. Householding requires a connection with natural systems
5. Householding sees value in the domestic
6. Householding eschews “economies of scale” as maligned system

Even though I was Betty Crocker homemaker of the year for Jamaica Consolidated High School for 1973 I have never been much of a housekeeper. If I put something away I can't find it and following a recipe takes coorination, in much the same way playing volleyball takes coordination...and I just don't have it.

However, I've been thinking about space and comfort alot...I want to be comfortable in my shell and I'm generally not...this article inspires me to have a more positive point of view.