There are so many entry-points to a more natural, self-reliant lifestyle, don't you think?
Some of us began our foray into natural, sustainable living by becoming increasingly disenchanted with an overly-industrialized, consumerist culture that devalues the homemade and the handmade. Others of us discovered the power and possibility of natural living through the natural birth experience and the trust and self-reliance inherent in that process. Many of us discovered natural family living through homeschooling and the discovery of our children's own innate drive to learn and synthesize. Still others of us, myself included, stumbled upon natural family living through Attachment Parenting: following our wise instincts and our children's lead.
It has been interesting for me to see, over the past five-plus years of motherhood, the evolution and expansion of my naturalist, self-reliant lifestyle, my gradual reclamation of control over my family's well-being away from "experts" and towards myself and my home.
In the beginning, I bowed to my obstetrician, pediatrician, and the ubiquitous forces of mainstream culture convincing me that babies should be born in hospitals, newborns should nurse only every two to three hours, they need to quickly learn to fall asleep alone, and they need many medical interventions to keep them safe and healthy. That lasted eight weeks until I realized that none of that made sense for my baby girl and my instincts were telling me otherwise. Still, I straddled the conventional and natural worlds for a few years, increasingly questioning, wondering, learning.
After my third baby's natural homebirth, it all became abundantly clear: I hadn't truly realized the power of my natural instincts, of my extraordinary ability to produce wonders within my own home, without expert interventions or synthetic goods. At the time of my daughter's homebirth, I had been practicing Attachment Parenting and had committed to homeschooling and natural learning, but I discovered just how much I continued to rely on externally-produced goods and services, rather than "insourcing" these things.
Insourcing--producing within our homes--brings with it an extraordinary sense of satisfaction, self-reliance, and personal responsibility that has been steadily degraded in our culture as we increasingly rely on factories to produce our food and home-goods, experts to deliver, teach, and heal our children, and mainstream cultural messages to guide our thinking and doing. We can change the course of our consumerist, mechanized, outsourced lives by recognizing our stunning ability to produce and accomplish within our homes, within our families, naturally and sustainably.
What path have you taken toward a more natural, home-based, self-reliant family lifestyle?
Kerry, I want to thank you so much for this blog and posts like this one. I, too, stumbled into AP when I had my little Peanut 13 mos. ago because it just felt right (later I learned that it was a whole movement). Since then, I've really tried to trust my instincts and not rely solely on the expertise of those without specific knowledge of my child or my situation. We are so much happier and healthier because of these decisions. Because of your blog, I've also moved our family into making more things, such as bread, to help teach our daughter that "things" do not just appear at the store. We visit farms and purchase more produce than boxed items at the grocery store, and spend as much time as possible just being in the moment--especially outside. My daughter is so curious, and my hope is that doesn't change. If it means we un-school, I am willing to take on that adventure with her (and any siblings).
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for visiting the blog and for this lovely compliment! I am so glad that the blog has been helpful for you and it's so nice to hear of your journey to natural family living and greater self-reliance for you and your family. Please stay in touch!
Delete-Kerry
Self-reliance is a wonderful, isn't it? My 4 homebirth experiences were the most empowering moments of my life. Once I realized I could do that, well...I started thinking I could do a lot more! :-) And I have. But there's always more to learn and do. It's a fun path.
ReplyDeleteOh Keri, YES! I came into natural living through natural childbirth. I was privileged to be present for the home-birth of a friend when I was 15 (she was much older of course). Later I was invited to another of her births, but due to complications, it was a scheduled induction in a hospital. The difference was astounding, and it cemented something within me, a sense of the wrongness of the culture in which I had been raised. Natural birthing led to nursing, nursing led to co-sleeping and organic food (the story of that you know), those led to making my own cleaning products. As for the rest, well, I was brought up learning how to cook and sew, how to bake my own bread. Why? Well, it just tastes better. I grew up eating homemade sour pickles with homemade baked beans (don't ask, it's a Maine thing). I still have my great great grandmother's hand written recipe cards. For most of my life, this was just they way my family did things. The best part? I said to my grandfather (who is pushing 80, and is the pickle-maker in the family) that my home-made soapscum remover is the best I'd ever used. He asked me for the recipe. :)
ReplyDeleteI think that in my case the 'how' has become less important than the 'why'. For example, a couple of years ago I hired someone to teach me how to grow vegetables in my postage-stamp of a backyard in the middle of Canada's biggest city. I completely failed to harvest a single vegetable (due to adverse growing conditions to numerous to name!) and I felt really defeated in my attempt to IN-SOURCE food for my family. I had to go deep inside to find my WHY...Why did it matter to me to grow our own food?
ReplyDeleteWhat I discovered was that where my food comes from does matter to me. And having the right to CHOOSE where my food comes from matters to me. It made me open my eyes to the fact that I can't buy local strawberries in my local grocery store in July because they only stock strawberries from California 12 months of the year!
In the end, what really matters to ME is not the IN-
SOURCING (although that is really, really good too). What matters is the questioning of why our modern culture will accept anything less than what makes absolute SENSE. What matters is the freedom to make our own choices and not live under the dictatorship of the local grocery store or the local paediatrician or the local school. What matters is that we follow our natural instincts and trust our children and ourselves.
Your last paragraph is fantastic--a truly insightful description of how grand it is to be a homemaker with purpose, instinct and passion.