Homemade

In a Walmart culture and a global economy - you can buy just about anything you want. I am a big fan of really good coffee, and I have a lot of choices to choose from. How many gourmet coffees can I get by taking a short drive to the store or making a few clicks on my web browser? And yet, I insist on roasting my own. Why is that?

Here is my arsenal of coffee roasting popcorn poppers in my garage. It looks like something from "The Red Green Show".

I also build my own furniture. If I were to compare the price of furniture in the store to my cost of materials and then figure in my time, I would have to conclude that my time is... not worth very much. If I were to pay myself minimum wage to build furniture, there is no way I could build anything as inexpensive as they sell at "Oak Express" or "Target". I am just too slow. Yet I still do it.

Here is the headboard of the new bed I am building. I have been working on it since spring.

I could say that it is all about "quality", and certainly quality has something to do with it. But I don't think quality is the only issue. We tend to admire people who have enough money to eat out all the time - but we also think it strange if people don't know how to cook their own meals. We value competency and the ability to do things on our own - even in a consumer culture. We like to be able to do things ourselves.

All around me I see a driving desire for things homemade. My wife knits hats and scarfs and mittens for our family even though it takes her hours and even though she could buy hats and scarfs and mittens at Walmart for less money than she spends on yarn.

Kelly and my two oldest daughters just sewed their own pillow cases. My 9 year old daughter just made a sweater. My sister-in-law knits much of her own clothes. She even knits dolls and toys for her nieces.

My father-in-law makes his own computers. (I really do think he could make a computer with nothing more than chicken wire, a car battery, duct tape, a coke bottle, chewing gum, an old sock, and spit - just like MacGyver. He's amazing.)

My brother brews his own beer.

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I think that deep down we all love to create things. And I think the reason is because we were created in the image of our Creator. It's wired into us. We love to create a gourmet meal, a new article of clothing, a stylishly decorated home, a successful business, a piece of furniture, a song, a painting... something.

Even if we had enough money to buy whatever we wanted, I think we would still feel the need to do something ourselves - to make something. We want to contribute to our lives or the lives of others. Perhaps that is part of what it means to be human.