New Member Introductions - Questions

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1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like?
I live in central VT. We still have snow here right now, although it is melting fast. Temperatures went down to -25F this winter!
2. Who or what inspired you to become more self sufficient?
I have always been a do it yourself kind of person but never really had a chance to do it until I got divorced. So now I am and I am so excited!
3. In what ways are you self sufficient now and in what ways would you like to learn more?
I need to learn more about carpentry, animal husbandry, gardening in the winter and food preservation methods. I also would like to learn more about the renewable energy systems that I could use. I also need to work on insulating my house.
4. Are you interested in stocking up for future needs?
To some extent, there is always a room and organization problem. My house is small.
5. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these?
I knit and spin my own yarn
6. Can you legally keep livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds?
I only have chickens right now and can legally do it. I live in the smallest capital of the US and it is a progressive town. I can have any livestock I want as long as my neighbors are not bothered
7. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing?
Love Gardening! I love everything I grow. Kale, tomatoes, cabbages, beets, carrots, beans, peas etc... the variety is what drives me.
8. Do you fish? Bait or explosives?
Rarely.
9. How much space/land do you have or rent? City? Country?
City. 1 acre of land including the tiny house.
10. What is your self sufficient specialty? Or what one would you like to learn?
Anything and everything that allows me to feed my family and friends and keeps my bills in check.
11. Do you do wood work? Framing, finish, cabinet?
No
12. Are you interested in herbal medicine?
Yes a little but I have not had time to really delve into it. I do grow basic medicinal herbs though...
13. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be?
On a few more acres on a gentle slope of a Vermont hill out in the country more.
14. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking?
Heating wood
15. Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? Raw milk? Farm fresh eggs?
Yes to all. I have my own chickens and cook a lot with natural foods only.
16. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs?
Not really although I would like to start with mushrooms a little more.
17. What skills do you have that help you be more self sufficient?
Work hard and ingenious. Good at researching subjects
18. Do you have solar panels? Plans to use solar energy?
I would love to have some but I do not.
19. Have you ever lived completely off grid? Would you like to?
No. I think this would be more than I can handle at this time.
20. Do you make things yourself to save money?
Sometimes but often enough it is too expensive to do it myself.
21. Has trying to be more self-sufficient changed your attitude or habits about money/spending?
Yes
Feb 11, 2018

mythreesons290322Lovin' The Homestead
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1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like? NYS COLD.
2. Who or what inspired you to become more self sufficient? Myself..I love learning anything to help save money.
3. In what ways are you self sufficient now and in what ways would you like to learn more? I grow perennial’s because you buy it once and have food/medicinal plants for many years ..I grow a fruit orchard of 24 trees, lots of raspberry,blackberry,blueberry, gooseberry,currants,choke cherry, elderberry, juneberry bushes, rhubarb, walking onions, sunchokes, asparagus patch, herb gardens, mint gardens.
4. Are you interested in stocking up for future needs? Always..it’s the way I am.
5. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these? Yes, I crochet my dish clothes, blankets, make my own tinctures, make my laundry detergent, fabric softener, cleaners, newest is my all natural face cream which is used for my eye makeup remover and dry skin, I plan on going into making all of my own shampoo, deorderant, soaps ect...I’m a visual learner mostly so no I wouldn’t be able to teach I don’t think anyway.
6. Can you legally keep livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds? Yes, I have had chickens for 9yrs, when my boys were younger I was thinking of getting a miniature jersey cow for milk but didn’t.
7. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing? Yes,it’s my heart, my passion and I live and breathe it to be honest.. I enjoy anything I can grow as I grow from seed which makes me feel so good to see something I grew yourself..
8. Do you fish? Bait or explosives? I love to fish but don’t touch it or eat it..I’m Weird I know.
9. How much space/land do you have or rent? City? Country? 3-acres we own well, the bank owns lol..Country, no offense to people that live in the city I just couldn’t do it..I like my privacy.
10. What is your self sufficient specialty? Or what one would you like to learn? I don’t have one specialty I do many things to be self sufficient to save money. I think my sons and dh would say my homegrown homemade hot sauce and dandelion wine. I want to learn more about growing and using medicinal medicine.I make my own dandelion salve, comfrey salve and elderberry tinctures but want grow my own medicine.
11. Do you do wood work? Framing, finish, cabinet? Nope..wish I did cause I want a huge functioning chicken coop..I love my chickens!
12. Are you interested in herbal medicine? Answered this but this is very important to me.
13. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be? The south where I could grow almost year round.
14. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking? Yes, for our heat. Have used fir cooking when we lost power.
15. Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? Raw milk? Farm fresh eggs? I love to cook, make many of my foods from scratch, grow herbs to dehydrate to make my own seasoning blends. Natural foods, raw milk..my family owned farms and I grew up on raw milk until they sold our cows, yes, homestead fresh eggs from my chickens.
16. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs? Yes,since my apple trees haven’t given me squat I forage wild apple trees for all my apple pie filling, applesauce, apple butter, apple juice, dehydrated apple slices (I vacuum seal in quart jars)and apple juice that I can to last until the next growing season..blackcap’s are also foraged to make my jam for the year.
17. What skills do you have that help you be more self sufficient? To many to list.
18. Do you have solar panels? Plans to use solar energy? No..but, I would love to have solar someday.
19. Have you ever lived completely off grid? Would you like to? Nope,nada,never.. I don’t think so I love my modern technology.
20. Do you make things yourself to save money? Yes, to many to list.
21. Has trying to be more self-sufficient changed your attitude or habits about money/spending? I started this lifestyle to save money now it’s just part of who I am.

