How self sufficient are you?

[peepdaddy]

I have WHAT in my yard? :

Total self sufficiency is not really possible. But go on over to the sufficient self site and see what people are up to.

I agree with this. Many people want to believe they're self sufficient but we all rely on others. I doubt many people built the computer they're using right now, the chair they're sitting in, the clothes they're wearing, the house they live in, etc,etc. And for those who did build or make these things it's extremely unlikely they made the tools or materials needed to produce any of these. I do believe that we can all learn some skills that would help us to be more self sufficient and would benefit from this in many ways.​

 

[stargazingmommy]

usually have a vegetable garden, ducks destroyed it 3 times this year before I gave up. Can hunt(currently life forces us putting that on the back burner), ducks for eggs and hopefully chickens will one day start to lay, could kill and eat them if needed. thats about the limit for us right now. we live on 4600 SF in a city.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

We live out in the middle of nowhere, we have guns, and will use them if we must to defend outselves. We hunt and try to stock up on deer/elk/turkey etc when it's hunting season. We also butcher our extra roosters when possible. We try and have a large garden, we can alot of our food. We buy only organic food from the food co-op, we hardly ever eat out, we do all our cooking at home. We try and be as self sufficient as possible.

~Aspen

 

[Illia]

I have WHAT in my yard? :

Total self sufficiency is not really possible. But go on over to the sufficient self site and see what people are up to.

'

How is it not possible?

The gradual climb to being self sufficient is not, sure, but in the end you can be. I'm curious how one can't be?




But back on subject, I grow most of my own food and expand each year, with even some tropical foods included (like bananas this year, chocolate next year) I have my own chicken, eggs, dairy, and next year it will also be beef, perhaps a couple years down the road it will be fabrics/wool too. In about a year, perhaps, less, we'll have solar powering everything here. We'll also have our own fish from Aquaponics. We already have our own well, our own heating, and our own source of lumber.



If you think a car, cellphone, and computer and TV are non-self sufficient yet something you can't be without, well, not everyone is hard-wired to live the city life. Most people in the world don't have those luxuries anyway.

I don't have any of those but a computer and internet, and besides for my own solar power to run them, if I really wanted not to have them, I could certainly imagine life without them.

A lot of people couldn't stand it because they're so socially wired to live with it, but honestly, I'm not. I don't choose to be non-social and all, but besides the random forums, there's no much else. And research/education/news - Can be done without a Computer.​

 

[dewey]

Just a little self sufficient here, really, although we could live completely "off grid" as needed without fuel or electricity or stores...but, my goodness, that's a very hard life and difficult to do successfully anytime, no less without a family/group of younger or able bodied neighbors to take up the slack for things that happen & for those of us that are ill or otherwise not able to do hard labor, or any labor on some days.

 

[Frosty]

My question concerning folks who 'live off grid' and are totally self sufficient: How do you get the money to pay property taxes?

 

[pdsavage]

Even the Indians did some trade and barter for things they needed or wanted.
To me thats part of being self sufficient,trade your extra stuff for other stuff weather it be cash or other goods.I don't think anything in this world survives in a bubble per say......So to say that you sell/trade/barter the extra you grow yourself can't be self sufficient well I think thats wrong.

 

[dewey]

Off the grid doesn't mean being without income from the property.....besides income from side jobs for others there are things that must be bartered & sold for cash. Like a part of crops/produce/livestock/homemade goods and services that are sold and/or horse traded via several deals to make income to pay the things needing cash to pay for...most properties used for off the grid purposes are basically taxed as undeveloped land and have very little overhead from raw land taxes.

 

[KenK]

Quote:
By that logic a guy working on Wall Street is trading his extra stuff (labor) for other stuff (money to buy food, clothing and shelter) and is therefore self sufficient.

 

[Frosty]

I don't think I could ever live totally off of the land, I am too much of a wimp. North Dakota is cold and doesn't have many trees. So heat would be either digging to try to find coal or burning poop. And trying to grow and put away feed for chickens and livestock to last at least 7 months? Nope. I'm a wimp and hope that I never have to prove that I can do it.