During
and after the Industrial
Revolution
in the United
States,
people's lives changed
dramatically.
Thanks
to advances
in production,
basic needs like food and clothing no
longer had to be grown or made at home. This paved the way for a new
work force leaving an agrarian life to enter factories in urban
areas.
In the midst of all of the wondrous modernization, people began
to forget
how to do basic
things
to provide for themselves and their
families. With
each passing generation, these skills seem to diminish into
novelty.
Today, people have
become reliant on a system that, really, is more fragile than many of
us would like to think.
Our
food supply provides
a good example of this fragility. History taught us a big lesson
when
the
Irish potato famine occurred.
The
potato was
a staple of the
Irish
diet,
especially the poor. When disease ravaged the potato crop, it
resulted in a million people starving to death. Today, in
the United States, we are flirting with the same disaster. Our
food supply hangs on a handful of crops (corn, soy, wheat...) The
answer? Plant a larger variety of crops with
more diverse attributes and resistances?
Sorry, no. The answer, according to our modern agricultural
science,
is the
bio-engineered crop. That's right, it's bigger, it's badder, it's
DNA is spliced with viruses
and amphibians.
It
can
withstand loads of pesticides, herbicides and some even make their
own! Amazing right? Perhaps, but,
however
you to feel about
these
modern marvels,
consider this: GMO crops are starting to pop up all over the world
in places they just aren't supposed to be (some of them haven't even
been approved
be
grown outside of
a
lab) and it's leaving the scientists scratching their heads. Now these
new strains
are spreading into other, non-GMO crops. So much so, that it's
getting hard to say whether entire
crops of non-GMOs
can remain
untainted.
If
GMO
crops, in
the future, are determined
to be detrimental to our health or environment (which has happened in the past),
we are
all
up the proverbial doo-doo
creek.
While
there is no guarantee having our own fruit trees or vegetable gardens
will protect us from GMO contamination, knowing how to produce our own food may
give us a fighting chance if, heaven forbid, disaster struck our
major food supply. Plus, I just like to garden, and build, and raise
animals... Call
me a traditionalist but, I really like the idea of practicing the
skills it took a millenia of hard work to perfect. These methods afforded my ancestors a better
chance at survival and maybe even a measure of comfort. And
they did this all for
themselves, because they had to.
But,
don't get me wrong. I don't mean to paint too rosy a picture. This
knowledge didn't
come
without the
cost of things like war,
feudalism, child
labor and enslavement.
Every period of human history has lessons to teach us including, and
sometimes especially, the dark ones. But it has
always been
the
ability to provide for oneself and one's family that has given people
power and made them free. Take away a person's ability to provide
for themselves and they are completely under your control. This
is a scary thought and the best way I've learned to combat fear is to
take proactive approach.
The
more things I can accomplish myself, the stronger and more confident
I become. This is one reason I love a DIY project. Besides saving
money and learning something new, finishing any
project from building a composter to raising your own livestock can
give you a sense of pride in
that
accomplishment. With
skills and knowledge also comes peace of mind. If you have a good
understanding of how something works, you know you can deal with it
when problems arise (because they will).
Another
benefit of learning self-reliance is a deeper understanding of the
true cost of resources. I've often heard friends say they are amazed when
they realize how much time and effort it takes to grow a
garden or raise an animal. It not only makes you think twice about
wasting anything but you also start seeing value in almost everything
from kitchen scraps and chicken poop to gray water and even urine.
Okay, you don't have to take it that
far, but you get
the idea.
It's an important lesson in the whole
cost of something and it's one more people should learn.
So
far, I've
presented this blog
mostly
in the context of food production. It's
only one example. There are, of course, countless other ways people
can learn to become more self-sufficient. From preserving and
cooking their
food to alternative energy projects, water collection and storage,
natural
remedies and simple shelters; I hope to cover it all and more in this blog.
-Anna Kenfield, RA