Radical notion: traditional homemaking

AKRON, Ohio — What some people would consider adversity, Nika Franchi sees as a stroke of luck.

Franchi and her husband, Ben, were translators who often worked on international business deals, until the global recession dried up their livelihood. Now they live primarily off the food they grow on their rented property in North Akron, and the money Nika Franchi makes from selling the bread she bakes.

They had long been drawn to the idea of a simpler, self-sufficient lifestyle, she said, but they never had the courage to make the change until “we were fortunate enough to be cornered into this situation.”

Now their lives revolve around home, family and hard but life-sustaining work, and Franchi sees her role as keeping the family together.

She’s an example of what author Shannon Hayes calls radical homemakers — women and men who are reclaiming the traditional role of the homemaker as part of their desire for a less materialistic life. It’s a social movement that’s drawing a small but growing number of people, many in their 20s and 30s, who measure the value of their lives not in terms of money but in aspects such as strong relationships, ecological sustainability and happiness.

Hayes said radical homemaking is part of a quest for an economy that generates a living for everyone rather than a killing for a few. “The idea ... is understanding what enough is,” she said in a phone interview from West Fulton, N.Y., where she and her husband are involved in running her family’s farm.

In a way, it’s a move backward. Radical homemakers are embracing skills that were common among earlier generations of women, such as canning, sewing and growing food.

But the movement rejects one vestige of the past: the perception of homemaking as inferior work.

Radical homemaking shifts the household from consumption to production, she said. It considers the household a shared responsibility and recognizes the roles as equally important.

That’s the kind of life the Franchis are pursuing. Ben Franchi’s job is taking care of the garden and maintaining the cars, the machinery and the systems in the house such as the plumbing. Nika Franchi does the cooking and housekeeping, home-schools their daughter, Ellie, 15, and bakes 150 loaves of bread every week in summer to sell at the Countryside Farmers Market on Saturdays.

“If somebody told me three years ago this is what I’d be doing, I’d never believe them,” Nika Franchi said.

Growing up in Moscow in an intellectual environment, she was expected to make a living from her mind rather than her hands. And for many years, she did. After studying classical piano at the Moscow Conservatory, she became a translator who often found herself in corporate boardrooms working on multimillion-dollar deals.

But she knew she wanted something different.

Her work can be demanding. A typical day might find her cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, canning fruit and baking bread for her family’s use, all while trying to deal with some crisis in one of the family members’ lives. (Besides their teenage daughter, the Franchis have two adult children.)

But there’s an upside, she said. For one thing, she and her husband no longer have to pay for services such as child care and cleaning. And she said she has time to take her daughter places, cook dinners, hunt for mushrooms in the woods, play her beloved grand piano, read and even make her own sour cream and butter.

“I’m actually living rather than waiting to live,” she said. “I’m very busy living my life.”

Radical homemaking isn’t necessarily a rural pursuit; in fact, author Hayes said most radical homemakers live in cities or suburbs. In many cases, one partner will work full time outside the home.

What they share is a commitment to ecological sustainability, social justice, family and community, she said.

Hayes said the term “social justice” sometimes puts her at odds with those who equate it with socialism. Likewise, she said some conservative Christians reject the idea of spouses as equals, although others embrace radical homemaking’s focus on home and family.

She’s also gotten some criticism from people who think the concept is anti-feminist, but she said that comes mainly from people who don’t fully understand it.

And then there are people “who think I’m really weird,” she said with a laugh.

Franchi said her family’s lifestyle often intrigues people, but most see it as curious rather than bizarre.

The idea of simplifying life and focusing on family appeals to many, she said.

And as Franchi asked, “What’s radical about it?”

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