It Took Moving to the City to Live Like a Country Girl

Okay, okay, you country folks can take all the issue you want with this entry's title, but be patient and allow me to elaborate.  I stood on my balcony today and looked out at the view: apartments, other people's living rooms, the mountain in the distance.  It was hard not to feel stifled after some of the other places I've lived that are more visually spectacular.  Urban life can make you feel suffocated sometimes, especially when the people just won't go away, it won't get quiet even at night, and it never gets dark.  Yet, in the last 5 months, I have engaged in more "wholesome country" activity than perhaps I ever have in my whole life, even when I lived on a teeny-tiny farm.  Here is my list of recent rural (or at least non-citified) activities:
-hanging my laundry; don't even have a dryer
-making my own everything: bread, non-toxic household cleaners, dressings, beverages...the list goes on (the pickles this week were excellent)
-buying fresh vegetables from the local market almost every day
-living an active lifestyle: we walk most places, and the 20 pounds I don't have anymore attests to it
-cloth diapering my baby; it is much cheaper, and without a dryer, even more economical than when I cloth diapered in the States
-getting outside: not having a car means making more short trips, which is fine when everything is a bit closer.  Thus, to get our needs met, we get outside every day.

Now, to the purist, these things don't count, I get it.  But living here has forced more resourcefulness upon me, and our family benefits.  Amidst people here who have frequent digestive complaints, we thrive; our dental health is superior, our skin looks great, and we have good energy despite having two very young children.  And I'm definitely jealous.  Someday I'll have that big garden with the chickens running around and the fresh milk flowing (oh dear, now I'm starting to salivate), but next fall I'm going to try balcony gardening and see where it takes me.  I may not have the darkness and sweet air that I miss, but being able to get fresh food and having the skills to do something with it is a good place to start.  Perhaps I'm honing my skills for the country living I crave right here in my concrete jungle, so that when we do get that place I picture in my mind, I'll be ready to hit the ground running.

P.S. Today, I'm styling the rural look, with pigtails and a bandanna.  Pigtails are for keeping the baby from grabbing my hair and pulling, bandana for holding my bangs back...