Is self sufficiency sustainability?

[freemotion]

1) To be "self-sufficient," on this forum, doesn't really have that much to do with actual self sufficiency, where one would have the ability to live without outside aid or input of any kind. It simply means trying or actually being able to do some stuff for yourself, but not necessarily all stuff. The amount of stuff you can do for yourself isn't really as important as the effort when it comes to being considered an SS'er.

No such thing as actual self sufficiency....try going a few years without paying property taxes and enjoy a nice, non-ss stay at Club Fed.

4) Nobody on this forum believes that actual self-sufficiency...in the strictest sense of the phrase where a person wouldn't need any outside aid or input...is attainable -- or even desirable, apparently -- and as such, nobody actually strives toward that goal.

No, we admit that complete and total self-sufficiency is only attainable in theory in this country in 2010, so we enjoy doing what we can and what interests each of us personally, and we enjoy discussing it, learning from each other, and getting inspiration.

None of that really makes any sense to me, personally, but if that more or less sums it up, then I really haven't a leg to stand on. If that's the case, I'll hush.

So...is that about right?

You don't understand it because you aren't doing it. That's ok. But I don't get coming here to argue if you have little to no interest in doing much of anything yourself, but prefer to purchase everything. That's ok. I won't lose any sleep over it. Your business.

 

[Farmfresh]

Even in a "perfect according to me" modern world there will be folks that just can not stand to do the whole grow-it do-it their-selves thing. Good thing we still will need canning jar factories, fabric factories and the like. Those folks can still do the go to work and buy food gig that SOME people so love. I believe however the key to a sustainable future, for both the planet and the species called human, is going to take the majority of us changing the way we "do business" on a daily basis ... Techno Agrarian if you will.

 

[redux]

Techno-agrarian.

I like that.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Even in a "perfect according to me" modern world there will be folks that just can not stand to do the whole grow-it do-it their-selves thing. Good thing we still will need canning jar factories, fabric factories and the like. Those folks can still do the go to work and buy food gig that SOME people so love. I believe however the key to a sustainable future, for both the planet and the species called human, is going to take the majority of us changing the way we "do business" on a daily basis ... Techno Agrarian if you will.

I'm borrowing that term

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

I came across this today, and new I had to share it

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein

 

[Occamstazer]

You just quoted the first love of my life

J had to accept long ago that he'll always have to share me with Heinlein, but since the guy is dead, I think it's tolerable.

My sig line: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

I'm stealing techno-agrarian too.

 

[Beekissed]

I've never really understood the need to put everything we do under a label or make it fit into a pigeon-hole term like "self-sufficiency" or "self-sustainability" anyway.

I like to be thought of as "earthy" or down to earth in my approach to living but never really sought to equate what I do as any real life purpose or an attempt to "live lightly" on the Earth.

To me it just makes more sense to do it and so I do. It makes more sense to eat foods that still taste like...well...food. It makes more sense to try and stay as healthy as possible without it cramping my lazy streak. It feels better to live more naturally and it's almost a game to me to see how much I can get by on the cheap, or if I can repurpose something into a clever and useful object once again, or to make my yard into more than a patch of annoying grass that I must mow again.

I enjoy being different than the driven masses and I feel like that lazy fall leaf that is drifting slowly along in the eddies of this big ol' stream of life. That suits me. Call it what you will, try to define it and pick it apart to make it make more sense to you...I could care less about having to justify the details. I just know it makes perfect sense to save on expenditures, eat good foods, work in the sunshine and watch things grow, live and die the way nature intended. Anything else~ to me~ is just a waste of time.

I call it "sensible living".....

 

[Farmfresh]

Preach it sister!

 

[Wifezilla]

Just caught up in one sitting. I go visit Abi for a day and look what happens!

me and Wifezilla (cause she seems to be the queen of the microfarm) are gonna do surprise inspections. if you don't meet your chicken/sq yard quota, we ship you back to the city!

"Mam, we noticed you had a 4'x4' patch of untilled grass. Do you realize how many quail you can raise in that amount of space?"

I giggle, but I am not for forcing anyone to do stuff for their own good, but it is funny to imagine.

the planet would probably get along a lot better without our little human experiment. but that isn't in our best interests, now is it.

I have to totally disagree here. Animals are VERY wasteful. Just look at those @#&@#&(@# squirrels that take one bite out of a pear and throw it on the ground...then grab another pear, take one bite, toss that on the ground... evil little beasties!

 

[Buster]

I have to totally disagree here. Animals are VERY wasteful. Just look at those @#&@#&(@# squirrels that take one bite out of a pear and throw it on the ground...then grab another pear, take one bite, toss that on the ground... evil little beasties!

But then, if we humans weren't around to feed them in the parks and kill all their predators...