I’ve been thinking about where I should start to help those of you interested in being self-sufficient become just that. Some people think that you have to live in the middle of nowhere to take advantage of agrarian know-how, and while that may be true in many ways, I don’t think that’s always the case. I’ve decided I’m going to start basic, and I mean basic. Things that I know you know, but don’t practice.
That brings us to the topic at hand: you. You, personally. Your physical body. To put it simply; stop eating crap that’s not good for you. Exercise, eat right, get enough sleep, brush your teeth. All this will accomplish a few things.
1. You’ll get stronger. How are you going to survive if you aren’t in good enough shape to…survive. Think about it. If you fell on hard times right now, could your body take the abuse that the land is going to put you through in exchange for providing your food? Real work is hard work, and if you can’t take the punishment you’ll either die of exhaustion or starvation. Either way, you’re a corpse.
2. Eating healthy means avoiding fast foods. I probably just lost a few readers, but this is very important. Stop buying TV dinners and paper sacks filled with poison, handed through a window. Make a habit of buying fresh meats and produce (if you can, buy locally). This will accomplish 2 things. First, you’ll save money. If you set out to buy food for a week, I guarantee you’ll find fresh foods less expensive than 21 frozen boxes or Big Macs. Save the extra money, I’ll suggest where to spend it in the future. Second, you’ll be forced to learn to prepare real meals. I can type ‘till my fingers bleed teaching you how to raise your own food, but what good will it do if you can’t process and cook it correctly? You want to practice now while you have easy access to food, because if things get hard you won’t have the luxury of scraping that ruined meal into the trash.
Stick to plants and animals found in North America, especially those in your immediate region. What good is learning to perfectly slice sushi or brown plantains if your supply of those is severed? Get a simple grill and use it often. Defrost frozen foods in room temperature water in your sink. Learn to sharpen your knives. Microwave ovens and gas ranges are convenient, but you may not have the means to keep one in the future. Fire can be made virtually anywhere and you can fall back on that in the hardest of times. Do as much naturally as you possibly can now while you can afford not to. Do these things and everything I write in the future will fall into place for you.
As unlikely as it is, it’s not completely impossible that the bottom could drop out of the dollar tomorrow and we’ll all be pinched. Don’t let the worry consume you, but keep it in the back of your mind and be conscious of the way you live your life. God put the essentials of life at your fingertips. It’s my opinion that to waste those gifts is an insult. What gives man the nerve to decide that we can provide these things better that He can?
At the end of the day, you’ll at least have the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment that doing things the right way brings.
