Somewhat Self Sufficient

I am acutely aware of how lucky I am to live the life I do. While I certainly don't have everything in the world, I rarely go without. It is hard to imagine a life in which I didn't have virtually everything at my fingertips. Sometimes, when I listen to my grandpa tell stories or watch a movie set in the past, I wonder how I would have handled a life like that; how autonomous I could have been.

Despite having so much at my disposal, I find it incredibly satisfying to do things for myself; to be somewhat self sufficient. Even though I {heavily} rely on my modern accessories to get by, I am proud that Wyet and I do some things on our own. There is a simple pleasure that comes in fending for yourself, and although we are limited in our abilities, I am happy for the bit of independence that comes from being self reliant.

This year, Patye taught us how to bottle beans. We were more than happy to learn as this is one of our favorite snacks.

We were hoping to accomplish a year's supply worth of dilly beans. Only time will tell if we succeeded.

I am so impressed with our bounty of tomatoes and herbs this year.

Naturally, we roasted them all and made homemade tomato soup. It was a quick way to use up all of the produce from our months of effort, and also the absolute tastiest.

I am very proud of Wyet. This year, he really took things in to his own hands. Here, he is smoking a batch of homemade jerky.
 

After a few months of drying, we were finally able to harvest our herbs.