A message from the headmistress Mrs. Williamson:
My goal with Stitch and Boots is to provide a place of information and instruction on all the things you might have learned from your mother and your grandmother about running a household, growing a garden, and being a self sufficient kind of person but didn’t because they didn’t think you wanted to know.
In modern life it is not always possible to live like our parents and grandparents did, not many of us have the time to make our own butter and clothes. But every person should learn basic home keeping skills such as how to cook a roux, and how to take care of their furniture. Even if you don’t have time to preserve all of your own food, every person can make time to make their own jam, or to grow a few fresh herbs for cooking.
I want Stitch and Boots to grow into a place where you can get reliable information on all things concerning urban homesteading. I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed by it. I don’t want you to come here and feel bad because you don’t have time to do everything for yourself- few people do! What I want you to feel is inspired to try some new projects. Pick and choose what fits into your life. Everyone can do some home preserving- even if you live in an apartment in the city. You can get great produce at farmer’s markets and do small batches of jams, chutneys, and tomatoes.
So whatever your situation, I hope you will find something here that is useful, inspiring, and fun. Please come back often because this site is very young and I will be building up it’s content as quickly as I can to serve your curiosity and your needs.
Headmistress Of The Finishing School: Mrs. Williamson
Mrs. Williamson’s qualifications for the job: Graduate of FIDM with an AA in Fashion Design, worked as a custom costumer with Autumn Adamme of Dark Garden for 2 years, worked as a design assistant and then swatcher (color specialist) for Mulberry Neckwear for 2 years, owned her own home and personal accessories business for four years (one year of which she ran her own brick and mortar store) for which she designed and made many of her own products, has been gardening for 10 years, canning for 10 years, cooking excellent quality food for 13, and has been a writer for 29 years.
You can visit her one great collection of writing at her personal blog Dustpan Alley which she’s been writing for three years.
Special accomplishments: Has an apron design published in the “A is for Apron” book. Has had a bath bomb tutorial published on Whipup. Spent one year being a housewife without children which is when she discovered the great big secret that the domestic arts are not drudgery at all but soul satisfying. Following one year as a housewife she became a stay at home mom for 5 years
Second Headmistress of The Finishing School: Mrs. Carlton
Qualification for the position: Continuing studies at college with special interests in literature and philosophy, self taught 4 star quality cook, stay at home mom for 9 years, professional quality seamstress, has mad household economy skills, has been canning for 9 years, keeping poultry for 4 years, and has an uncanny ability to tackle any craft with skill and a sense of adventure.
Contributing Instructor: Riana Lagarde
Riana is a professional food and travel writer who has given up her life of shopping to become an urban homesteader with her husband and child in the South of France. She can skin a wild boar, preserve almost anything, forage for wild food, build whatever needs building, and she shares all her adventures on her two blogs:
Contributing Instructor: Lisa Evich
Lisa has a degree in environmental studies, has worked in winery labs, has been an urban homesteading stay at home mom since her children were born almost 10 years ago, is an excellent cook, an exceptional gardener, and in the past couple of years has been knitting like a pro. She preserves food, works hard to resuse the things she has, and will share her knitting projects and household tips with you.
She has an Etsy shop where she sells her lovely knitted goods:
I found you through a link from soulemama (my favorite craft, creative blog yet). I have to say you’re a woman after my own heart and am so thankful that you’re here. My husband and I have committed to living urban currently so that we can bike and walk and be about 3 miles from everything. Thanks for sharing all your preserving, knitting, cooking and sewing techniques on here. I don’t have my life together enough to form a blog, but I am truly inspired by yours. Thanks.
Hi Nicole, it’s so hard to get a lot done when you have little children underfoot. My garden was pretty small the first season after my son was born. My goal here is to have plenty of projects for people in all different kinds of situations: urban, suburban, and rural alike. There’s no reason why people living in apartments can’t make their own jam. Maybe not 40 pints of it- but there’s so much everyone can do even if they don’t have much space or a yard. I’m so happy you like this site. I think living in an urban environment where you are within walking or biking distance of most things you need is such a great commitment to make. Hope to see you around here again!
I’m so happy you found us! This site is still pretty new so there isn’t a ton of content yet, but more gets added all the time. I’ve got some great articles and tutorials lined up from contributors. If there is something you are particularly interested in seeing here- please don’t hesitate to ask!
Angelina.
I’ve been looking for exactly this type of website/blog. I also followed the link on Soulemama. I’m struggling to find time to live simply and homemade/handmade as much as possible with a full time job and two young babies. While I might not get to everything today I enjoy reading about and dreaming about what I’d like to do in the future. Thanks for the inspiration!
Camille- I really hope to build this site up a great deal in the next few months. I have some great contributors to work with and I too have wanted a great urban homesteading reference site. There are a few good ones out there but we need more! Thanks for visiting and letting me know you were here!
Angelina,
Hi! It’s me. I just found this blog and am enjoying it very much. Even though I live almost in the middle of downtown Louisville (which I believe is supposed to be the sixth largest city in the country or something) and grew up in the suburbs surrounding Louisville, my grandparents were farmers in rural Kentucky and I spent a lot of weekends and summers with them. They never owned a car, plowed their garden with mules, grew and preserved 99% of their food, their only heat source was a wood burning stove and they only had plumbing installed in their house late in life when they became to old to (ahem) go out-of-doors. No please don’t think I’m like 100 years old or something and they lived in a shack. They had a beautiful farm house with a huge front porch (with swings!), beautiful pecan trees out front, tons of flowers and a lovely lawn. And by the way, I’m still in my 40’s. My grandmother sewed everything! She even gathered down from her geese to make pillows and feather beds (ever heard of those?) Anyway, the reason I’m telling you this is that I learned many things from my grandmother. Recipes, home remedies, etc. and I was wondering if you would be interested in any of them. One thing that comes to mind is “green tomato ketchup” Delicious! Email if you’re interested.
Hey, Diane, I am just a reader here, but I can say with conviction that *I* am interested! I hope Angelina says yes to you. I bet your have some great memories.
Yes! I am interested in hearing about the things you learned from your grandmother. The remedies and recipes sound interesting. I’m so happy you found this blog- you know, that’s the thing, it doesn’t matter if you’re smack in the middle of a city- if you desire it, you can still do many things for yourself and to be part of a self sustaining culture. That’s the way in which I hope this blog will inspire people. I’ll e-mail you soon to chat about some of the goodies you have up your sleeve!
Wowza!!! I’m am so glad I followed the link over here from soulemama!!! I will be happily adding a link to here from my little blog, and visiting daily (that is, when my boys aren’t stealing my computer time to visit lego.com
Cheers!!
~Michelle
My boy steals our computer time too! I get to kick him off though because I work from home on the computer too. I’m so happy you visited and are enjoying the blog!
I’ve just stumbled upon your blog from nourishingourmet’s blog. You are writing about all of my passions and desires. I’m excited to see what you educate us about in the future!
I’m so happy you like Stitch and Boots! It’s been a project in the making for a long time so I have lots of material but can’t get it all researched, photographed and written fast enough. More recipes coming and some sewing tips. Also some tips on keeping healthy chickens soon. Thanks for commenting!
Hi Angelina,
I am so glad I stumbled upon your blog. I love everything about it, I especially love the way your write, very encouraging and inspiring.
By the way, Happy New Year to you
I’m so happy you found your way here! I have a lot of articles in the works and hope to get myself on a more regular schedule of posting them. Happy New Year to you too!