On having to buy bread

For me, the last couple of years have been pretty laid-back. I've worked a part-time job since - wow - three Septembers ago. That first year, I wrote a thesis on my days off. After that, I took on a number of different projects, some of them worthwhile, some not really. I always had enough time on the side, though, to bake all of our own bread (sourdough, too), brew all our beer, tend the garden once in a while, knit the occasional item, and cook a lot of food. I think I told you all this before when I posted about maker culture and how awesome it is.

Thing is, since early this spring, I've been getting steadily busier. I've churned out a steady stream of short news and culture pieces like this one for a few months now, and I still have to put at least one away before heading out the door for our summer bike trip. And next year I'll be at least as busy, possibly more, when I head back into grad school for another rip at thesis-writing. I've long expected the time when I'd get busy again, and, lo, here it is. No complaint.

Will I still have time to mess around with one self-sufficiency project or another? Sometimes I feel pessimistic about it - I had to buy bread the other day. I haven't really had to do that more than a couple of times since 2006. I felt as if I'd violated my principles - I've been trying to produce a good portion of the food we eat here for a while now, and bread is about the most basic food item there is. When I make bread, I'm a producer, not a consumer. It feels important, even if I have a hard time expressing exactly why. It just does.

I'll give it a go, anyway. I'd hate to regress to the point where I bought bread every week. Perhaps it'll find a fixed place in my weekly routine. It might kill the spontaneity of it, but at least we'd have bread.


As for this year, at least there's still the garden, where the broad beans are growing enormous, the garlic are growing scapes, the potatoes are getting bushy, the beets are sprouting, and the pumpkins are soon to sprout. Not all the idealistic projects have been pushed aside.