My friend Susie H.

Inevitably, when someone asks me about my weekend activities - and I mention canning, making jam, bread, or freezing corn - I get this reaction: "Well aren't you Susie Homemaker!" There are some variances once in awhile- substitute Martha Stewart say, or Betty Crocker. Also from my sister: "What are you, like 85 years old?"

Maybe that doesn't bother you, and to be honest, it really doesn't offend me. Truly these are well meaning people - many of them actually love me - or are at least related to me in some way. The sheer predictability of it though, has had me thinking about how far we've come in our society from being self sufficient.

There was a time when putting up tomatoes and corn in the summer wasn't considered just a quirky little way to spend the day. Preserving food for the winter was necessity, and if you decided to go hang out at the beach instead of cooping yourself up in the kitchen with a water canner...well, you were the fool. Or you had a staff of people that could do that for you. Either way, there was the inevitability that the life giving season of summer would end, and the more of it you could stuff into little jars, the happier you would be in the winter.

I guess that's why folks think what I'm doing is so quaint. These days, if you're making or growing your own food, it's viewed as a hobby, rather than a necessary way of life. I also think that women have worked so hard to get out of the kitchen, it's a little confusing that I choose to put myself back in. As a feminist and Women's Studies graduate, I've spent a lot of time thinking about this conflict. I think it's definitely different for me, and other women, to undertake this lifestyle than it may be for a man. I'm pretty sure a man wouldn't get the same "Susie Homemaker" reaction - I may be wrong, let me know. Anyway, this is just to say, this is hard work, so if there ever in history was an actual Susie Homemaker, I hope I'm at least making her proud.