So, you’ve taken a week or so to do inventory, and you’ve come up with a pretty good idea of what you consume in the course of a year. While your first instinct may be to go through the list with a red pen, striking out items that you’re sure you can do without, resist. The object here isn’t to do without; it isn’t to radically alter your lifestyle in the course of month. It’s about finding ways to be more self-reliant and a more responsible consumer. This isn’t an either-or proposition. The self-reliant tend to be responsible consumers, and responsible consumers achieve a degree of financial self-reliance.

Take a look at your food list. How much of what you eat can you produce or process yourself? Say you go through 12 large jars of garlic dill pickles a year. You might decide to make these yourself. Now, you have to decide if you can grow cucumbers, dill, onions, and garlic for your pickles, or buy them. Not everyone is in a position to grow their own produce. Not a problem. Buying in bulk and then processing the ingredients is also self-reliant.

It’s worth noting here that self-sufficiency often requires an upfront investment. If you are going to make your own pickles, you will need mason jars, lids and rings, among other things. When purchasing items that are integral to your level of self-sufficiency, it’s important to look for value. For example, don’t purchase something like mason jars just because they adhere to the latest green trend. Look for quality not trends.

How do you calculate how much you need to grow and how much room you need to grow it? This isn’t as hard as it might seem. Staying with our cucumber example: First, you need to know how many cucumber plants you need to supply enough cucumbers for pickling. Luckily, there are resources to help you figure this out—Yields for Common Garden Crops maintained by the Food For Everyone Foundation and this publication from the Maryland Cooperative Extension. I would also recommend checking with Extension in your area for specific information.

Next, you have to source your supplies and read-up on pickle-making. Again, no problem. Countryside has hundreds of articles to help you learn how to pickle. Our Website and our magazines are an indispensable resource for taking control of your consumption. Try a free issue of Countryside and become a part of a global community of self-reliant, responsible consumers. Don’t forget to follow Countryside on Twitter.

Ann and Roger were over last night after chores. They came to collect the last of the chickens, seven in all. We’ve decided the area that serves as our coop would make much better heifer housing than poultry shelter. Ann and Roger always have room for a few more layers.

After they were done stuffing the hens in gunny sacks, we got to talking about, of all things, chickens. Ann wanted to know what happened to Crook Neck. The news wasn’t good.

Crook Neck survived a fox attack. A couple of summers ago, a red fox sauntered right up the driveway, pretty as you please, past the house and shed, making a bee line for the chicken coop. The coop isn’t fenced; the chickens peck around the barn and dry-cow pasture and go into the shed at night. I happened to look out the window in time to see the initial assault that killed three hens. The noise was horrible. By the time I alerted Wayne and he got the shotgun and got out the door, blood and feathers covered the entire driveway by the barn.

Wayne blasted the fox just as it went after another hen. He’s not sure if he hit it, but it dropped the chicken as it fled. I saw her neck wobbling badly, and turned to go get the axe. I didn’t think she was going to make it, and I didn’t want her to suffer.

By the time I found the axe and got back out to the driveway, the injured chicken was walking steady;well, except that her neck was as crooked as it could be. I decided to wait and see if she improved. She did, and she was mighty grateful to the humans who saved her. After the attack, she flat-out refused to return to the coop. She slept on the porch, and was waiting for us every morning at chore time. She would sit next to me as I cobbed corn for drying, cooing with delight when I tossed her a cob. She was fond of people and would allow visitors to pet her.

One morning in October, I awoke to a blinding snowstorm. To my dismay, Crook Neck was still on the porch. She was covered in snow and shivering. I decided to return her to the coop. She couldn’t survive on the porch, and there’s no way I’m letting a chicken live in my house. I put her in coop early that morning, and by that afternoon she was dead. The other hens pecked her to death. I was saddened and confused.

For over a year I wondered why the other hens had killed Crook Neck. After Countryside Publications invited me join their team as an assistant editor, I learned what had really happened. I had caused Crook Neck’s death. One of the great perks about working at Countryside is that I get to read all four magazines. It’s great. Sometimes, I get so busy reading, I forget edit! Another great perk is Elaine Belanger. No one knows more about chickens than Elaine.

I was proof-reading an issue of Backyard Poultry when I ran across an article about introducing new hens into the flock. The author claimed that this is best done at night. I was baffled, but when I asked Elaine she confirmed that unless you do it at night the newcomer will certainly be attacked and killed. It appears that Crook Neck survived a fox attack only to meet her demise at the hands of woefully uninformed human. I feel bad.

