How does Thoreau express the theme of self- reliance in Walden?

Thoreau
expresses the theme of self-reliance when he insists he wants to experience life for himself,
fully and directly, not only read about it (though he likes to read) or experience it only
through the protective layers of society. This desire to to see how little he needs to survive
animates him. It is what motivates him to move toPond, to buy and reassemble a tiny house, to
dig his cellar for his potatoes, and to spend, as he calculates, only $28.12 to set up his
entire homestead. He plants about two and half acres with beans for a cash crop, but also a
"small part" of it with potatoes, turnips, corn, and peas for his own use. He wants to
rely on himself.

Perhaps the best articulation of his philosophy of
self-reliance is in this famous passage, in which he talks about stripping away all the
props...