It's nine o'clock on a Saturday morning and I'm standing in Home Depot halfway between the seed aisle and the veggie transplant aisle.On one shoulder sits the angel homesteader, whispering in my ear, "Seeds are the only way to go. You cannot be a real homesteader if you are buying those awful transplants. After all, they came to this huge chain store on a huge truck that required a huge amount of gas causing a huge carbon footprint on...on...well on wherever carbon walks." On the other shoulder sits the devil homesteader, yelling in my ear, "Don't listen to that self righteous, tree-hugging hippy. It's so much easier to just buy the four pack of pumpkins, stick them in the ground and use the rest of the day watching chicken olympics in a lawn chair with a six pack, (of home brew of course).
There are so many factors that go into self-sustainability. Sometimes the hardcore homesteader in me takes over and I'm all set to pull the plug and jump head first off the grid into the 18th century. Plow the front yard, we're planting corn. Then there are times like that morning in Home Depot, where the chickens need wormed, the bean poles fell prey to the wicked monsoon storm and the aphids have considered Casita to be ground zero.
I make sure nobody is looking and quickly grab that four pack of pumpkins put them in cart under the tomato cages and head for the checkout.
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