 

sumi

Rest in Peace 1980-2020
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Hi Meg, welcome to the forum!
 

libra2623

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1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like? Massachusetts, 4 seasons, zone 5, humid/warm summer, long winter
2. Who or what inspired you to become more self sufficient? my love of nature and growing plants.
3. In what ways are you self sufficient now and in what ways would you like to learn more? I grow my own marijuana but will be starting a garden this coming spring
4. Are you interested in stocking up for future needs? yes
5. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these? i grow marijuana which some people may find helpful.
6. Can you legally keep livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds? yes but I currently do not own any animals. I would like to eventually get chickens and possibly goats.
7. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing? Yes, marijuana, tomatoes, cucumbers, kale basically anything that will grow in new england I would like to try growing.
8. Do you fish? Bait or explosives? Haven't fished in years but I would love to get into salt water fishing as the ocean is only 15 minutes from me.
9. How much space/land do you have or rent? City? Country? 1 acre
10. What is your self sufficient specialty? Or what one would you like to learn? I want to learn trapping and possibly hunting in the near future. I am looking into getting a compound bow.
11. Do you do wood work? Framing, finish, cabinet? No but I enjoy doing projects like that.
12. Are you interested in herbal medicine? Yes
13. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be? I love New England but somewhere with a longer growing season like South Carolina. I also have never been to the west coast so California, particularly northern California really appeals to me as well.
14. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking? No, but I would love to get one!
15. Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? Raw milk? Farm fresh eggs? Love cooking and definitely interested in using raw and fresh foods. I am pretty proficient in cooking Portuguese Foods.
16. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs? I have before and have a foraging book but I'd like to go with a guide especially to identify local edible mushrooms.
17. What skills do you have that help you be more self sufficient? I can grow marijuana pretty well and have had success in the past with growing vegetables.
18. Do you have solar panels? Plans to use solar energy? possibly in the future but would have them installed off of the house as we have friends who almost had their roof and house burn down with them attached.
19. Have you ever lived completely off grid? Would you like to? Possibly, but I am not sure how to go about it.
20. Do you make things yourself to save money? Depends on what this question implies by make but I have yet to make any tools to save money. I constantly am renovating the house on my own to save money.
21. Has trying to be more self-sufficient changed your attitude or habits about money/spending? I have yet to really start on trying to be more self sufficient but I hope it does have those benefits.
 

flowerbug

Super Self-Sufficient
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7. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing? I do, I grew some tomatoes, peppers and squash last year and I'm going to expand that this year to herbs and flowers I hope.

hi and welcome to SS. if you are primarily interested in gardening TEG has a lot more garden information. :)
 

RebeccaRN

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Hi all just found this site. I'm on the easy garden and back yard chicken sites and happened to spot this one. I am a nurse, I live on 1.25 acres in NE Oklahoma. I do grow a small vegetable garden and have 9 chickens. I love herbal medicine and essential oils and use them for most of my Healthcare needs. I would love to learn more from all of you and become as self sufficient as I can. Thanks for having this wonderful site available.
 

Lazy Gardener

Super Self-Sufficient
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Hi all just found this site. I'm on the easy garden and back yard chicken sites and happened to spot this one. I am a nurse, I live on 1.25 acres in NE Oklahoma. I do grow a small vegetable garden and have 9 chickens. I love herbal medicine and essential oils and use them for most of my Healthcare needs. I would love to learn more from all of you and become as self sufficient as I can. Thanks for having this wonderful site available.
Welcome. There is a "lotions and potions" thread, named: All Things Topical. We'd love to have you add some of your recipes.


 
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