Looking for rural blogging

February 4, 2009 8:08 AM

I'm looking for pretty/ interesting blogs about homesteading and living in rural areas

I'd like to read personal blogs about life in rural parts of the world - think Prince Edward Island in Canada, or Alaska, or central Missouri... the location doesn't really matter. I like blogs combining personal stories, everyday photographs, recipes and specific knowledge (i.e how to make jam, or how to butcher your chickens, what have you).

A couple of blogs I already enjoy are Meanwhile across town, Tiny farm blog, Throwback at trapper creek and Down to earth.

Bonus point for blogs also involving food politics, personal/feminist politics, and left politics as well, but I'm not picky.

posted by Sijeka to home & garden (19 answers total)

How about Metafilter's own Terrapin's own Terrapin Gardens?
posted by Jofus at 8:21 AM on February 4, 2009

I highly recommend Chickens in the Road, about a self-professed suburban mom who moved with her three kids to a "slanted little house" in West Virginia. (Her pepproni roll post is making me really hungry and homesick!)
posted by arco at 8:24 AM on February 4, 2009

Farmgirl Fare : Recipes, stories, and photos from my crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 8:27 AM on February 4, 2009

Don't forget the Pioneer Woman.
posted by twiki at 9:17 AM on February 4, 2009

The Pioneer Woman, The Pioneer Woman, The Pioneer Woman! Can't recommend her enough.
posted by firei at 9:26 AM on February 4, 2009

Not a blog, but a nice journal can be assembled through the images and captions by Mr. Moor on Flickr.
posted by studentbaker at 9:27 AM on February 4, 2009

I started out with just one or two farm blogs and found many more from their blogrolls and their commenters.

Agrarian Grrl fits the leftist/feminist niche as well as the rural. She is in Canada.

(not so) Urban Hennery is local to me and takes good photos. From her blog, I found Fast Grow the Weeds, in Michigan. Urban Hennery was nominated for a blog award for something recently, and another nominee who I am now reading is Hunter Angler Gardener Cook -- not sure of the politics on this one but I like to see the hunter's point of view represented in food/farm blogs.

Cold Antler Farm's popularity seems to be exploding since she published a book recently and has been on NPR and such. Her experiences seem to be pretty similar to many of us who are working day jobs in the city and commuting home to farm, but she got the book deal first I guess so more power to her for being in the public eye about it! She has cute sheep.

Farmgirl Fare, mentioned above, is awesome; she also has another blog at In My Kitchen Garden.

Bifurcated Carrots has a lot about food & seed politics. They also link to new related blogs as they find them.

There is also a genre of urban farming/agriculture/food politics blogs, interesting in its own right, that includes the Path To Freedom folks (previously FPP'd), Novella Carpenter, Urban Chickens, etc.
posted by librarina at 9:44 AM on February 4, 2009

Crap, got that Path to Freedom link wrong: try Path To Freedom dot com, not dot org.
posted by librarina at 9:45 AM on February 4, 2009

I love Pioneer Woman but I'm not sure I'd consider her a homesteader, in the true sense of the word.
posted by cooker girl at 9:50 AM on February 4, 2009

Tundra Medicine Dreams.
posted by cashman at 11:29 AM on February 4, 2009

Check out The Deliberate Agrarian's archives.
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:50 AM on February 4, 2009

One such blog I like to peruse is Sallygardens Smallholding. From their small blurb: "Sallygardens - Living a sustainable lifestyle in rural Ireland & sharing the knowledge of our experiences with others through consultation & workshops."

Great question! I'll be checking out the links listed here....
posted by Bibliogeek at 1:05 PM on February 4, 2009

Nature's Harmony Farm Blog in eastern Georgia is top notch.
posted by ewagoner at 1:26 PM on February 4, 2009

Bastish is broadcast from Japan's "Snow Country". Sustainability issues are a fairly regular topic there, as is farming, hiking/cycling, rural culture, etc.
posted by jal0021 at 1:30 PM on February 4, 2009

I like Over The River Through The Woods, a woman who lives off the grid in rural Alaska (she has more links to other homesteading types on her sidebar, too).

I also like Living Primitively. He's kind of extreme; lives in Scandinavia somewhere, and eats raw food and makes bone tools and stuff.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 1:59 PM on February 4, 2009

Endorsing the Path to Freedom link, one family's urban homesteading adventure. I have visited them to check it out myself, and it's just astounding what they've created on a suburban block in Pasadena. They don't mind a visit, as long as you bring a gift of a tool or something as payment, which seemed fair to me. When you step onto their property, I swear the quality of the air is different.

I know it's not in the country, but it's a great read anyway.
posted by lottie at 3:35 PM on February 4, 2009

I highly recommend my neighbors at Sugar Mountain Farm here in Vermont. And he has quite an extensive blog roll.
posted by terrapin at 7:10 PM on February 4, 2009

Check out Mack Hill Farm, in New Hampshire. Lisa and Frank have a huge number of animals, grow veggies, make maple syrup, and other fun rural things. They live on about 300 acres, mostly wooded. Wonderful photos and engaging style.

Site appears to be down at the moment, but hopefully it'll be back up soon. In the meantime, check out the Flickr photostream.
posted by acridrabbit at 7:49 PM on February 4, 2009

Very funny blog about a woman living in London with her husband and children, husband persuades her that whole family should move to the rural north of England.
Her blog became so popular it's now a book.... .but she's still blogging
posted by musgrove at 1:49 PM on February 5, 2009