For the sustainability class, one of the books I chose was Jenna Wognirich's Made From Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life. I had been a fan of her blog before I designed this class and knew I wanted to include her work somehow, as she seems to be down-to-earth, accessible, and motivating. A fan of her blog, I had yet to read her books, but I did read MFS over the weekend. I dug into it like a garden, let it carry me away like her dogsledding team would, gobbled it up like the bread she writes of baking. (I know I'm being corny here, but her prose is so homey and light that it just feels right.) I don't know about anyone else, but upon finishing her book, I propped it open at page 72 and proceeded to bake bread from her easy recipe (with a few modifications, including whole wheat flour); it turned out wonderfully and V., L., and I ate half a loaf immediately, still warm and slathered with butter and honey.
I already cook and bake from scratch, but Jenna has inspired me to try baking our own bread weekly (instead of on the random occasions when the mood strikes me). Already a passable crocheter but a very-beginning knitter, after finishing the book I picked up some knitting needles I had previously discarded and set to work again on a scarf I've wanted to make for V. Additionally, in late December I had declared to my husband that one of my intentions for the new year was to have backyard chickens, and now that I'm half-way through Jenna's second book, Chick Days, I'm feeling more eager and better informed than ever.
I appreciate reading the memoirs of someone who works a 9 to 5 job and still has taken it upon herself to live a more self-sufficient and sustainable life. Her books really do serve as a guide for anyone who has a homesteading itch, which apparently I do.
Who knows, maybe my next flash of homesteading inspiration will be to pick up a dulcimer, which Jenna described as "beginner-proof." As someone who's background in playing instruments is two semesters of violin in college, I think beginner-proof sounds just perfect.
