If you know me very well, you might think this was a preparedness exercise, or that I was desperately trying to prevent food waste. Well, you wouldn't be exactly wrong. You also wouldn't be as right as you might think. These aren't going into the freezer to save for a rainy day. However, they are a way to sustain ourselves.
I've talked about sustainability on our little homestead for years. But I've never been good at defining it exactly. There are plenty of dictionary definitions for the word. I want to talk about what it means to us.
Our lifestyle has always been a little unconventional. We aren't working every day to try to land in a lap of luxury. We prefer experiences over goods. Watching a goat skip, hearing the rooster crow, having a cup of coffee with the neighbors, and plucking a tomato off the vine are all satisfying. Our special occasions include wetting a fishing line, watching a concert in a lawn chair, the local amateur theater performances, and seeing the USA on the back roads. As we age, we try to do the extra-special things more often. Sustainability means we work to keep a continuum of our wants and needs attainable, without going into debt or relying on someone else to provide them.
I may have mentioned that I suffer from some autoimmune issues, but I've never really talked about them here. The short version (that applies to this post) is that I have to be careful not to consume some many foods. That can be challenging when we're doing the back roads thing. Fortunately, we can take a lot of homemade/homegrown food with us. We actually prefer it that way! We splurge on special meals, sure. It's a treat to experience foods we wouldn't find in our neck of the woods. Visiting restaurants that have a local vibe is fun, too. But we save a lot of money and prevent health problems when we decide to be intentional about the restaurant visits.
That explains this bunch of chaffles that will travel with us on our upcoming trip. I'm prepared with food that will prevent health issues, and I won't be throwing away extra eggs before we leave.
