From filmmaking to gallery exhibitions; curating hootenannies to instigating hoedowns, How-to Homestead highlights new fangled experiments in 21st century homesteading. It started out as a web-based video archive offering how-to videos. Check out the video archives by clicking on the image below!
At the time in 2006, there wasn’t anything like it. Don’t get me wrong, there were oodles of how-to videos on youtube. But the aesthetic conventions, direct address, canned music, overall rough cinematography and lack of editing did not appeal to my sensibilities. This encouraged me to take a shot at creating process-oriented films that were so alluring, anyone watching would immediately catch the homesteading fever. We used the internet as an information dissemination platform. For every video we posted there were also links to websites and books that offered in-depth information on each featured subject. We created community on the web through our calls for video submissions and feedback forum. From the beginning, along with our web presence, How-to Homestead has produced live hoedowns and hootenannies. The live stuff is what we love best.
And in 2011 we embarked on an ultra-local tour bringing a show that included skill shares, potluck, movies with live music and a folk dance to all 11 districts in San Francisco in 2011. Read more about How to Homestead’s 11 in 11 Tour Here. Since 11 in 11, we have performed live at the 2012 Flaherty Film Symposium.
