Late starter

1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like?
I live in California, San Diego High desert.... Sixty miles east of town two miles from the Mexican border and one and a half miles from Paved road. Its a little patch of paradise for me I have lived in deserts of some form or other all my life. At 3000 feet we get alot of wind. Also the annual rain fall is between 3 and 7 inches. This past year it was three

2. How many people are in your family? Marital status?
I am single never been married. I one son who is in college as an Astronomy major doing very well. There is Grandma and there is Mom... thats it four people four generations no cousins no nieces and nephews.

3. How would you define self sufficiency?
Self sufficency is relying on yourself for your needs.... How to do that I am still learning but not in a position to implement.

4. What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed?
Write Draw Sculpt Paint work with my horse take my Goats for walks in the rocks. Learn more about herbal remedys and the existing herbals on my property

5. Have you ever built a house , or other types of building? Do you want to?
No and yes big time I have the land I want the house I have grown to like so I want to remodel it. I can do the Demo I just need to get experts in to do the hard stuff.... Flooring cabinets drywall.... electrical.

6. Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet?
I can weld. It aint pretty Steel Mig and Tig and Oxy-Acet. I have done some forging as well.

7. Who or what inspired you to become more self sufficient?
Dad and Mom gave me the skills. Getting the CRAP scared out of me in the sixties seeing a documentary on Hiroshima. Got my first Fox Fire books then.

8 Cloth or paper?
Depends.... LOL.

9. In what ways are you self sufficient now and in what ways would you like to learn more?
Not much.... I am responsible. Grandma is 97 and I am becoming more and more her caregiver. I cannot practice the things I want to learn here in this house.... Her house. Mess is not alowed.... LOL Not even art... sigh.

10. In what way(s) will you never choose to become self sufficient?
I know I could get to the point where i could process poultry. I could raise up a pig or a lamb but would have to have an expert come and process for me. I do want to work with Aquaponics. I have arthritis and get about with a walker so I have to keep active but i am limited without help.

11. Are you interested in stocking up for future needs?
Definately have read up on a lot of sites again havent been able to practice

12. Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world?.
Space

13. Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi?
I can drive a two axle not necessarily a Semi. MY vehicle is Dodge Cumins one ton. I would love to learn to drive a tractor big time. My tractor has four on the floor and weighs 2000 lbs and has a mind of her own. LOL

14. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these?
I know how to crochet, work with leather, do lost wax (jewelry), .... I have made walking sticks Repaired harness.... actually I rebuilt a work harness so it could be used as a cart harness.... few extra parts needed for carts.

15. Can you have legally livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds?
Yes there is no zoning where I live but its not a real farming community. I have eightee acres so distance requirements are a non issue. I have one horse and three goats and used to have chickens and guineas but the coyotes got them.

16. Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood?
Yes, and Mill and band saw drill press and just about any metal shop equipment. My dad was a tool maker. I have used all for Metal, plastic, and wood.

17. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing?
I dont know.... I havent tried.

18. Do you fish? Bait or explosives?
No never have never learned how.... and BWHAHAHAHAH

19. How much space/land do you have or rent? City? Country?
I own 18 acres straight out no mortgage. County I dont know if it would be considered Country...?

20. Are you a Novice, Technician, General, Advanced? ARRL?
Novice I guess if you are referring to Self Sufficiency.... I am an avid reader so Technician would probably apply.

21. What is your self sufficient specialty? Or what one would you like to learn?
I would love to learn how to Can. Perserve food. Learn how to do wood working like building cabinets and furniture. My specialty is finding stuff that needs to be recycled..... building supplies. I have never bought fire wood.... except the occasional bundle at seven eleven. My fire wood comes from trees people cut down and need someone to haul off the wood.

22. If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take?
I would TEACH AutoCad if I could get certified. I an a Mechanical designer/Manufacturing engineer retired.
23. Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet?
I would love to learn to do cabinet making

24. Are you interested in herbal medicine?
Most definately I have books on the plant materials that live on my land

25. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be?
Right here where I am Half way between the Pacific ocean and the Sea of Cortez in the path of the Kumeay where the Earth breathes.

26. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking?
Heat. I use Propane for cooking+

27. What would your ideal super hero/villain be?
My super hero is my Dad. Son of a Share Cropper. With a highschool diploma he worked his way up from machinist to Design engineer. He designed some of the tooling for the first space station. He designed and built a machine for Calloway Golf. And He was one of the first people to Automate contact lense Manufacturing facilitating disposable contact lenses.... I miss him.

28. Are your family or friends also interested in self sufficiency?
Not in the least. They wont even eat home grown eggs they are too bright..... sheesh

29. Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs?
I am interested in Paleo and lean toward a low carb menu. I love to cook. Not bake never really was into that anyway.

