Why are there six different varieties of juice in my fridge? In large plastic or glass bottles produced at considerable expense to the environment, no less. What am I teaching my kids about consumerism, stewardship of resources both earthly and personal-financial, and gluttony?
That was the question that finally perfectly condensed all of the thoughts whirling around in my head for the last six months or so. Hyper-consumerism, food miles, frugality & thrift, unplugging from the grid, raising my girls to be self-sufficient & capable both in and outside of the home: it’s time for me to teach them a way of life that draws on the best of the old ways while allowing them to thrive in a new and changing world.
My family currently relies on a lot of outside entities to function smoothly. We buy everything from others and produce nothing ourselves. That’s normal, right? Yes. But normal does not = right. I don’t currently wear a tinfoil hat, but stop for a moment and think about what your family produces or procures for itself, and what your family is utterly dependent on others for. If all of those resources were gone, or prices went up sharply, or your income went down sharply, where would you be? Same place we would be: up a creek with out even the teeniest paddle.
I’m out to change that. We live in a big house on a golf course (hence the fairway descriptor in the title). We bought it before I awakened to what the heck was going on, so we live in a vast house. Too big for four of us. Lest you assume I am wealthy, let me say that we live in an area with extremely low cost of living, have been living off of one income for years, and had operated debt-free for so long (thank you, Dave Ramsey) that we were able to purchase a home that would normally have been out of our reach, had it been sited in a city or larger town.
So I tell you that my home is large not to boast but to confess. We have a big house on a big lot on a golf course. And I am ashamed of it. It’s beautiful. But it’s worthless. All it does right now is sit here, consume energy, and give my girls the perception that everyone lives in a great big house with six bottles of juice in the fridge, and five kinds of chips in the pantry, and that an unlimited variety and supply of food just flows endlessly direct from the grocery store into our three refrigerators and one deep freeze.
I’m embarking on a new road and taking my family with me. This road is going to eventually lead away from Walmart and the local big chain grocery store. It will lead us down gravel country roads towards independent farms & local cattlemen who practice sustainable and humane food production. This road will become a well-worn path between my back porch and the garden that is newly growing in my back yard.
I’m going to convert this big old energy-vacuum of a house into a cottage. Over time, I’d like to see every room in this house, and the half-acre of yard, have a blessed, productive function. Food, clothing, daily bread: we can produce most of the good things that we need here, while still living in the normal world. We can unplug, one input at a time, until we are mostly self-sufficient, even here in the middle of town.
I hope you come with me. I want to share ideas and dreams and progress and setbacks with as many people as possible. It’s so much better that way. If you come with me, we can work together on providing for ourselves in a way that protects the environment, gives us some blessed independence from big business retailers, and gives our children a set of skills, knowledge, and abilities that are priceless.
Let me hear from you so I will know I’m not just speaking into the void.
L
