All About Us

Hello! We’re a family of three, currently living in the suburbs of Las Vegas. We blog about living “beyond green”, peaceful parenting, the adventures of gardening organically and urban homesteading.

Right now we’re in the midst of a transition. By Spring of 2010, we are planning to be living on the road out of a 22 foot “greened out” Winnebago as we travel the country looking for a new place to call home and absorbing what we can along the way. We’re excited to learn and experience new things and meet new people. We’d love to meet you!

We are a family of Unschoolers; non-conformists to the non-conformist party. We live by principles, not rules, and in mutual respect and partnership with each other. All that we do is Inspired, Not Required and we strive to live our lives with love and excitement.

Care to join us?

My name is Tara.
Pronounced like Star but without the “S” and with an “uh” at the end.
Go ahead. Sound it out.

I’m a wife. A mama. A spare-time poet. Aspiring Photographer. Frugal Environmentalist. Organic Gardener/Urban Homesteader. Massage Therapist. Revolutionist. Free-thinker. And just an all-around awesome chick.

I was born Tara Edwards and raised in Las Vegas, NV by a single mom, having your typical upbringing and education. However, in my Freshman year of high school, after becoming bored and disillusioned with the system my mom supported my choice to leave school. Of course, we hadn’t heard of unschooling or deschooling at the time and didn’t know anyone else who homeschooled or unschooled. But I still remember when she told me “school’s not for everyone” and that ultimately my success relied on no one but myself. Those words resonated within me, and even when I experimented with some less than wonderful decisions, I still felt the underlying sense of empowerment she gave me.

I had Zebadiah when I was almost 18. And like any child, he was the biggest, most challenging, most rewarding gift I’d ever received. I’ve made (and continue to make) plenty of mistakes – all of them can be said to be a result of not listening to my instincts – but he was my inspiration for everything that followed.

I worked independently as a massage therapist for several years. I enjoyed the freedom of being self-employed and it certainly has spoiled my ability to do anything but. It also put me on course to learning more about natural health and wellness, and organic and green living. I went from working in a small practice to owning a small business before finally selling it in 2008 to be home with Zeb.

Since that time I’ve had fun with new creative outlets; learning all I can about sustainability, gardening, blogging and photography to name a few. I’ve also become passionate about self-sufficiency, urban homesteading and any other “beyond green” thing I can lay my hands on. I see clients from time to time, but my first passion is my family and home.

This is my sexy husband, Justin. Not to be confused with someone named Jason. He’s a carpenter, a homebrewer and did I mention, the sexiest man around?

He’s a simple man of few words and fewer complaints. Give him a tool, a homebrewed beer or time spent with his family and you’ve made his day. Just don’t assume his silence means he’s shy. Once he’s gotten used to you, he’ll show you his truly goofy side. And then you’ll never shut him up.

He was born in Wisconsin but has lived in Las Vegas, NV since he was four years old. So while squeeky cheese and the Green Bay Packers will always have a place in his heart, he’s still a city boy. (Well, sorta.)

Justin had the typical American upbringing, and is the only one of us to finish all 13 years of public school. He started out as a runner for a construction company when he was 16 and began his apprenticeship in finish carpentry when he was almost 19. He met me shortly after his 19th birthday (when Zeb was a year old) and we fell in love. He said he had never known a woman with such strong convictions. I, of course, was flattered (and a little sad for him). I had never met anyone so calm and kind and heartfelt. In fact, I didn’t even think he was my type until my heart said otherwise.

Justin raises Zeb as his own child, which should tell you something of his awesomeness. He’s playful and energetic and loves to be a weirdo to make us laugh. He’s also an eternal morning person, which means Zeb and I both avoid his exuberance before 9am. He can fix almost anything (except irrigation, don’t talk to him about irrigation) and is most often the action to my wild ideas. Although he’s pretty laid-back, he’s also very adventurous and is always the catalyst behind our travels.

Although Justin never unschooled himself, the principles of following your passions have spoken deeply to his life. Slowly he began to question the things he always felt locked into and began asking himself about his own passions, goals and desires. This led him to thinking about owning a hobby farm and woodworking shop and traveling the country in an RV.

Justin blogs at Not Too Simple.

Then there is 10 year old Zeb; funny, clever, creative, stubborn and certainly his own person. Much like his mom, he refuses to fit into anyone elses idea of what box he should live in and carves his own path into the world around him. He was born in Las Vegas, as well, but swears he was made for snow. He loves Runescape, Legos (especially Lego Star Wars), sleepovers, Wii, hiking, computers and animals.

He started school when he was 5 but became a 1st grade drop-out two and a half years later. His school experience was extremely negative and being a “highly sensitive person”, even traumatizing to him. Unfortunately, it took us awhile to come to our senses and find another way.

Deschooling for us meant healing and it’s something that he is still doing to this day. The trauma he experienced in school deeply shaped his views of the world and even though healed, still left some scars.

Unschooling was the answer to our prayers, not only in terms of education but also in our ideas of parenting. It changed our outlook on partnerships, mutual respect and trust. It forced us as parents to learn things such as compromise, validation and patience. It helped us to understand the damaging affects of knee-jerk parenting and to live by principles, not rules. It changed our lives.

Zeb is a wise and free-thinker. He makes us proud by standing up for the little guy, asserting his views and autonomy and advocating for what he believes in. He has strong political convictions, so don’t get him started. We have complete trust in his ability to succeed in whatever he chooses.