How did you start being more self sufficient?

[Brahma Chicken5000]

And of primary importance: Place God at the top of your priority list. Realize that it all belongs to Him in the first place. Give from what you have, and He will bless the remainder above and beyond what you can imagine.

So true our lives are in God’s capable hands.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

my story is nothing special to start with., watched a video on factory farmed food and did an environment class for school, got me thinking, hey i want to produce my own food. so i tried, raised 40 meat chickens to butcher age and had 30 egg layers and going out into the wild to get some food.

turns out i hate butchering domestic animals and hated the thought of killing any more birds so i sold 15 or 16 egg layers and after butchering the first batch of meat birds no one in my family really enjoyed the killing part. so it was then focus on the garden (which we have had for longer then i have been alive). so it produces a lot of veggies (lots of potatoes) which keeps us find for half of the year in most veggies (still have to buy the odd one)

so that got me thinking about meat, i love meat but hate factory farmed meat, don't like raising it from birth to death so that left me one option, to hunt,fish and trap for it. so the adventure began. i broke down each method a bit on how/what to acquire and food amounts.

fishing: not a big fish eater, like my burbot, walleye,pike, perch and smoked trout and that is about it. can catch some but i don't eat enough to feed myself or family with fish so its more just catch and release, keep one or two for a meal and am happy. (most areas i fish are very clean)

hunting: i like wild meat, so am going to be trying to hunt more, can get a white tail each year and quite a few ducks and geese (in fact there is no limit for snow geese where i live just 20 birds a day no limit in the freezer) so that can provide a lot of good eating. (plus a black bear a year as well still debating on eating one of them yet.)

trapping: really only two fur bearing animals i can eat/get, muskrat and beaver both which i have been told are really good eating (have not had either want to trap some to try).

 

[CapricornFarm]

We bought 13 acres in the woods on a river in May of this year. We have a woodstove in our cabin for heat. I started a vegetable garden and flower garden. I planted blueberries and blackberries. I built a coop for 2 breeds of chickens( divided coop) and a hoop coop for guineas. We are having a goat shed built for Nigerian Dwarf goats. And i am going to either build or buy a greenhouse. I have a pair of pet rabbits but considering buying meat rabbits. There is lots of game here, bears, rabbits, deer, turkey and quail. Oh geese and ducks at the river at times as well.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

We bought 13 acres in the woods on a river in May of this year. We have a woodstove in our cabin for heat. I started a vegetable garden and flower garden. I planted blueberries and blackberries. I built a coop for 2 breeds of chickens( divided coop) and a hoop coop for guineas. We are having a goat shed built for Nigerian Dwarf goats. And i am going to either build or buy a greenhouse. I have a pair of pet rabbits but considering buying meat rabbits. There is lots of game here, bears, rabbits, deer, turkey and quail. Oh geese and ducks at the river at times as well. View attachment 1202607 View attachment 1202608

that spot looks amazing,

super cool that you have turkeys, we are just getting the odd turkey in Saskatchewan (there protected so no hunting them) but what type of quail do you have there and we also have no quail where i live.

seems like a lot of good eating from nature/game there

 

[lazy gardener]

We built our own home, have a lot of sweat equity invested!

 

[itsasmallfarm]

just some more thoughts on how i plan to be more self sufficient,

my grandparents own a farm nothing big (480 acres) but am hoping it provides some food, most years it floods, which is bad for the guy who rents our land (used to grain farm on it but its not prime land so we talked and turned into cow pasture well he did) so am looking around at what we can harvest there and there are a lot of cattails (most years) so thinking of going out and trying a few to eat, next just talked to him the other day and there are a lot of jack rabbits around so that is some eating right there. also there are moose,mule deer and whitetail deer (have to get drawn for the moose and mule deer) but that is also some eating, plus lots of muskrats on wet years.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've tried cat tail. The shoots have a cucumber flavor.

 

[Minutiae Manor]

Keeping chickens, buying in bulk, growing as much food in the garden as possible.

If you don't know how, learn to make bread, make your own cleaning supplies, sew, animal husbandry and butchering, go off grid if you can. Save seeds from your heirloom produce.

Check out the Foxfire series, I think there are 15 volumes, excellent books full of knowledge about skills modern man lacks.

Keeping chickens, buying in bulk, growing as much food in the garden as possible.

If you don't know how, learn to make bread, make your own cleaning supplies, sew, animal husbandry and butchering, go off grid if you can. Save seeds from your heirloom produce.

Check out the Foxfire series, I think there are 15 volumes, excellent books full of knowledge about skills modern man lacks.

Thank you! I will definitely check those out!

 

[Minutiae Manor]

When I first started down this road, I started a spreadsheet and every time we'd come back from the grocery store I'd put the items we bought into the spreadsheet. After a year, I was able to see what I was consuming, which gave me a baseline of what I needed to grow. I also tracked it by month, so for example: I use a lot of fresh herbs during the holiday season, but I can't grow them then. So a greenhouse was definitely a must.

That's a great idea!

 

[Minutiae Manor]

Hi, I bought a 1940s house in a rural area, I installed a mini ductless split system, I can heat or cool rooms in use. Also installed a wood stove to cut down on electric. I planted fruit trees and try to grow lots of my fruit and veggies. I also have chickens I do sell some of my eggs to cover feed costs. I collect rain water , I make my own laundry soap and hang clothes to dry. I also sell some of the plants I grow. 95% of the time I prepare my own meals and freeze some for later. Recycling is the best we have a humane society thrift store in town , run by volunteers my favorite place for shopping. I compost anything I can.

That's wonderful!