Self-sufficiency . . . have you thought about it?

[digitS']

When I look back on my life, I see lots of examples in the direction of self-sufficiency. In fact, its one of the reasons I came to where I live 40 years ago.

In a few ways, and despite health problems, Ive achieved a measure of self-sufficiency. What has begun to concern me at the moment is my lack of energy independence. (Anyone ever built a wood-fired electric generator to run their freezer ? Just kidding !)

With regards to food production, Ive got it down modestly well. Where are you at?

Steve
:tools

 

[miss_thenorth]

Up until this year, I have lived in a subdivision, so I have never had the means for selfsufficiency. It has always been a dream of mine,(more so than my husband's, although he tolerates me and even encourages me). Now that we are out in the country, It is my goal to become as self sufficient as possible, and increase every year.

So far, I have a small acreage, (3)--two horses who will take up most of the land, laying hens, meat rabbits soon to join us (I am building them cages right now), meat chickens and 2 pigs in the spring. Also, I will have the biggest garden of my existance. Previously, I could only have a small one since I lived in the city--not much yard space. I want to be able to provide as much for my family as possible w/o having to depend on grocery stores much.

My dh and I have also looked into off the grid living, and the place where we live now has ALOT of wind. We will eventually put up a wind turbine, to be less dependent on Ontario hydro, and perhaps some solar panels.

My main reason for wanting to be self sufficient--is for food. With all the genetically modified food coming out, and now 'cloned meat' is considered safe for human consumption, not to mention steroids, antibiotics etc etc that are put into food, makes me want to keep away, or shall I say RUN away from all that. It's bad enough with all the fish farms, etc. cna you even eat wild caught tilapia anymore? Rant rant rant.

Self sufficiency--I have thought about it and am trying to live it. I also think it is good for family values .

Glad you brought it up.

 

[Buff Shallots]

After September 11, 2001, I thought about it a lot. About dependancy on oil for heat & electricity for our all-important computers, and availability of gas for trucks to deliver food to grocery stores...

But since then, I've read enough about achieving near self-sufficiency, to know that I'm not capable of it. I'm not tough enough to rear our own pigs, eat root vegetables and canned pickles all winter, and slaughter chickens. That's the whole crux of it. I'm not mentally strong enough for it. Sad, right?

I am good at splitting wood however, if we ever get a woodstove...

 

[digitS']

If it came down to weaving a hair shirt and living in a cave . . .

But, there are things we can do, or at least, train ourselves to do, which not only adds to our sense of self confidence but contributes to our lives. Miss_thenorth hits on some of them - altho' I'm wondering about those 2 "hayburners" out in the field.

Some homes around this neck of the woods were without electricity for 3 weeks after an ice storm not all that long ago. (Fortunately, I dodged that bullet! But, I don't need to go thru another volcanic eruption to want to have some idea how I might get by without visiting the supermarket every single day. But, I'm not going to live my life waiting for calamity - heck, that's no fun !

It's a bridge too far to return to a 19th century life for most of us. But, this isn't an all-or-nothing issue. If my hobby is financially & emotionally uplifting - golly darn !

And, speaking of the hayburners - lots and lots of folks in towns and in the countryside used real horsepower at one time. I'm just envious of the composting possibilities.

Steve

 

[silkiechicken]

So far the only semi efficent part of my stuff is growing veggies. Even meat and eggs the chickens make depend on large suppliers. I don't know if I could really ever get off the grid. My goal however, is to be able to grow a years worth of veggies and eat left over roosters! Even if the chickens eat store bought food.

 

[Reinbeau]

I would love to get off the grid, it's a dream of mine, but probably unobtainable. If I had the money, I'd build a green home on a good chunk of land and do the homesteading thing. Unfortunately I just don't have the money to invest. Oh, I know, you can do it with toothpicks, shoestrings, live in a crate for two years while you build it yourself by harvesting the wood from your woodlot and hewing beams by hand.....ya, right. I'm a 51 year old female with little financial backup, however, I do own this house and do have a nice veggie garden, and will have chickens in the spring next to the honeybees we've got already, so I'll be as self-sufficient as my current conditions allow.

 

[sunnychooks]

My main reason for wanting to be self sufficient--is for food. With all the genetically modified food coming out, and now 'cloned meat' is considered safe for human consumption, not to mention steroids, antibiotics etc etc that are put into food, makes me want to keep away, or shall I say RUN away from all that. It's bad enough with all the fish farms, etc. cna you even eat wild caught tilapia anymore? Rant rant rant.

BINGO!

This is exactly the reason why I feel it's so important to be able to control at least some of our food source. We like to eat as much organic as possible ($$$), but it's not as much as we'd like to because of the cost. After hearing about some of the organic companies that are finding loopholes and being investigated I'm not even sure I trust them to provide products that are healthier than the conventional foods.

