We get the same question over and over again at here Countryside—how do I become self-reliant? Readers write in to tell us how hard they’ve tried to build a sustainable, self-reliant lifestyle, only to fall short of their goals and give up. To a person, they make the exact same mistakes, repeating the failures of the teaming masses time after time. Here are the five biggest obstacles that trip folks up.

1. The Hollywood Habit. Someone told me they paid upwards of $10 a head to see the latest mind-numbing “hit” from Hollywood. I can’t imagine parting with my hard-earned money to see anything Hollywood puts out. Ever. All commercial entertainment in this country comes with an agenda. Why pay a bunch of millionaire ideologues for the privilege of being dumbed down? Instead, learn to appreciate the value free activities offer.
2. Going Out to Eat. Why? Anyone who has any respect for themselves at all will avoid commercial eateries at all cost. The food, if that’s a term you’re comfortable using, is contaminated with chemicals and has been handled by hordes of people, many of whom have questionable hygiene routines. Why would you pay good money for nasty food? Instead, learn to cook for yourself. You won’t catch me dropping money at places like Red Lobster or McDonald’s. I don’t do chemical-laden food that comes from China and Mexico. Ick.
3. Buying pre-packaged food. I can’t tell you how many of my “green” friends throw their money away by buying pre-packaged organic food. Sure it’s trendy, and for many of these folks it gives them an opportunity for moral self-licensing, but packaging is still packaging, processing is still processing, and politically correct food is way more expensive than it needs to be. Instead, buy in bulk, grow what you can of your own, and learn to eat sustainably—you’ll find it’s cheaper, and much better tasting. Packaging of any sort makes the food taste funny.
4. Sending your kids to public school. The average family spends $600 per child to get ready for the school year. Add to that all the “fundraisers” that nickle and dime tax-paying parents to death, and the number triples or quadruples. Instead of buying cheap, foreign made clothes and supplies at the big box store, and throwing money down the fundraiser black hole, consider homeschooling or parochial school. These options allow you, the parent, to make sure you’re not paying a public employee to indoctrinate your children. Not only do public schools cost and arm and a leg, they co-opt your values and supplant them with the liberal sectarian doctrine that passes as morality in this country. And in the end, there’s no guarantee your child won’t be killed, bullied, raped, or otherwise assaulted in a public school.
5. Discount stores. Stay out of them. Rarely if ever do they offer any real value. What can you get for a dollar? Nothing that is well-built or useful. Instead, find a couple of second-hand stores and shop there. Besides being much less expensive, buying previously owned items is the one thing everyone can do to save the environment. Recycle and reuse. You’ll get a better value, and you’ll feel better about yourself knowing that soon, you’ll be debt-free.

It can be hard to change your lifestyle from going along with the crowd, dropping a ton of cash on movies and video games, and trying to live like everyone else. When the going gets tough, and it will, remember, your neighbors are in debt up to their teeth. They keep running around the debt wheel, spending money like crazy for the privilege of fitting in. Ask yourself, who wants to fit in with a bunch of people who don’t have the good sense to get out of debt and stay out? Don’t try to keep up with the Jones. They’re going nowhere, and fast.

In the current issue of Countryside (Sept./Oct. 2010) I discuss the ridiculous amounts of money tied up in the food stamp, low-income nutrition racket. While it took awhile, the government has finally decided it is going to do for the rural community what it has done for the urban community. They’re going to throw millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars at “poor” rural communities to help establish (read: nationalize) grocery stores. Ostensibly, this move is to help combat rural obesity. I guess since the effort has failed miserably in the urban community, they’ll try it here just to say they did. Here’s my prediction: the nanny state will spend millions of your hard-earned dollars over the next decade, and NOTHING will change. The obesity rate will rise, not decline. People will still abandon small, expensive stores for cheaper big box stores, and the government will continue to blame everyone but themselves for unhealthy state of affairs.

Some of you may remember that a group of us in my small town (population 898) tried to start a farmer’s market, only to be told by the State of Wisconsin that we need hundreds of dollars worth of permits, insurance, and State-approved electronic scales. Care to guess what happened to the proposed market? The State interference killed it. Proof positive that the government isn’t interested in healthy food or access to it. The only reason they want to establish more state-funded grocery stores is to make sure the food processing and packaging industries continue to thrive. If everyone stopped buying pre-packaged unhealthy foods, it would destroy what is left of our economy.

You can read my article, “At the end of my rope,” in the current issue, which will be on the news stands on September first. Rural people don’t need the government to feed us. Rather, we need the government to quit controlling our food.

I was invited to attend a meeting at my local library to discuss the possibility of starting a farmers market in our little town of 898. The lady doing the organizing is part of an organization that wants to combat obesity. Sounds good, huh?

We met at the library. It was a small gathering, with a three growers, the gal from the anti-fat group, and the manager of a large farmers market in the next town over. It was all sugar cookies and love for the first half-hour. This could work. Then, just as we were talking about how unique our farmers market would be, the other shoe fell and squashed our hopes into a slimy mass of ooze. There was a contract and a fee involved, of course.

The contract required that each farmer carry a one-million-dollar liability policy at the cost of $250 a year. Then, there was a list of restrictions and terms giving the market manager the authority to remove produce they deem unfit and limiting what items farmers could sell. Only a small percentage of merchandise could be handmade crafts. No live animals like chicks and no selling farm fresh eggs allowed. The list went on for two pages describing what farmers could and couldn’t do. To date, no one has signed it. Who would?

Some of you may know that I’m attending law school, and after looking at the proposed contract, it dawned on me that anyone selling a farmers market or running a CSA should have disclaimer for their customers to sign. I’m not kidding. If someone buys a tomato from you and gets a bad case of heartburn or slips on the tomato and decides to sue you, you could lose big time. That’s the world we live in. There aren’t enough obstacles to getting fresh, unprocessed food; some think we need another road block.

While I’m not a lawyer yet, I highly recommend having your customers sign something that indemnifies you. (How do you like that fancy schmancy lawyer talk?) I’m drawing up my own consent and release statement. It goes something like this:

You, the customer, agree to hold me, the farmer and seller, wholly blameless for any and all adversities that may befall you from buying and eating produce and other products from my farm. While we take painstaking steps to ensure the cleanliness of what we grow (unlike corporate spinach growers and dairy producers), you acknowledge that there is an inherent risk in consuming anything. Sign and date here or I won’t sell you a damn thing.

I leave you with a question. How can anyone hope to combat obesity when the people who grow and sell fresh produce are hog-tied by rules and regulations?