I like this pattern of thinking. I have often thought about this, particularly when cooking or baking. Friends have commented on how I like to make things "from scratch" which got me thinking, "have I ever really made anything from scratch?"

Other than poems, no. Even some poems I've written are not "from scratch" in that I am using "found" materials.

I learned the basics of baking from a family friend, who makes his own (fantastic) sour dough loaves. He's using a starter, which if I remember correctly, comes from one started over a hundred years ago and has been continually fed to keep it going. To feed it, he grinds his own flour with a hand-mill, which for a kid, was tons of fun.

However, even he doesn't make bread from scratch. That would involve ploughing the field, sowing the seeds, harvesting the wheat, then milling the flour. It would involve obtaining water by one's own power or setting up a mechanism to do so. It would mean attracting flavorful wild yeasts into the starter base. All of that before baking.

Then, the baking. Creating an environment to bake the bread in and finding a way to fuel the fire with reasonable temperature control.

It's no wonder people lived such short, un-illuminated lives in other ages.

This is one reason I enjoy doing things the "long way" though not necessarily from scratch. It also tends to result in better products as attention to detail is present at each step and certainly, it has helped me to cultivate an appreciation for what I consume and how I try to approach my goals.

On the downside, I do find myself sometimes overly critical of people who take shortcuts, but I am trying to be more understanding. Still, when some chubby guy tells me again "how hard it is in America" while controlling Netflix on his huge flatscreen TV from his phone, my knuckles get a little itchy.