Mundelein group teaches others about self-sufficiency through homesteading

Several Mundelein residents who say they want to inspire self-sufficiency and sustainability in others hope to improve quality of life by teaching the community to utilize the natural environment.

Jennifer Kehrer, Holly Kim and Alex Kvasnicka are building interest through a nonprofit group they created called Village Homesteading Mundelein.

"It's taking advantage and utilizing the resources around you, whether it be a talent inside you that you can share with others or something given to you, like the rain or the ground we walk on. If you take care of it and know how to tend to it, it can blossom and it can support you," Kehrer said.

Established three years ago, Village Homesteading Mundelein focuses on education, teaching how to connect with the environment and connect with neighbors in an open, friendly environment. What is most important, Kehrer added, is everything they offer is free.

On the second Wednesday of each month, the group plans presentations ranging from foraging, canning and beekeeping to backyard hens. It also offers hands-on workshops led by community members who want to share a skill. Recently, member Alicia Dodd invited people to bring cabbage, jars, a knife, cutting board and wooden spoon to make sauerkraut.

"We don't know everything, so we are relying on our neighbors and our friends to teach each other," Kehrer said.

Dakotah Norton became involved with Village Homesteading when he was asked to present a workshop on soap making. A lifelong Mundelein resident who has the recycling symbol tattooed on his forearm, Norton said he is happy to see people create a more sustainable environment.

"We manage to connect to our community. We see a variety of people at our workshops, young and old and all different walks of life," he said. "We all come together for that common goal to learn and better ourselves and get into that homesteader attitude."

While the workshops are a chance to learn a new skill, Norton said they also can be a chance to learn something new about people.

"The person who gave a program on foraging we found out was a war refugee during World War II in Germany who had to forage for her family to survive," he said. "I go out for fun. I look for mushrooms for fun to have a good time. To connect with someone who had to do that was wonderful."

Perhaps the most noticeable work that Village Homesteading Mundelein does can be seen outside the Fremont Township administrative building.

Fremont Township Supervisor Diana O'Kelly explained the group presented a plan in March 2013 to rehabilitate an old garden that had become overrun with weeds.

After donations from residents and businesses, the land is now filled with vegetables, including sugar snap peas, kale, eggplant, cabbage, artichokes, onions and carrots.

O'Kelly, who volunteers every Saturday to maintain the garden, points out the garden features a children's area, including a sandbox and -the kids' favorite - bug hunting to get rid of potato bugs.

Dodd said the garden has become a wonderful project, and learning opportunities are limitless.

"We try to teach organic gardening methods that are better for the earth and teaches people to trust nature. There are a lot of times we had problems and the solution for some was to jump to chemicals. We show them there are ways, with a little bit of time and knowledge, you can accomplish the same goal and even more," she said.

The garden often is filled with volunteers ranging from club members and village officials to youth groups. But it serves to help, too. All the vegetables that are picked are donated to the local food pantry and to help low-income seniors.

"It feels wonderful. Every harvest day when we're taking bag fulls in our arms to the township building, hearing Diana deliver it and getting the feedback makes all that time worthwhile," Dodd said.

With the knowledge of how to garden, there also is the daunting task to decide what to plant at home. The group helps make that decision easier. Guests can sample vegetables provided by the club and share what they've harvested at home at the group's annual garden tasting at 2 p.m. Sept. 13 at the township building.

Kim said that looking at seed catalogs or the hardware store shows there are many types of vegetables. Looking at more than 50 types of tomatoes, it can be hard to choose the right seeds for your tastes.

"It's all laid out, chopped up so anyone can come and taste so you know what you want to grow next year," said Kim, a Mundelein village trustee.

Members of Village Homesteading Mundelein see growth, including building membership, finding new ways to educate youth, adding fruit trees and a native garden and developing a permanent meeting place.

Kvasnicka said he hopes Mundelein will inspire others to create their own homesteading group and see the value of the community educating itself.

"We're hoping to use this as a model to teach people they can do this in their own communities. We hope immensely people will start groups like this," he said.