Author of Be Ready for Anything and the online course Build a Better Pantry on a Budget

Editor's Note: When I first wrote this article, in 2014, we lived in farm country in California, had our own garden and chickens, and we did it mostly as an experiment. Today, this experiment is actually of vital importance. It shows that in many parts of the country, it's possible to get nearly all your food from nearby sources. And right now, in 2022, with massive supply chain issues, this is more important – and perhaps essential – than ever before. ~ Daisy

(Originally published August 7, 2014.) My family and I decided to embark on a revolution. We have banished the grocery store from our lives for the next 3 months.  Our Grocery Store Rebellion began on August 1, and this is an update on our first week.

The week began with two major upheavals. Our SUV went into the shop, and the cow in which we have milk shares died.

Luckily, we had some extra milk on hand, frozen, while our dairy farmer works on getting a new cow. We have about a 2 week supply of milk left, so we're either going to have to wait, find a new source, spend a whopping $18 per gallon at the local co-op, or go without.

The repair facility gave us a loaner so we were able to make the rounds to some farms in our area. All of the food we purchased this week is from within 5 miles of our home. When we pick up our milk, we go further afield – the dairy farmer we deal with lives about 10 miles away.

My garden this year is very small. We moved at the beginning of July so we were off to a late start. Still, we have some stuff for salads and lots of my favorite jalapeno peppers.  This produce came in very handy over the week of being carless. We live in a very small village that only has a small corner store type of market, so even if we had wanted to buy food, there would have been little to purchase within walking distance.  This situation really motivated me to get my fall garden going, and we are halfway to chickendom with the arrival of our new coop.  We'll finish fencing off the chicken area this weekend, grab some barley for fodder, and we'll be well on our way to egg independence.