I can't believe it's been a year already...one year ago in the midst of the most massive beef recall in history, I decided that my kids weren't going to eat factory farmed food ever ever again!!! And while admittedly, we still do eat a bit of 'FFF', we have made incredible strides toward leading lives of quiet self-sufficiency.
Isn't that a quaint phrase? Quiet self-sufficiency. What does that mean, you ask? It means doing something because it's appropriate, honorable and healthy, not because it's trendy. I read these blogs where moms think they're superheroes because they recycle cardboard or collect rainwater to irrigate their flowerbeds. They throw around phrases like "sustainability, localvore, green, eco-friendly" and honest to goodness, it makes me want to wretch. These are the same folks who 10 years ago adopted whales to prevent extinction. 20 years ago they banned hairspray because of CFCs. They need a cause to feel complete. In another year or two, they'll experience 'green' burnout and find another more trendy cause to rally behind. THAT isn't self-sufficiency...that's self-promotion.
Quiet self-sufficiency is different. It's brown, not green. It's about baking bread twice a week, not because it's 'quaint', but because it tastes good and is healthier for the children. It's working like a dog all summer so that you'll have a steady diet of nutritious food during the dark days of winter. It's turning down the heat; not to be 'eco-concious', but to be thrifty and save a few dollars. It's about seeing the value in grandmother's beat-up dough board; not because it's an antique, but because it's still a useful piece of equipment. Quiet self-sufficiency isn't pretty friends...it's beat up, ground in, worn out, dropped in the mud, covered with manure, and weathered over the course of a long winter. And when winter is over and the first buds of spring begin to show, it's gingerly wiped clean, oiled up and ready for a new season. Quiet self-sufficiency never loses it's usefulness, even when the luster of newness is gone. It only gets better with age.
2 comments:
Andrea! I just came across the following website and thought of you:
http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/edible_uses.php
You might've seen it before but, if not, check it out! It's a huge plant database, with lots of good edible and medicinal info. :)
Great post! This reminds me of a show I saw on tv awhile back where they were tearing out someone's kitchen to replace it with "green" materials. And I thought - how is it green to tear out perfectly good stuff and replace it with something new? Just because the new materials they were using are labeled green and it is all the rage? But they don't see that they just threw away cabinets, flooring ,etc. that was still perfectly usable, and in the process wasting supplies and money. I just don't get it.
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