Little Changes

After I decided to start a garden and work towards creating an urban homestead, I decided that one easy thing I could do to be more self sufficient and sustainable is to bake all my own bread. So, in April, I vowed to not buy bread ever again. Here we are at the end of July and I still haven’t purchased any bread products! I make my own sandwich breads and crusty loaves, hotdog and burger buns, croutons and cinnamon rolls! 🍞🥖

I decided to do this for a few reasons. 1) To be more self sufficient. 2) To ensure that more of what I eat was all natural. 3) To save money. 4) To do what I love – bake!

Prior to starting this journey, I typically purchased store brand (or just above store brand) breads. My husband and I would hardly eat the bread because it was tasteless and floppy, so it would sit in the fridge for weeks. After COVID-19 hit and everything was shut down, I decided to do a deep cleaning, so I cleaned out my fridge. Let me tell you what I found – a half loaf of bread in the very back of the fridge that had been there at least 2 or more MONTHS! And the thing it, there was no mold, it wasn’t dry, it didn’t smell bad – it was basically still good! Ewww!! 🤢

After finding this bread fossil, I made the choice to no longer buy bread. If that bread can still be “good” after so long, who know what’s additives were in it! Again, ewww!!

So, now I know what goes in my breads and in my body. I know that it’ll go bad relatively quickly. I enjoy baking and this was the perfect opportunity to hone a skill and do something that will better myself! 💪

I encourage you to just start with something small. I know some people that will never attempt bread making and that’s perfectly okay! Also, don’t try to do everything at once, you’ll burn yourself out, and it takes time to lessen our dependency on the consumer world we live in. However, there are so many little changes you can make.

Ideas to Try:

• composting
• recycle (try limiting everything you put in the garbage – push yourself you throw away less and less each week or month)
• start a vegetable or herb garden
• ask for paper instead of plastic bags at checkout (or bring your own cloth bags)

Let me know what you do or plan on doing in the comments! 📩

As always, please don’t hesitate to comment with questions or anything else. You can also email me at myurbanhomestead.stl@gmail.com!