…but not until you own it.
In 2003, I began, what I refer to as, our full-fledged homesteading. We’d purchased 6.69 acres in the foothills of the Appalachians, our closest city being Athens, GA (Bulldawg country).
We now owned a fully fenced blank slate with so much potential! Since I was the first in 5 generations to embrace an agrarian lifestyle, I had very little knowledge about what I was getting into.
At this time, there was no Google, YouTube, podcasts, online homesteading groups, and very few homestead conferences around the country. I had books. I read so many books on farming and self-sufficiency, I’ve actually called myself the “book taught” farmer.
I remember the day a lady from our church came to show me how to butcher chickens. I had too many roosters and some had to go. She showed me and my kids, what I refer to as, the Laura Ingalls Wilder technique. A stump of wood and a sharp ax. After the deed was done, I asked her how I was supposed to get them ready to put in the stew pot.
“Oh! I have no idea how to do that!” she told me…
I had 5 roosters bleeding out on the fence rail and all 6 of my kids looking at me.
I looked to one of my daughters.
“Lauren, run to the basement and get Carla Emery’s book, “Encyclopedia of Country Living”. I think there’s something in there about plucking and gutting.”
She and her best friend ran to retrieve the book and returned. I flipped through the pages and found the section on “evisceration of a chicken.” Just a bunch of words without any pictures or drawings. Lauren and her best friend volunteered to give it a try first. I can still see the two of them on the back deck, Lauren kneeling on a towel, knife in hand, before the deceased rooster. Her friend beside her, open book in hand, “Step 1.”
And so began our knowledge of butchering chickens. All of us tried our hand at owning this new knowledge. With each rooster, we tweaked the technique, understood the instructions better, knew what to anticipate.
After all was cleaned up and the roosters were simmering in the pot, there was a profound sense of accomplishment. A confidence for the next time. A certain “power” knowing I could do this chicken processing on my own and feed my family. I now owned that knowledge!
And after butchering hundreds of chickens over the years, I honed my skills and techniques and eventually taught butchering workshops for others who wanted to own the power of knowledge.
My heart goes out to those who are new to the homesteading lifestyle nowadays. There is so much knowledge! So many varied techniques, diversity of opinions, and an incredible amount of ways to obtain knowledge. Shoot, nowadays you can just speak into the air and get an answer!
It’s incredibly overwhelming and at times debilitating. Analysis paralysis is a real struggle.
If YouTube viewing guaranteed a working knowledge, we’d all be experts!
But it doesn’t. Nor does just reading or listening.
In order to experience the power of knowledge, you must do the task yourself. Virtual doesn’t count. Dirty hands do. Head knowledge doesn’t count. Working knowledge does.
So I challenge you. Before you watch another video, listen to another podcast, or attend another conference, make the knowledge you already have in your head or in your notes a reality. And after you do, you will OWN the power of knowledge!
