Back to Basics

Reclaiming the Power of Self-Sufficiency

Dear friends,

Last week, I learned how to make butter from the fresh cows milk the farm provides us, and it was liberating.

I’ve always enjoyed the process of creating– of turning a pile of basic objects into something tangible.

This passion is at the heart of why I love cooking from scratch: using fresh, whole ingredients to make as much of what we consume as possible, by hand. Tomato sauce, bread, stock, pasta– the closer it resembles something you’d typically buy, the more empowering it feels to create.

Naturally, when we were provided with an endless supply of milk I wondered how I could expand my practice of cooking from scratch. I initially thought to make butter to save money (butter from the store isn’t cheap) and it’s a luxury I will always justify having. But I soon realized that this basic skill from the past was about more than just saving money because it taught me about the act of repurposing.

Butter is made from the cream that naturally rises to the top of fresh milk–a step removed before it reaches store shelves. Because our milk came straight from the cow, all I had to do was let the milk sit for 24 hours, then skim the thick cream off the surface.

Then you blend.

As I whipped the cream, it slowly transformed– separating into oily clumps that clung together. I reached in, squeezing the butter into a ball. Golden buttermilk dripped down my hands, stimulating a curiosity for all the other things I could make with that buttermilk.

I ran the butter under cold water until all the buttermilk had been extracted and I formed it into a block like the ones you get at the store.

I had just made something, that the only way I could have previously consumed it, was to buy it.

I felt competent, capable and a reclamation of power.

But really, Greek philosopher Epicurus explains the feeling best, “the greatest fruit of self-sufficiency is freedom.”

The Evolution of Self-Sufficiency

At the dawn of time, Homo sapiens faced one primary challenge– survival.

Over millennia, they honed their ability to not just survive, but thrive. They learned to sew and knit their own clothing, build strong and enduring structures, create and repurpose ingenuitive tools, and grow and preserve food. These basic life skills, once essential, were passed down for generations.

But with industrialization and technological advancement, many of these skills were no longer a necessity for the everyday person. As an article by Krudo Knives on the “Lost Skills Revival” explains, “mass production, convenience-driven consumerism, and a focus on efficiency led to a decline in the practice of these crafts. In their place, specialized professions emerged, making it easy for people to rely on experts for services that once were done at home.”

Take butter, for example. Eventually it became easier to buy it than to make it.

The more we outsourced these skills, the more we shifted our reliance from ourselves to a system– a system designed to keep us dependent.

The System of Dependence

We’ve all heard the saying: Give a person a fish, and they’ll eat for a day. Teach a person to fish, and they’ll eat for a lifetime.

According to Econation, our current economic system operates on the first principle– top-down control of production, where supply drives demand. “This system relies on people being dependent on goods and services supplied to them by others. This is what effectively keeps people motivated to produce and to conform to the system.”

In contrast, a teach a person to fish approach suggests a decentralized model– one where goods and services are produced locally, creating a more engaged and autonomous society. This shift, however, doesn’t mean idealizing the past.

Was the Past Really Better?

There was a time when communities were largely self-sufficient. People built their own homes, grew their own food, made furniture and clothes, even bred their own horses for transport. But as historian William Anderson points out in The Myth of Self Reliance, this era was also known as the Dark Ages– a time of poverty, semi-starvation, and constant threat of violence.

Many of the systems we rely on today– healthcare, mass food production– emerged from a need to address these hardships. While industrialization introduced convenience, like fast-food, uber and instant messaging, it also led to new challenges. As The Guardian’s Alex Curmi notes, “while these advancements make it easier to get by, in many ways, they make it harder to truly succeed. Human flourishing and happiness is not just about subsistence, but also depends on growth, dynamic problem-solving, and solidarity through hardship.”

Which brings us back to self-sufficiency– not as a rejection of modernity, but as a tool for personal empowerment.

Relearning the Basics  

For the past six months, Alex and I have been learning how to grow our own food.

Whilst the experience has been endlessly enriching, it has also been quite the challenge.

Because growing your own food is hard.

It’s a skill that can take years to master. It requires an ongoing conversation between yourself and the plants– a form of observation and response. Does the soil retain moisture, or does it crumble between your fingers? Are the leaves strong or showing signs of nutrient deficiency? And what kind of nutrients does that particular plant need?

Each clue leads to the next step in the puzzle. The next step in a consistent– often frustrating process– of trial and error.

It’s easy to feel like you're failing when the seeds don't sprout, or the weeds are growing faster than you’re able to remove them. But understanding how to grow your own food is so much more than what we did or didn’t do right. And beyond the joy of consuming the food you have nurtured, I'm learning that the real joy lies in the process of learning, not the end result.

Because, as The Irish Times’ Fionnuala Fallon puts it, “growing even a little of our own food is hugely empowering, not just for environmental reasons, but because in a world where so little seems under our control, it gives us agency.”

The Power of Reclaiming Skills

Over nine months ago when I learned to make sourdough in Guatemala, it sparked a quiet confidence in me—one that has since rippled into other areas of my life, like making butter and growing our own food.

Over time, that confidence has deepened into what the Mental Health Association of Australia and New Zealand calls ‘fundamental well-being’:

“People with strong self-sufficiency have a strong internal center of gravity grounding them. Their inner sense of well-being equips them to be more resilient to negative life events.”

Simply put: the more you’re able to do for yourself, the better you feel about yourself. And with each skill reclaimed, you gain the courage to take on even bigger challenges.

As I spread the freshly made butter onto a slice of sourdough, I realize—self-sufficiency isn’t about achieving total independence, but about making the effort in the first place. Even small actions hold power.

And what those actions are doesn’t matter. Because at its core, self-sufficiency is a practice in learning how to learn—something we tend to prioritize less as adults.

It’s about shifting your mindset, taking responsibility for your life, holding it in your hands, and asking:

What will I create today?