Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life

Mother Earth News Wiser Living

by John D. Ivanko, Lisa Kivirist, Bill McKibben (Foreword)

In the ’60s it was called the "back to the land" movement, and in Helen and Scott Nearings’ day, it was "living the good life." Whatever the term, North Americans have always yearned for a simpler way. But how do you accomplish that today? Blending inspiration with practical how-to’s, Rural Renaissance captures the American dream of country living for contemporary times. Journey with the authors and experience their lessons, laughter and love for the land as they trade the urban concrete maze for a five-acre organic farm and bed and breakfast in southwestern Wisconsin. Rural living today is a lot more than farming. It’s about a creative, nature-based and more self-sufficient lifestyle that combines a love of squash, solar energy, skinny-dipping and serendipity . . . The many topics explored in Rural Renaissance "right livelihood" and the good life
organic gardening and permaculture
renewable energy and energy conservation
wholesome organic food, safe water and a natural home
simplicity, frugality and freedom
green design and recycled materials
community, friends and raising a family
independence and interdependence
wildlife conservation and land stewardship. An authentic tale of a couple whose pioneering spirit and connection to the land reaches out to both the local and global community to make their dream come true, Rural Renaissance will appeal to a wide range of Cultural Creatives, free agents, conservation entrepreneurs and both arm-chair and real-life homesteaders regardless of where they live. Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko are innkeepers, organic growers, copartners in a marketing consulting company, and have previously published books. John is also a photographer. Former advertising agency fast-trackers, they are nationally recognized for their contemporary approach to homesteading, conservation and more sustainable living. They share their farm with their son, two llamas, and a flock of free-range chickens. Rural Renaissance also offers a foreword by Bill McKibben.

Genres: Ebooks, Sustainability, Nonfiction, Gardening

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2009

About the author

In addition to co-authoring Homemade for Sale (homemadeforsale.com), Farmstead Chef (farmsteadchef.com), the award-winning ECOpreneuring (ecopreneuring.biz), Rural Renaissance (ruralrenaissance.org) and Edible Earth, John Ivanko has co-authored, with Maya Ajmera, six multicultural children's books, including the highly acclaimed To Be a Kid, Be My Neighbor, Animal Friends, Back to School and To Be an Artist.

Ivanko is a regular writer or photographer for numerous national publications including Mother Earth News, BackHome Magazine, Urban Farms, Natural Awakenings, Mother Earth Living and Hobby Farms. He was the lead writer/photographer for the book Renewing the Countryside: WISCONSIN and a regular contributor to projects with the non-profit organization, Renewing the Countryside.

With his wife (and co-author), Lisa Kivirist, and son, Ivanko operates the award-winning Inn Serendipity Bed & Breakfast (innserendipity.com) on a small organic farm in southwestern Wisconsin, completely powered by renewable energy and featuring vegetarian cuisine prepared with ingredients from the Inn’s organic garden.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A perfectly fine book for folks relatively new to these concepts, but not very interesting to me personally because I'm at a place in my life where I don't need to hear about sustainability philosophy or about compact fluorescent light bulbs. It's great that the authors took a thoughtful approach to their lives and decided to make big changes. I'm not entirely thrilled that they neglected to explicitly state that the reason they could do this was because they'd made a bundle of cash as ad executives, so their route wouldn't be so easy for the average person to follow, but that's a quibble. I'm less thrilled that they failed to note that their business model works by catering to wealthy people outside of their community rather than being positioned within the local economy- a reasonable and legitimate business decision, yes, but a glitch in their philosophy that deserved discussion.

The voice was my biggest problem though. It's very hard to write about personal movement toward sustainability without being sanctimonious or new-agey or affected, so I don't blame them entirely, but it's pretty clear they're still yuppies at heart even though they've minimized their materialism. (Their solar installer "came from a different generation of renewable energy homesteaders who tended to wear their hair long and sport tie-dyed clothing." Um, yeah, and likely didn't have the bank accounts to be able to pay a solar installer.) They think a 40-year payback period on a refrigerator is reasonable. And, when asked what they grow because they have a FARM, they answer, "We grow people and ideas." I fear that if we met, they'd fall into the category of "lovely people doing great, interesting things whom I can't stand to be around."

[Emily Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to living the good life in a realistic way that wasn't preachy. Inspirational for someone thinking about how they can live more sustainably and make choices that align their day to day activities with their personal values and convictions.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drawn by their passion for living a sustainable and authentic life, John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist chuck their corporate advertising jobs in Chicago and buy a 5-acre organic farm and bed & breakfast in southern Wisconsin. There they bring a contemporary touch to rural homesteading, as they explore organic gardening, renewable energy, green building, all while raising their young daughter to have a strong connection to the land. As a city-dweller who sometimes dreams of the simplicity of the country life, I found their journey inspirational. The book is easy to skip around and read what you like - I personally enjoyed the sections on organic gardening, cooking, and "voluntary simplicity" and skipped the parts on green construction techniques and renewable energy.

[stinaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book thinking it would be about a return to rural life and focus on living off the land. Instead, it was a personal story of a couple that have moved to a rural setting and how they have changed their entire lifestyles, escaping the rat-race to a rural setting, but mainly just changing their lives to become more sustainable. So while it wasn't what I expected it was a well written easy read of a good story of people doing good things, and it had some good instructions and tips and some great resource lists for further reading. Because I had read a lot of the further reading and more in depth information it was very light on. But I think it is a good basic initial reader on how to live sustainably and covers all the different areas of sustainable simple living.

[Amy Kurth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book about the new move for sustainable living. Doesn't focus on any one area, but is an overview of the lifestyle of the authors, who own Inn Serendipity. They quit ad executive jobs in Chicago and bought a huge old farm, and now they practice ecofarming.

I don't know about an *entire* farm, but some chickens and a llama sound pretty cool to me.

[Dede · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into this book right now. I think it might've been a little to textbook-ish compared to everything else I've been reading. I finally decided it would be okay to not force myself to finish it, return it to the library, and know that it will be there for me to check out some other time.

[Angie]

So I haven't finished this and want to sometime, but it just isn't getting picked up these days (and it was overdue at the library and always on hold, so back it went...)