Confessions of a Do-It-Yourselfer

I realized recently that some women don’t do things this way. Either they don’t know how, were never taught, or simply don’t enjoy it. I was taught and now know how to do things, plus I genuinely enjoy living this way.

When discussing plans to can applesauce, a friend of mine said, “But why not just buy it at the store?” My thought was, “Why would I do that, when it’s so darned easy to make at home?” I just look at life a little differently than some people, I guess.

I think that’s one of the core differences between me and a non-DIYer. I look for ways to do things at home, on my own and would rather not buy something ready-made at the store if I can help it.

I was talking to my friend Elizabeth, who lives in the Middle East. She’s known me for years, and, although she loves me, she also knows what a nut I can be. I queried if I was making more work for myself or becoming a slave to frugality.

She said, “For you, it’s always been a matter of experience, experimenting, and curiosity. As in, 'Can I do it?'"

I appreciated her candor and realized that, indeed, that’s much of what my DIY-ness is about. I didn’t get in to canning fruits & vegetables and growing a garden because I felt some need to squirrel things away - I wanted to know what I could do. It was a test of my ability, a push of my own personal limits.

The same thing applies when I began baking bread for us. I got tired of reading labels in the store, hunting for high-fructose corn syrup (which I’m pretty certain is the Devil, himself). A friend sent me a bread-machine recipe, and not having a bread-machine, but knowing that a Kitchen Aid mixer was a good substitute, I went to work adjusting the recipe.

And after a few months of tweaking this and that (and producing a fair amount of "doorstop loaves" - bread that was so dense it could be used to prop open a door - in the process), it was perfect. One hundred percent whole wheat bread that rises beautifully, is soft & delicious, and I control all of what goes in to it. I've got it down pat now and I’ve begun teaching friends who want to learn how to bake bread - and they achieve similar results.

As I ponder my garden this year (and gaze at the wealth of heirloom seeds I procured last week), I realize that again, I’m intentionally stretching myself. I’m not 100 percent certain that I know what to do with a patch of spaghetti squash, how to successfully grow cauliflower or how high to make a fence around my garden boxes. But that’s what the Internet is for, right?

I can read books, I can ask other local gardeners, and I can research fencing - knowing all the while that there really isn’t any fence that will keep out a determined white-tailed deer. But I won’t let my lack of know-how deter me; life is about learning, experiencing, and doing. And I’m not going to learn or experience without doing - or at least, trying.

Brendan wants to try to bake dog cookies for Cody - and I’m all for it. I guess my son has inherited my "Let's try it!"-attitude. I hunted around for a recipe that used 100% whole wheat flour and oats (no corn or corn meal) for our pooch’s sensitive stomach. The dog is already gaseous (my husband calls him "jet-propelled"). If we include corn or things we know don't agree with him, there's a good chance we'll go down in flames when the labradoodle-zeppelin explodes. Regardless, the dog cookies might turn out. They might not. But there’s only one way to find out. And I’m all for the experiment.

Sue is a wife, mom, photographer, and freelance writer who also took her "let's try it attitude" in to education and homeschools her son in her "spare time." You can reach her here. She also blogs regularly at A Mother's Heart.