Back To the (Oak)land

^{K. Ruby abuzz in Oakland. Photo: Jan Sturmann}

As a child, K. Ruby transplanted a weed from her family’s garden, potted it and tended to it in her room, showing a carefree disregard for the rules about whether a plant was good or bad, useful or not. All grown up, she’s still got a flare for maverick experimentation.

Earlier this year she opened the Institute of Urban Homesteading in Oakland, California where she’s translating her background as an educator and gardener into a living classroom comprised of city folk gathering in kitchens and backyards to learn the lost arts of growing, cooking and storing their own food. “This knowledge skipped a generation,” Ruby says. “In the 70s everybody knew how to make yogurt or bake bread, but today people have this idea that it’s so hard when in fact it’s fairly simple.”

Ruby attributes resurgent interest in urban homesteading to forces like the Slow Food movement and locavorism. If her class enrollment is any indication, the idea of returning to simple, Do-It-Ourselves living is more popular than ever. Beekeeping and organic gardening sold out, breadmaking is filling up quickly and they’ve actually had to add extra classes to the schedule.

The idea for the Institute evolved over time. After running a non-profit for twelve years, Ruby decided to take some time off to cultivate her garden and teach herself to lead a more sustainable lifestyle. “I’m something of a homebody,” she admits. She took botany and beekeeping classes, grew vegetables and installed beehives in her backyard. But all this time, she had a nagging feeling she should be out in the world.

When her friends started having babies in their 30s, they talked about how Ruby should open a camp for the kids where they could learn to cook and garden. They’d call it Ruby Camp. Ultimately, the idea took shape as the Institute of Urban Homesteading, a place where Ruby hopes to completely reinvent the word “housewife” and give home economics — a body of knowledge once considered second-rate — a new life.

Jeanne Storck, a Bay Area website designer and freelance writer, is now planning a backyard vegetable garden.

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Yes You Can

Where some see just a tasty, homemade treat, others see a declaration of independence from “cheap energy mind.” No matter where you fall on the spectrum, we suspect you’ll be hooked on the DIY deliciousness of a pantry stocked with summer’s fresh flavors.

Made-it-Myself Mascarpone

Recipe courtesy of Jessica Dally, Seattle Free School

Put up jam from a summer windfall of fruit, pair it with a dollop of your own mascarpone, then do a happy little OMG-this-is-so-good dance.

1 pint (or more) half-and-half

1 pint heavy cream

1/8-1/4 teaspoon tartaric acid

You’ll also need:

High-quality cheesecloth

Cooking thermometer

Directions Heat cream and half-and-half to 190°F. Add 1/8 teaspoon tartaric acid and stir for several minutes. The mixture will slowly thicken into a runny cream-of-wheat consistency, with tiny flecks of curd. If the cream does not coagulate, add a speck more of the tartaric acid and stir for another 5 minutes. Be careful not to add too much tartaric acid or a grainy texture will result. Line a colander with a double layer of high-quality cheesecloth. Pour the curd into the colander and drain for 1 hour for a traditional mascarpone texture. Drain for up to 12 hours in a refrigerator for a whipped cream cheese texture. Place the finished cheese in a covered container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Yield: about 1 pound

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Leather Breeches

Recipe courtesy of Nance Klehm

This recipe is based on an old Southern dish. After the harvest, green beans were threaded on a string, then hung from the cabin rafters to dry. Once dried, the beans resembled leather trousers or “breeches” hanging on a clothesline.

Directions

Blanch green beans for two minutes in salted water and drain. String beans on strong thread, leaving a slight space between each bean. Hang your green bean garland in a dark, dry place with good air circulation. In about 2 weeks they should be thoroughly dry, and you have your leather breeches! You can store these in glass jars on a shelf in your cupboard or pantry. Munch on them dry as a healthy snack, or soak them and use them for cooking.

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There’s No Place Like Homestead

READ

• The Toolbox for Sustainable City Living by Austin Texas homesteaders the Rhizome Collective (rhizomecollective.org), an all-around, do-it-ourselves guide for creating locally-based, ecologically sustainable communities

• Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn, LA artist Fritz Haeg’s manifesto for making food, not lawns (edibleestates.org)

• On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee (Scribner)

• Putting Food By, by Janet Greene (Plume)

BROWSE

• Read Garden Girl’s tips of the trade on gardengirltv.com or browse the archives on kitchengardeners.org

• Get cheesy with cheesemaking.com, dairyconnection.com, fiascofarm.com or leeners.com

• Everything you ever wanted to know about the birds and the bees and more can be found on backyardhive.com, beeculture.com, scientificbeekeeping.com, backyard chickens.com and thecitychicken.com

• Sow your wild (organic) oats with the help of victoryseeds.com, seedsofchange.com, bountifulgardens.org or groworganic.com