The good news is that since I’ve been reading….er, editing….Backyard Poultry, I’ve learned so much more about poultry. We’re going to build a real coop, complete with a fenced-in chicken yard. Since I am perfectly content to get my meat chickens delivered to my door by Organic Valley or the neighbor down the road, I only want a few chickens for eggs, entertainment, and meditation. Yes, meditation. There’s something very soothing about watching chickens, at least for me. I can’t be in a bad mood when I’m watching the chickens scratch and peck. It lifts my spirits every time.

As the last seven chickens left, I felt a twinge of regret. We have to get more chickens in the spring. I’m going to insist on it. Which means Wayne will have to actually build the chicken coop. He’s already complaining about having another project added to his roster. I’m getting my chicken coop. Watch and see.

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Witnesses claim that Wal-Mart security was encouraging the crowd of over 2,000 shoppers to surge forward as store employees prepared to open the doors. With news crews at the ready, waiting to get the quintessential “Black Friday” shot of throngs of dedicated consumers rushing in to start off the holiday season, the mob became uncontrollable. Onlookers and police describe the scene as hellish as the whipped-up crowd broke through the steel and glass, trampling a man to death and seriously injuring several others. The death toll in this year’s official holiday kick-off stands at 5 as of this morning.

Of course, everyone is outraged. The pundits are jawing away, decrying the ills of such behavior and laying blame on everything and everyone imaginable. But what good is pointing out the obvious? Yes, we have promoted the act of holiday shopping to the status of national duty. But even so, does that duty require a willingness to give life and limb for a discounted HDTV made in China? Count me out.

I’m often asked why I don’t run to the malls immediately after Thanksgiving to get in on the great deals. The answer is simple. They’re not great deals. Think about it. How much time does it take to plan where to shop, drive there, find a parking spot, and go from shop to shop? Since the closest mall to me is over an hour away, the answer is hours. My time is worth something.

Then, there’s the gas money, the money you spend on impulse (even though you made a list and promised yourself and your significant other you would stick to it) and of course, the purchase of a “value” meal for lunch. By the time you consider all the expenses associated with shopping and add them to the risk of losing your life so some greed-gripped shopper can get a bargain, the idea of mob shopping becomes downright repulsive.

Besides, giving mass-produced consumer goods isn’t my style. I like to give gifts that I had a hand in making. Making something specifically for another person let’s me spend time contemplating the ways in which they have enriched my life. This time spent thinking about the benefits of the relationship is a blessing for me. Sometimes I forget to take a moment and appreciate the people around me. Creating gifts gives me an opportunity to reconnect with them. And it’s a whole lot safer than shopping at Wal-Mart.
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You don’t have to be a master artisan to create gifts for those you care about. Here are ten gifts you can make yourself without going broke or getting killed:

1. Flavored Sugars. Add vanilla beans, whole coffee beans, whole cocoa beans, cinnamon sticks, orange zest or orange zest to a pound of sugar. Place in a decorative glass jar (leave beans or zest in).
2. Photo Albums. You can personalize a store-bought one or make your own. Fill it with pictures of you and the person you are giving it to. Spend some time looking through old photos to find just the right ones.
3. Flavored Coffees. Make flavored coffee the same way you would make flavored sugar. Buy a couple of spoons at a discount store. Dip the tips of these in melted chocolate. When it’s dry wrap the dipped part of the spoon in plastic and tie with a bow. Do the same with the coffee. Place the chocolate-covered spoon, and coffee in a mug.
4. A casserole. Bake someone’s favorite and give it to them in a nice dish.
5. Scented Bath Salts. Combine epsom salt with dried herbs or a drop or two of scented oil. Tuck packets of scented salts into a small basket with a soft wash and a loofa.
6. Garden Seeds. If you have a gardener or two on your list, give them seeds you saved from your garden. No saved seed? No problem. Buy a couple of packets of bulk seed, and break them down into smaller packets. You’ll have great gifts for the gardners in your life and some for yourself, too.
7. Plant Starts. Do you have a house plant a friend or relative admires every time she comes over? Give her a start off of it in a small terra-cotta pot.
8. Homemade Wine. If you make it, share it. This is my favorite gift.
9. Address Book. One year I found a beautiful address book in a discount bin. My family is highly mobile; addresses and phone numbers change constantly. I updated all the names and numbers in the new address book and gave it to my oldest daughter. She loved it.
10. Give a subscription to Countryside. You’ll be giving your friend the gift of self-sufficiency, helping them to save money and value their abilities.

No matter what holiday you’re celebrating this gift-giving season, gifts that come from the heart inevitably bring warmer returns than mass-produced trinkets, no matter how expensive. Gifts that are fought for with sharp elbows and sharp words don’t say “I appreciate you” to the recipient. Instead, they convey an impartialness, a glaring indistinction between the recipient and every other nameless person receiving the same gift. So, what does it say about a relationship, when the gift was obtained at the expense of a life?

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