How self sufficient are you?

[pdsavage]

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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.

Well I did say part of it not all of it.

 

[dewey]

Quote:
I so hear ya. Our family ranch is up north so I hear ya on the part about the freezing cold weather and hardships it brings under the best of conditions.

I think that many folks with a hope of the totally SSL have probably never dealt with the true harsh realities of living it day to day year to year (even in mild climates like here in AZ or in northern AZ). On a couple of thousand acres we can grow & harvest plenty of feed for several hundred head of cattle & then some, for income & our own food, but making it happen is a rough life day in and out, a simple life, but a tough life...where basically every hour of daylight is spent doing things to survive, not including things inside the home by lamp light or in the fields by moonlight (at best), no less the late season days/nights spent endlessly sleepless tending to pulling late calves and such and then getting them to market if the weather holds, along with issues of ruined crops due to hoppers or rain or lack thereof. It's no easy life...no less the work involved in growing and putting up enough canned goods to tide over... it's a basic life that has it's rewards but it's no easy life. Whew!

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

All I meant is that even the most "self-sufficient" gurus have to depend on other people some of the time. The problem with many of the self-sufficiency movements is that they take it too far attitudinally. Humans are social communal creatures.

I do know people who have gone into the wilderness of Alaska and managed on their own for years at a time. That is as close to self-sufficient as you can get! But even they depended on periodically getting outside supplements to their supplies and most started with manufactured items like saws and ironware that they later had to seek some one out to repair.

I think we need to look more for minimally interdependent instead.... Most of it is a mindset. The "I got mine so you can go hang" attitude does not work off the grid. The Amish are communally dependent in many really big ways. I focus my "self-sufficiency" endeavors to getting off grid and growing my community ties to other people with whom I can trade and barter.

BTW the price of solar panels really torques me.

These should be cheap as dirt and available at local hardware stores. Now they're made in China with stolen US technology and they have completely undercut our manufacturers here......

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Quote:
Had to say I have seen your posts on several threads and your avatar cracks me up something fierce.
What a look.

Ok back on topic I agree that total is not possible.

I still have that roo too! I am glad he makes you smile! I was trying to take a photo of the flowers and he had to poke his head in and look at what I was holding against my face! He was just a baby then he's a might bigger and fiercer looking now!

 

[m.kitchengirl]

I moved this June to property where I could work toward a more sustainable lifestyle.

I feel like Life, for many, has become a spectator sport. Too many people seek out instant gratification and have lost sight of what it takes to produce all of these things we take for granted. I think it has left a huge whole in our nation's culture and blah, blah, blah.

That being said, I enjoy my garden for its tangible results, for the wonder it inspires, and the appreciation it builds in my family for their food. I go to the farmer's markets because I love the social interaction, to support my local economy, & I often perform with my band. My garden is in year one and went in late, so the markets help to bulk up my pantry. The garden was on the small side this year because my S.O. was not sure how he would like my little experiments in backyard homesteading. I can A LOT of food. My kids & I love to go to U-Picks and I buy tons of seconds from farmers. I am a chef and have a hard time cooking for 4, rather than 20 (about the smallest # I can cook for). It is terrible, but my freezer is always full and my pantry is well stocked. I am doubtful I can grow basmati rice in Maine, so I will never be 100% self sufficient.

Things went well enough here that my S.O. is sold on the lifestyle. He especially LOVES the compost bin & pile. I don't know why, but he gets SO excited about the compost.

I am going to clear an acre of our 3 (this weekend & next) and have a huge garden next year, grow crops for the critters for feed and bedding, and add a small flock of misc. meat birds (I'd love advice on how to expand. I am on the fence about turkeys...). It will probably be years before I am ready for a cow, a couple goats (my S.O. says no goats, but I think I can bring him around. I want to make goat cheese!), a pig, and some alpaca, but I am getting 2 Angora rabbits in October to spin my own fiber. I'd like to raise bees, but am allergic. I have not decided "no" for sure though, and would welcome input from people "in the know" about beekeeping. I plan to research bees in depth this winter, so good reference material recommendations are welcome. We have a lot of bees here, so I am likely to get stung whether I keep them or just go out to the garden.

I knit, a lot. I started spinning & dyeing fiber this summer and plan to do lots of it this winter. I have a friend who raises alpaca already (lucky!) and get a lot of roving from her. I used some veggies from my garden to make dyes, but it will probably be a few years before I am producing all my own dye material. I make my own beer, have a wide array of sourdough starters that I use to make our breads, sew quilts and the like (I do not make my own fabric but do reclaim a fair amount). My friends & I also play our own music, and I have a very talented group of creative people in my life that I can trade with for a lot of the things I use. I try to support my local economy first, before I go to a chain store, and this is true from food to furniture.

I think this thread could be a great reference/source of inspiration, so I plan to subscribe. Thanks, O.P. for getting such a neat topic started! (Sorry I babbled on... it has been an exciting summer.)

 

[sumi]

Sound like you are doing very well
Turkeys are very unfriendly birds and very hard to like, so they are great for meat birds!
Pigs are great too, if you eat pork. They will eat just about anything, so it's easy to grow food for them and keep a pig without having to buy food for it. I feed mine weeds (they eat nettles, love it), vegetable peels, leftovers, eggshells, eggs that are a bit suspect, stale bread... I supplement that with maize or bran, as I don't always have enough homegrown own food available, but I'm working on it. In return I get the most amazing manure, but you have to let it sit somewhere for a YEAR minimum, otherwise it'll fry your plants.
And I get lovely homegrown meat of course!
Also, if you want to clear an area of weeds and get it plowed, out a pig on it for a few days.
I've only been farming for about 6 years now, I'm still learning all the time, but it's a great lifestyle. I love harvesting my vegetables, collecting fresh eggs and though I really don't enjoy slaughtering pigs (it's gross, but after doing it about 20 times, I'm getting used to it), I love my home grown pork.

 

[BarefootMom]

Everyday I strive to be more self sufficient. Sure I can, freeze, dehydrate and all that good stuff. We raise our own beef, chickens, and rabbits along with fishing and hunting. When I was little I use to say that I wanted to be Amish and my parents would laugh at me. Well today I would like to be somewhere between Mennonites and Amish. I still want tractors and all that but I would be perfectly fine driving a horse and buggy to town. We have a young heifer calf that will be our family milk cow when she is older, right now we trade eggs for fresh milk. We don't "own" land but we live on my parent's 300 acre farm which we have free rein on. We burn wood in the winter and that is our only heat source. We have access to an old well that is spring fed- which we have used when the power is out. We try to use as many re-usable things to keep us from having to buy things. Won't go into all of that though.

I write about what I strive for in my blog on occasion.

I wish I knew how to sew, then we could even be more self sufficient.

 

[m.kitchengirl]

When I was little I use to say that I wanted to be Amish

I wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder. I think I am doing pretty well so far.