I am not watching television right now.

So Ali and I decided to start a blog about doing things in such a way that they take more time than they should-- making our own cheese, raising chickens for eggs, and blogging would all fall under this category. This came at a good time, because recently I've been thinking about why I have so many hobbies and why I like spending hours making things that can be bought at the store for less money than it takes me to make it. I decided that the reason is this:

I just don't like watching TV all the time.

If I go to the store and buy myself some nice Gouda, it takes me maybe 10 minutes to get to there and back. By 5:15 PM, I am sitting eating my Gouda with nothing to do. I turn on the television. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing- I like television. I really like television. But... I also don't want to be sitting in front of it all day. On the other hand, if I decide to make my own Gouda, I need to plan out my recipe, order the supplies and equipment, spend 5 hours making the cheese (excluding brining and aging), and clean up afterwards. This is probably more expensive that going to the store, and definitely more effort. But, I learn a lot about cheese making and have things to do for whole days. That is a very good thing. Same with making bread, beer, and yogurt, and raising bees for honey and chickens for eggs and bunches of other things.

You could argue that most things in our house are for the purpose of taking up our time: board games, pets, books, and, really, the house itself, with all of the work that still needs to get done on it. Probably most people's houses are such. That's what happens in a society in which we often outsource things that involve effort. Cooking, house maintenance, childcare, and cleaning were all things that were done by everyone at one point, instead of things that people were hired to do, and devices were created to do. Sure, people may have wanted to have gadgets and manpower to do those things, but they didn't, and I believe they were better for it.

So, that's my story, and that's why I will be spending most of tomorrow renovating the chicken tractor to get it ready for the nine chicks that are growing at an alarming rate on our front porch. And that's the kind of thing that I'll be posting about. How to make beer, how to make cheese, how to kill and dress your own backyard hens, and most of all, how to keep the TV off.


Drew


As an added note, the computer I am using to write this is the Netflix computer, so you know that I am not watching TV while I am writing. Although, if I ever get the network PC that I want to turn into a dedicated Netflix computer, that will change. But that's another hobby.