Hello everybody! I very much enjoy all the info everybody has posted!! Its a lot to take in, but Im defiantly taking notes! I live in the Middle of the city so I am struggling with room issues right now , but I have started with chickens and ducks. I am an avid hunter and love to fish, but a very poor gardener. I have a raised planter box ( Wood found in dumpsters and road sides, and craigslist, etc.) But nothing has grown. I very worried that nothing will grow
I’ve read lots of book, but I am the type of person that always put the cart in front of the horse. Also there is not a lot of talk about putting rain barrels in place, are they a good idea? I am also very confused about canning. I’m reading some books on it now, but it still a little scary. So if there are any more tips how to "get off the grid" keep them coming!!
Learn to grow what you like to EAT. If you don't fancy eating it, unless it's very easily and compactly preserved (read: dried) and therefore store-able & swappable, it's a waste of your time. Forty-eight quarts of green beans aren't of much use if you hate green beans - but they still cost you four dozen jars & lids, plus time & energy to grow and can. If you're short on space, google/explore vertical gardening. There's a number of systems made with 2-litre pop bottles that' are darn near free & very space and water efficient for growing things like salad greens. If you like Kale, that's an excellent starter crop in any system. I don't - but my chickens do, and because it grows well into the winter, kale and sprouts allow me to provide them green foodstuff all year around. Sunny days are going to be pretty intense where you are; try rigging 30% shade cloth over your young plants until they're hardy enough to handle it (6wks+)
Easiest way to learn canning - buy a copy of the Ball Blue book; it's magazine-sized, and will contain the most recent recommendations as well as many 'recipies' Make your first project either a fruit jam, or a high-acid fruit (tomatoes is the traditional starting point & can be canned in a water bath) As you gain confidence, take on more challenging projects.
"Off Grid" is pretty difficult in a metro area - wind and solar are your only viable options, and both can be expensive; plus the utility companies serving most areas have mandated 'buy-back' programs that will cost you more to register for than you can ever recover - they don't WANT to have to deal with you. Small-scale wind generation (think old-time farm windmill size, not 200 foot turbine blades) might be viable in your area, especially for outbuildings; check out (1970's) old Mother Earth News articles for more information & instructions. In the old days,
TMEN showed you how to build things instead of just telling you where to buy them. Too tired right now to dig out the index; but you can probably google that, too.
Because "struggling with room issues right now" sounds like you intend to change your situation - if you do get more space, explore wood gasification. Much safer than methane, and a very well developed technology - most cars in Europe ran on it during WWII because petroleum products weren't available; probably the only reason it's not in widespread use is that nobody can get a stranglehold on it for the profits. You can buy a system with all or part of the components pre-fabricated, or if you can weld, build it all yourself, and it can run a truck or run a generator for your house - but you will need a source of wood and the ability to have a small engine running most or all of the time.
Go to your local library and see if you can get your hands on the Foxfire books - you will learn a LOT. Put rain barrels everywhere you can - but also get a good filter system if you think you may ever have to drink it. Get one even if you don't think so. Find an organic dairy and ask them for plastic barrels - often you can get some free, certainly less than the ~100 new cost, and most of the compounds & cleaners used don't wreck/contaminate the barrels or the environment. If you do get some, google the name of the prior contents to find out how to neutralize it, and make sure it can be neutralized/thoroughly cleaned. See if you can find a local
small farmer who could use a few hours of volunteer help on weekends - you
will learn how to grow things! She/He can't afford to hire help, but always needs it, and will likely offer you fresh veg as a thank-you. Learn everything you can about 'real life' skills from anyone who will teach you, and remember the old saying "Rome wasn't built in a day". Every step from here is forward... After decades of skill acquisition and eight years putting it all into practice, we still regularly buy tea, rice, peanut butter, razor blades and footwear; complete self-sufficiency takes a very long time to achieve and in the end it may require simply giving up some things you can't produce. (but I'm planting peanuts this year)
Best of luck on your journey!
***editing to add:
Did some more thinking... There are many goals, and 'Self Sufficiency' is commonly a catch-all. If one applies it with the definition option of a 'collective', then trading among people *of the goods one has produced* is part of it. as is paying for things with the proceeds of the sale of one's produced goods.
'Total Self-Reliance' wouldn't allow for that option.
'Preparedness' would - but I believe use the practice differently (random trades as opportunity arose, not regular commerce)
We are fully self-sufficient by definition with the collective option - everything we consume is either produced by us, or acquired with the value of actual goods we have produced. We accept no subsidies, grants or any form of outside support to operate and neither of us work off-farm nor has since day one.
Total self-reliance would require more learning (boot making), time (tea and peanut production), purchase with learning (straight razor) and sacrifice (rice). And, so long as there are taxes, we will have to sell goods to pay them.
Preparedness - meh. What will be, will be; we'll deal with it as best we can when we have to.
Thank you for the info on the canners. That will be something to take into consideration. Sure, they might be expensive, but heck! They last a lifetime! Your's sounds amazing. I love it! I've heard of those re-usable canning lids. A co-worker's wife uses them and she loves them!
