Made From Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich
I waited and waited for this book to come in at the library. It’s a popular title with a long list of requests!
This book recounts Jenna’s move towards a more self-reliant, handmade life. She didn’t move out into the wilderness or quit her job to hang out with pastured chickens. Rather, it’s how she changed her lifestyle to reflect simpler, handmade, higher quality priorities.
From the preface:
“I do many of the same things homesteaders do, but I don’t own any land or even know how to start up a tractor…I don’t even work at home. I’m a nine-to-five corporate employee, and that’s a position that doesn’t lend itself to anyone’s mental picture of American Gothic.” (p. 2)
Jenna later clarifies her purpose and philosophy:
“The work in this book isn’t about playing farmer, it’s about being more responsible for the tasks we’ve become numb to…when you start producing your own food, even the simplest plot of potatoes, your life regains some of the authenticity we’ve all forgotten about.
Point is, it feels good to get dirty, work hard, and slow down. “(p. 3)
I can get into that philosophy. You don’t have to be Ma and Pa Ingalls in order to be more self reliant. And there is a lot of satisfaction in doing something yourself.
Jenna began her journey towards a handmade life when she went vegetarian and started reading about factory farming. One thing lead to another and finally, one day,
“I threw my hands in the air. I was done with Walmart and Wonder Bread. I wanted something real.”
She started researching, reading, and hit the blogosphere. She really turned the corner, though, when she found a mentor. A real, live human to help her learn the skills she wanted to master.
The next chapters recount Jenna’s adventures with Chickens (the most exciting backyard accessory since lawn darts), gardening (I get cocky with my hoe), and bee keeping (watch the new kid break out in hives). She started with producing her own food:
“This might be the single most satisfying accomplishment the human animal can achieve…if you can garden, you’re literally giving life to what sustains your own.” (p. 35)
Jenna’s quirky personality shines through as she recounts her adventures thrifting (she prefers work horse kitchen gear gleaned from antique malls) and having working dogs (the poor man’s pony). She’s has a trained pack for dogsledding, and lots of advice in case the Iditarod is your dream, too. Other chapters include learning to sew (from a DVD), raising angora rabbits to make yarn, and getting down with mountain music.
It’s not all homegrown tomatoes and lolling in the hammock, though. Jenna also recounts the sadder parts of her journey, including her failure at bees and putting down injured animals.
“I was scared, but Diana wanted me to understand the full weight of the responsibility that keeping livestock entails – that it’s not all fluffy scarves and omelets.” (p. 121)
It’s a quick read, and it’s not as preachy as many other, similar books. You won’t find a guilt trip about GMO crops lurking on any sidebars or arguments on the morality of animal foods. It’s a nice, conversational little book that makes you feel as though you’ve just had a chat with a champion storyteller hearing her adventures on the farm. The book is chock full of basic advice, tucked in amongst the anecdotes.
I recommend this book to anyone who’s been bitten by the homesteading bug. It’s a lighthearted romp through a DIY lifestyle. You can also catch up with Jenna Woginrich at her blog, Cold Antler Farm.
Blogging with Integrity: I am an Amazon affiliate and if you purchase through my link, I get a tiny bit of that sale.
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If Ms. Woginrich didn’t include facts about dog cruelties in her discussion of the Iditarod, she’s did her readers a grave disservice. For the dogs, the Iditarod is a bottomless pit of suffering. Six dogs died in the 2009 Iditarod, including two dogs on Dr. Lou Packer’s team who froze to death in the brutally cold winds. What happens to the dogs during the race includes death, paralysis, frostbite (where it hurts the most!), bleeding ulcers, bloody diarrhea, lung damage, pneumonia, ruptured discs, viral diseases, broken bones, torn muscles and tendons and sprains. At least 142 dogs have died in the race.
During training runs, Iditarod dogs have been killed by moose, snowmachines, and various motor vehicles, including a semi tractor and an ATV. They have died from drowning, heart attacks and being strangled in harnesses. Dogs have also been injured while training. They have been gashed, quilled by porcupines, bitten in dog fights, and had broken bones, and torn muscles and tendons. Most dog deaths and injuries during training aren’t even reported.
On average, 52 percent of the dogs who start the race do not make it across the finish line. According to a report published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, of those who do finish, 81 percent have lung damage. A report published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine said that 61 percent of the dogs who complete the Iditarod have ulcers versus zero percent pre-race.
Iditarod dog kennels are puppy mills. Mushers breed large numbers of dogs and routinely kill unwanted ones, including puppies. Many dogs who are permanently disabled in the Iditarod, or who are unwanted for any reason, including those who have outlived their usefulness, are killed with a shot to the head, dragged, drowned or clubbed to death. “Dogs are clubbed with baseball bats and if they don’t pull are dragged to death in harnesses……” wrote former Iditarod dog handler Mike Cranford in an article for Alaska’s Bush Blade Newspaper.
Dog beatings and whippings are common. During the 2007 Iditarod, eyewitnesses reported that musher Ramy Brooks kicked, punched and beat his dogs with a ski pole and a chain. Jim Welch says in his book Speed Mushing Manual, “Nagging a dog team is cruel and ineffective…A training device such as a whip is not cruel at all but is effective.” “It is a common training device in use among dog mushers…”
Jon Saraceno wrote in his March 3, 2000 column in USA Today, “He [Colonel Tom Classen] confirmed dog beatings and far worse. Like starving dogs to maintain their most advantageous racing weight. Skinning them to make mittens.. Or dragging them to their death.”
During the race, veterinarians do not give the dogs physical exams at every checkpoint. Mushers speed through many checkpoints, so the dogs get the briefest visual checks, if that. Instead of pulling sick dogs from the race, veterinarians frequently give them massive doses of antibiotics to keep them running.
Most Iditarod dogs are forced to live at the end of a chain when they aren’t hauling people around. It has been reported that dogs who don’t make the main team are never taken off-chain. Chained dogs have been attacked by wolves, bears and other animals. Old and arthritic dogs suffer terrible pain in the blistering cold.
The Iditarod, with all the evils associated with it, has become a synonym for exploitation. The race imposes torture no dog should be forced to endure.
Margery Glickman
Director
Sled Dog Action Coalition, http://www.helpsleddogs.org
I’m sorry I wasn’t clear. The author did not mention the Iditarod, I did as a way of introducing the hobby of dogsledding in a way that readers would instantly understand (I hoped.)
Ms. Woginrich took her dogs sledding around her property, not competitively. She also writes of her dogs with great affection and it is clear that they are parts of her family. In the book she has 3 dogs; according to her blog she has two.
I read it a while back and LOVED it!!! I want chickens and sheeps, now
Thanks so much for reviewing this one! It has been on my “just gotta read” list for months. Of course, now I want to read it even MORE!
I really enjoyed reading this book. I’ve been following her blog too. I’m glad you commented on it.
Thank you!!! I’m checking the library now. This sounds like something I’ve been looking for. I’ve been bitten, but I need encouragement.
Oh, Sherry, you’ve got to try out this site: http://www.backwoodshome.com
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