While Rachel is on maternity leave, we’re re-running some of our best and most popular episodes of The Bottom-Up Revolution podcast.

The episode we’re re-running this week is one of Rachel’s all-time favorites. It features our amazing colleague Lauren Fisher, although that’s not why it’s a favorite. Rather, it’s because of the candid way Lauren speaks about her life and the choices she has made to build household resilience: raising animals, growing food, mending and crafting things herself rather than buying new, and, perhaps most important of all, developing deep connections with neighbors and family for the good times and the bad.

Since we recorded this conversation in the summer of 2021, Lauren and her husband have moved to a new home in the same area which offered them greater opportunities for their little homestead. Her parents also moved in with them into the basement unit of the house and plan to eventually build an accessory dwelling unit for them to live in long term. In addition to the chickens and rabbits she was already raising, they’ve added sheep. Lauren’s also been selling and exchanging things like flowers and eggs with people in her town, and plans to do more of that in the coming months. All of these things are not only a way to provide for the family, but also a way to meet her neighbors. You’ll hear more about why that’s so important and the role of community in building resilience throughout this conversation.

• “#DotheMath on Chicken Regulations,” by Lauren Fisher, Strong Towns (August 2020).

• “5 Places to Meet New People to Join the Strong Towns Conversation,” by Lauren Fisher, Strong Towns (April 2021).

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