When the dust settled after the Tour de Fat in Fort Collins, it’s easy to imagine a world built around bicycles. On my three mile ride to the brewery that morning, I certainly encountered more bicycles than cars, and once I got within a mile of New Belgium, I hardly saw any cars at all. It’s comforting to complain about bicycle congestion.
Our homestead is small, 25’x30’, an assemblage made by numerous Fort Collins’ artists and revolutionaries. Chris Bates, a local muralist and illustrator, painted the canvas that serves as the foundation for everything. Jason Shelman, bike builder and founder of the infamous Winter Ralleye Bicycle Rides, brought the idea of a bicycle-powered water pump to life, giving our homestead just the right amount of appropriate technology. Jordan Twiggs, our very own Urban Cowboy, sewed the kitchen walls, constructed the wooden signs and then hand-lettered them, too. Bryan Whitaker, philosopher and carpenter, built the kitchen sink and the saloon doors, never imagining they would be the most heavily photographed apparatus at the Tour de Fat (at every show, at approximately 1:30pm, people start posing and taking photos with the saloon doors, thinking it the cutest shot ever. Who would’ve thought?). Numerous Matter Bookstore volunteers worked on the homestead, from sewing to painting to water conservation and chicken ordinance research. When you enter our DIY Urban Homestead, it’s like stepping into a group of friends from Fort Collins you didn’t know you had.
Our grandparents would be proud. We are picking up where they left off. We see what’s coming on the horizon and we are getting ready. And from our conversations with people at the other Tour de Fats, so are hundreds and thousands of others. We know how to grow and preserve food, conserve water, and fix what is broken in our lives. Urban homesteading is the only real economic recovery.
(Photo by Jordan Twiggs)
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