It is our extreme pleasure to bring Shannon Hayes, author of Radical Homemakers, Reclaiming Domesticity From a Consumer Culture to the area. The Hayes family has a long history of farming, education and activism and Shannon's book has truly captured this transitional moment in small farming, homesteading, post peak consumerism and the reclamation of the kitchen table. As household budgets continue to shrink, purchasing the majority of ones food from local producers becomes an increasingly out of reach luxury service for many. As we all know, farmers work for a very thin profit, so savings will not come out of the price of a locally grown tomato. Many will and are rediscovering basic home production and processing skills through 'hands on', shared experiences. Farmers and non-farmers are working in partnership, through commerce and cooperation to reinvigorate our agrarian tradition and economy, protect working landscapes and to build regional food security. Her message speaks to the work many are doing to recapture the independence of the individual household from the 'To-Go' corporate culture, while restoring community, ecological integrity, social and economic justice and democracy through small but profound measures of individual action. Shannon Hayes' well researched and beautifully written book, ties all these concepts together. This is the next step in the maturation of a movement that our region is the poster child for. She has not only written the bible and is a major voice of this movement, she is one of our own.

Join us for an evening of discussion, exploration, affirmation and community.

From the back cover of the book:

RADICAL HOMEMAKERS:

RECLAIMING DOMESTICITY FROM A CONSUMER CULTURE

Mother Nature has shown her hand. Faced with climate change, dwindling resources, and species extinctions, most Americans understand the fundamental steps necessary to solve our global crises - drive less, consume less, increase self-reliance, buy locally, eat locally, rebuild our local communities.

In essence, the great work we face requires rekindling the home fires.

Radical Homemakers is about men and women across the U.S. who focus on home and hearth as a political and ecological act, and who have centered their lives around family and community for personal fulfillment and cultural change. It explores what domesticity looks like in an era that has benefited from feminism, where domination and oppression are cast aside and where the choice to stay home is no longer equated with mind-numbing drudgery, economic insecurity, or relentless servitude.

Radical Homemakers nationwide speak about empowerment, transformation, happiness, and casting aside the pressures of a consumer culture to live in a world where money loses its power to relationships, independent thought, and creativity. If you ever considered quitting a job to plant tomatoes, read to a child, pursue creative work, can green beans and heal the planet, this is your book.