So far, we have chickens that provide eggs for us with plenty to sell, dairy goats that provide us with milk that we use to drink and make dairy products from and wood that my DH splits and chops that reduces our dependence on heating oil and the electricity to run the furnace. I'm SO excited about my veggie garden! My goal is to be able to have enough to can, as freezing requires electricity to operate the fridge. We will never be able to live off the grid, but we'd eventually like to be able to live on the egde of it!!!

 

[patandchickens]

I have a problem with the term "self sufficiency", actually. It makes it sound like it is a plausible goal to be 100% 'self sufficient', that is, to not be at all 'other-dependent'.

Unfortunately hardly anyone anywhere *ever* has been TRULY self sufficient in that sense. I mean, the pioneers - they brought stuff along, they bought stuff trekked in from the East and Europe, they bought and traded things from others living in the area. Same thing pretty much throughout human history and across the globe. You just can't make/grow/find everything in one place, and many things are far more feasible to make/grow/find by specialists (who then trade 'em to others to supply thr specialists' daily needs) than for every family to 'roll their own'. In fact you might justifiably argue that one thing that largely distinguishes humans from other species on earth is our (largely necessary) NON self-sufficiency.

It seems to me that the rational goal is simply to not depend on others (and especially, not depend on energy-wasting earth-harming practices) for those things in life that we really COULD pretty easily do ourselves or substitute something else for.

So to me, it does make sense to grow whatever portion of your food you realistically can (which will depend on where and how you live) and try to avoid buying foods trucked in from afar. And all that.

But there is a curve of diminishing returns. A wind turbine or solar collection system probably *does* pollute less than coal-fired grid power, but you are going thru all those lead batteries... Woodsmoke (e.g. from wood heated homes) is a major cause of smog and air pollution in many places, 'free and green' tho the wood is... etcetera. And you certainly don't want to depend on self-sufficiency for medical care

Besides, there are WAY too many people on this beleaguered planet for everone to be able to go out and make like Thoreau in the forest, anyhow.

I think that in large part, the benefits that 'self sufficiency' is supposed to bring are really more a matter of just doing what we can and NOT doing what might be fun but doesn't really need doing.

If you ask me, which of course nobody did , what this world needs isn't self-sufficiency so much as self-RESTRAINT. No yearly vacation travel, no redecorating the house with the credit card when it gets boring, no throwing things out that could be reused, no buying things we could get secondhand, no frivolous energy-intensive hobbies (I would include water0 and far-away-nursey-grown-plants intensive gardening n this category). Like that. A way of living in which we learn to use (and be satisfied with) what is harmlessly available, not what we decide we Just Want.

THEN, sure, also grow your veggies and spin your sheep into sweaters and make pee and ashes into soap, sure, that is good too as far as it goes.

<shrug>,

Pat, whose 3 horses, all to some degree rescues, eat some hay from down the road and convert it into better pasture soil and occupy land that really oughtn't be farmed anyhow, so I think are kinda neutral in their impact on the world.

 

[digitS']

I had a baked potato for lunch and it irritates me that the ones from the garden are gone. So this one came from the store. I do NOT have much excuse for that.

Actually, I could have had rice but what was already cooking will need to wait for dinner. Impatience and a microwave made the potato a quicker choice. But, these foods are all part of my self-sufficiency - ism. Besides a bag of potatoes, there's a bag of lovely short-grained rice and some in a container - over 50 pounds. Heck, I'm set for a year of rice with this & rice with that. I've even learned a few more "rice with this 'n' that" casserole recipes this Winter!

The long-term storage qualities are there and I've bought rice (sometimes in this large of a bag for years. If it was necessary, I could eat rice every day and this much would last DW and me a couple of months. Wouldn't even be necessary to do that 3/day since . . . there's pasta !!

What I wouldn't be interested in - is cooking these foods in the basement on the little wood heater. I can do it, wouldn't be fun but I can do it . . .

Steve

 

[digitS']

I have a problem with the term "self sufficiency", actually. It makes it sound like it is a plausible goal to be 100% 'self sufficient', that is, to not be at all 'other-dependent'.

Unfortunately hardly anyone anywhere *ever* has been TRULY self sufficient in that sense.

My father is struggling with this, Pat. Actually, he's not struggling - it's his son whose struggling with Dad's notions of independence. Since, he's 90 next month - I think he's already had time to make up his mind . . .

I try to point out to Dad that he didn't manufacture his vehicle, refine his fuel, lay the asphalt on the roadway, etc. etc. There's nothing wrong with him hiring someone to mow his lawn. Nothing wrong with him moving somewhere he doesn't have a lawn. After all, he didn't build the house, bring in the water lines . . . oh, you know what I mean.

Steve