Homesteading (&stuff) Zine in the Works

I've always wanted to start a zine. One of those booklets copied off at Kinko's, all 3 pages folded and stapled at the kitchen table, and then handed out at random places in Berkeley and Santa Cruz. I never knew what to write, because I didn't really have a passion for anything back when I first got the zine bug. But now that I'm all crazy about self-sufficiency and homesteading and the environment and stuff, I feel like I have something to say!

I want to write about the fucked up things.

I want to write about the drawbacks of monoculture (growing hundreds of acres of just one crop, year after year). The pervasive and unneccassary use of pesticides because monoculture depends on synthetic nutrients and false systems to work. The fact that my mom can't pronounce the ingredients in the bath soap she buys for our family. How organic produce is largely available, but only if you have the extra money to buy it. Deforestation. Oil companies not having to pay for the environmental havoc they create.

I want to write about awesome things, things of promise.

Farmer's markets. Sustainable agriculture. Zero-waste companies. Xeroscape efforts in Las Vegas. The importance of the bicycle and public transportation. Beach clean-ups. Radical bumper stickers. And alpacas!

I want to provide people with how tos.

How to... make a compost bin. Bake bread. Make your own soap. Make paper. Refinish a wooden desk.

I want to open my mouth and not be shy, because what I have to say is important, and I want people to listen.