Great article on Mother Earth News

I came across this article in the archives of MotherEarthNews (another favorite web site!)..  It says perfectly what motivates me to conserve, make do, recycle…and long to homestead….

Life on the Homestead….

You — yes, you! — can learn the skills you need to be more self-sufficient. Here’s how one modern homesteader discovered the joys of a self-reliant life.

A good place to start thinking about self-reliant living is in your own kitchen. Where does the food you eat come from, and could you produce more of it right in your own backyard?

When you start to comprehend something as basic as how food gets to your plate, you start thinking about how other items find their way to you, too — things such as clothing, electronics and especially energy. The bloodshed and national security threats caused by depending on foreign oil were loud and clear on the daily news. The scary thing was that I was completely dependent on fossil fuels, and so was everyone I knew. My gas-heated apartment, my groceries from the supermarket, my station wagon parked outside — everything was part of the system. And if the system broke, I was going to be hungry, cold and immobile. So I threw my hands in the air. I was done with Wal-Mart and Wonder bread. I wanted something real. I wanted a lifestyle that was no longer a part of the problem, or at the very least was constantly striving to be less involved in it. I wanted a more sustainable life.

Read the whole article here