Alaska: The Last Frontier

While flipping through the endless channels of cable the other night, my husband and I stumbled upon a fascinating show. Called "Alaska: The Last Frontier," it follows a family who lives on a homestead in Alaska, living off the land and doing crazy amounts of hard labor.

From chopping wood for two weeks straight to have enough for their wood-burning stoves to growing their own food in massive gardens, these people work their tails off. They had canned fruits and vegetables like mad, filling their cellars to the brim for the winter, and their freezers were packed with fresh salmon they had caught themselves.

I was instantly fascinated. I buy bagged lettuce for the sole reason that I don't have to wash it or chop it up, and here they are, growing and catching their food to survive the winter. And the closest I come to catching my own food is chasing after a rogue yogurt as it rolls across the floor in the grocery store. In both cases, though, I think the sense of accomplishment and victory is the same.

Now I have had a green thumb from time to time. Two years ago I bought a small clay pot and planted few little starter tomato plants in it. Was the pot ten times too small? Maybe. Did I only get about three cherry-sized tomatoes off of them? Yes. But those three tomatoes were delicious.  The overall cost of each tomato was about $5. But that's the price you pay for organic food.

I learned an important lesson after watching this show. There are two types of people in this world: those who throw away a pair of shoes because they stepped in some doodie and those who do not. 

Let's just say I need a new pair of shoes.