Now I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade, but frankly I am weary of the folks that have so devoted themselves to the DIY ethic as though they were still living in an era when there were no stores or available craftsmen with which to trade expertise.  This is not a realistic model of DIY for ANYONE.  I haven’t spent a ton of time on these folks, but it seems to me that they have supported their DIY addiction with a blogging career focused on all their craft.  So more power to them, it looks really great and fun I would love, love, love to be in their shoes, but I am not.  I am just here screaming about how sour the grapes must be…

No, my problem is that this is all so typically AMERICAN.  It is so all or nothing.  Either you go to McDonald’s and buy nothing but processed, prepared food OR you live off the land consuming nothing but food grown and animals raised on your 1/6 of an acre.    Either you come home, plug into an electronic device and passively consume entertainment till you go to bed OR you raise bees to collect wax to melt into the candles with which you light your house every other day.  It sometimes feels as though there is no rhetorical middle ground for the person who has an average job, with an average house, that sets aside some ground for some seasonal vegetables to supplement and inform their cooking.