30. What was your MOS?
Not sure what that is

31. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs?
When I was young and riding in the hills I would gather up greens to bring them home for dinner....

32. What skills do you have that help you be more self sufficient?
Hunting and gathering free building supplies.... LOL. Chatting up the Auto repair guy winding up paying for the repair with a case of Beer. Able to size up people who would likely work for beer.... or gin... heh heh heh.

33. In which fictional universe would you most like to live?
Babylon 5

34. Do you have solar panels? Plans to use solar energy?
Not yet. I want to start with making my well solar.... and or wind energy...

35 What is the mass/weight ratio of a European swallow carrying a coconut from the tropics to England?
Bwhaahahaha

36. Have you ever lived completely off grid? Would you like to?
I would like to be off grid. I am almost there if I didnt need to pump water.

37. In what do you trust?
not sure

38. Do you make things yourself to save money?
Yes if I can make it I wont buy it.
39. Has trying to be more self-sufficient changed your attitude or habits about money/spending?
Poverty already has me pretty frugal these days.

Welcome to forum!
Nice to see another Perch fan my guy is half perch.

Of course I hear perch and I think fish.

*gigglesnort* Yes, @Denim Deb I guess most people Do. The avatar is clearly not. I don't expect that there are many in the desert!

LOL I was told by some Draft horse Pros in the midwest that I coulndt keep a Draft in the desert. She does just fine.... She keeps to her shade on hot days but not like shes stuck there. She is Jet black with no white on her....

The deal is we dont work in the extreme heat any way.... My idea of bringing her up here was to do Commercial carriage rides.... Either Wild flour tours for photographers or acting as a taxi service between the vintage train station to the only hotel. Train idea fell through.... Then I realized I coulnt afford a commercial transporter.... Four car tires and bench seats. To top it of My girl is sweet but she wouldnt be able to pass the commercial license requirements..... LOL.

deb

Thanks for telling us more about yourself! Again, welcome to SS!

My guy stopped sweating two summers ago during a hot flash of 106 with high humidity. I have managed to get him sweating again but I have learned that he simply can't handle the weeks of 90+. He's fine if the temp only spikes, but he can't Do days of hot temps with no relief at night. So when that happens he gets hosed and put in a stall under a fan for the day and back out at night. He's not happy about it but oh well. Better than him panting himself to death.
Glad you're able to keep her comfortable in the desert heat!

One of the things I do is keep her on an EPSM diet.... Very low carb. comparitavely. for horses... that means no grain. Free choice salt and lots and lots of water. For drafts and quite a few horses with large muscle mass... EPSM is Equine Polysacharride Storage Myopia... Whew may have spelled it wrong. But essentailly large muscled horses sometimes have an issue with metabolizing Carbohydrates. This would be true for draft crosses as well.

Some of the symptoms of EPSM are muscle wastage, Tying up and difficulty handling stress. Some horses get so debilitated they get sent off to the feed lots.

Not to say this is an issue with heat.... I do know large muscles of the drafts have a difficult time chilling down once they get heated.

For what its worth Grain only gives energy and should be used judiciously. I have heard some people with thoroughbreds found their horses temperment mellowed out and their feed Thriftyness increased when they were gradually weaned from grain to Plain old corn oil. It takes a few weeks but the gut learns to metabolise the oil and it becomes a more efficient energy booster.... Plus Its REALLY good for their coats... LOL>

http://ruralheritage.com/vet_clinic/virtualvet.htm

Other issues with EPSM horses is pain for no real obvious reason... back and loin pain.

deb

hqueen13 said:

My guy stopped sweating two summers ago during a hot flash of 106 with high humidity. I have managed to get him sweating again but I have learned that he simply can't handle the weeks of 90+. He's fine if the temp only spikes, but he can't Do days of hot temps with no relief at night. So when that happens he gets hosed and put in a stall under a fan for the day and back out at night. He's not happy about it but oh well. Better than him panting himself to death.
Glad you're able to keep her comfortable in the desert heat!

Click to expand...

Wow the equivalent of chill factor is Heat index and that heat index if the horse is not accustomed to it is a killer. The saving grace for me is the desert is very low humidity usually ... the higher the temps you have the lower the humidity,,, the bad part of that is the exterior of hoove walls appear cracked more often than not. Unsightly.... but if you trim the hoof everything is good underneath.

deb

I don't feed grain either. I wouldn't feed corn oil though, too much a risk of it being gmo and while a horse can function on corn oil out isn't good for their skin and coat and clogs their pores.
My guy gets less than 1 1/2 cups of feed, but it is all designed to be easily assimilated by his gut and utilized to the maximum for his body. Almost half of what he is getting right now is sunflower seeds for a little added fat to get through the cold weather.
I clip him in spring and he slowly regrows his coat again over summer. He does pretty good as long as it's not too hot for too long.