Home on the Range

I want to talk a little bit about a new trend that's gaining momentum in today's world. Despite the fact that it's not really a trend at all: Modern Homesteading.

Once upon a time this was simply a way of life and required no title. People knew how to live off the land; how to raise their own food and protect themselves from the elements. Unfortunately, we are so out of touch with our basic skills that the prospect of churning your own butter almost constitutes an act of rebellion. Not to mention as primitive and peasant-like. Humans today feel as though they automatically inherit the right to pre-packaged dairy goods simply by virtue of their anatomy. People aren't willing to earn it anymore. Except those riding the wave of modern homesteading. But let's clarify momentarily: I am in full support of this movement. My only qualm is that ideally it need not even exist. I suppose it merely speaks to the immense alienation of man from his original environment and mode of existence.

I'm certainly no one to point fingers, being a complete product of technology and expedience; a concession must make time and again. But all the same, it pains me to see mankind reduced to a collectively of nearly helpless individuals. Please don't take it personally. I'm sure you're all terrifically multifaceted individuals, but as a whole our race is reliant upon the proliferation of industry and specialization.

As such, it has become necessary to create a support network for like-minded homesteaders to share and pass along knowledge. Websites like Motherearthnews.com have stepped in to occupy the now vacant role of informative elders. The skills to live independently are no longer passed down through generations. The advent of the white picket fence has effectively kept them at bay. Nonetheless, a reclamation is being mounted. Individuals are awakening to the realization that things are not right in the world, and by no means sustainable. They are taking back self-sufficiency one step at a time.

And I want to be right there with them. Let's make honest labor sexy again.