Consumerist Burnout

I told my dad the other day that I wanted to move to a farm in a rural area. The purpose for this is so that I can grow my own food, be less addicted to technology, and reconnect with a slower (read as "natural") pace of life. He said that an agrarian society is unreasonable in this day and age.

The desire for farmland comes from my consumerism burnout. I am tired of consuming grocery store foods that have been sprayed with chemicals I know nothing about, turning to costly movies or restaurants for entertainment, and expecting constant/lightning feedback from too much use of computers. It's boring. And you want to know why? Because the pulses that drive these consumable items/activities are 1) efficiency and 2) cost-reducing. I guess I have reached the point where I no longer care if something is cost ineffective or inefficient if it means that I have no part in the creation of it.

In order to un-do the consumer in me, I asked myself this question:

What is the antithesis of consumerism?

Answer, according to me:

Creation.

Somehow, along the way to becoming the most suburban, hands-off girl you ever met, I lost sight of what it means to create a thing; I lost sense of the craft. I don't know where my clothes are made-- only that I buy them at the store. I don't know how circuits and electricity work enough beyond the fact that when I hit a switch, a light goes on. But I also know that I am not the only one to behave or think like this (food for thought, you reader).

So, in order to cure my consumerist ennui, I am putting forth a little effort to create a little more. I am:
*Cooking more from scratch instead of eating packaged foods. I made homemade rolls on Easter.
*Working on a painting (even though I have never painted before--you should have seen me at Michaels trying to figure out which paints to choose) to fill my leisure time.
*Going climbing every Friday to put more strength-type recreation into my schedule. I will climb a 5.10 yet!
*Reading a book on how to make candles. I went to a fair last summer and saw a family that dipped and carved beautiful candles.

This is a start. I may make a lot of weird-tasting home-foods before I get it right, or paint a lot of awful pictures before I like what I've done. But I don't really care about the consumable finish anymore. I just want to create something for a change.