The DIY mentality

There's no feeling quite like being able to point to something and proudly say "I did that," but in a world of fast food, convenience stores, and every necessity and luxury available at the click of a button, the do-it-yourself mentality seems to have gotten lost in the proverbial woods.

Many people have probably experienced elderly (or even not-so-elderly) relatives talking about working a cheese churn when they were younger. Outside of a museum, I'm not sure I've ever even seen a cheese churn. Canning vegetables and pickling seem to have mostly vanished, whereas a generation ago it was much more common. It's so much easier to stop by the local supermarket and buy whatever you need than it is to take a day or two to do the work yourself.

I'm as lazy and time-constrained as the next person, but I enjoy hobbies that are a bit outside the norm. When I took up homebrewing beer and mead in 2007, I had taken up a do-it-yourself hobby, and it quickly became clear that it was not only fun, but also provided a point of pride at the end. Even if I simply followed someone else's recipe, at the end of the fermentation process, I had a beer that I could proudly say was mine -- and even better, it was something I could share.

The time and energy required was minimal when compared to the sense of accomplishment when I poured that first glass of beer for a curious friend.