Nowhere near self sufficient

Esker Ridge

Enjoys Recycling
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Hi all, so as the title says, we are not even close to self sufficient around here, and thats ok. I learned years ago that spending all our time, energy, and money on some elusive goal of self-sufficiency is not realistic for our overall happiness. Tried that, and didn't particularly love it.

That said, I still love doing things ourselves. There is nothing better than eating a meals you caught, grew, harvested and/or processed yourself. Or wearing clothes you designed and sewed, that fit you perfectly. And so on. I have just learned to temper my expectations against reality better as I get older.

So my husband and I live on a little over 5 acres in an old farmhouse in west MI, so its not much, but its ours and we are grateful for it. We have a 3000 ft2 garden plot fenced off from the critters, with another 1000 ft2 medicine garden, and then my native and ornamental plant bed just for fun. We also have some hydroponics and are hoping to expand our tiny hoophouse into a much bigger one soon. I have some background in herbalism and naturopathic medicine, but never made a career out of it - just enough to know a bit more than average about herbs, oils, and the like.

We did have honey bees and kept losing them overwinter so we are taking a few years off from beekeeping. Finally built a chicken coop this year and have 22 dual purpose chicks growing fast. We also have 3 big dogs and a handful of stray cats we adopted and had fixed that keep the rodents down and make great lap warmers. Considering maybe getting some goats, but... Then again, maybe not. As for children, we are unable to have them ourselves, though fostering and maybe adoption is not off the table. I have some health conditions that kind of messed everything up for a few years, but I am back on my feet this year and learning to work around certain limitations as best I can now. Which is probably why I don't even try to tell myself we will ever be truly self sufficient, but rather, whatever we can do ourselves will have to be sufficient.

Nice to meet you all!
 

tortoise

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Welcome! You are definitely not alone! Many of us here are limited in our SS efforts by various health problems. I have gotten so many ideas from forum members to find work-arounds. Many of us take a community approach to SS living, so we find others in our areas with complementary skills or products.

You have substantial SS projects, I'm impressed!
 

baymule

Sustainability Master
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Not too many can go off grid, raise grow or hunt all their food and make all their clothes. Think about the pioneers, they didn’t make the harness for their horses, didn’t build the wagons, didn’t grow the fibers for the canvas covering and didn’t weave it together to make the canvas. Neither did they make those shiny hunting/skinning knives or cast the molten iron for their pots and skillets. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Celebrate everything that you can provide for yourselves and share with others.
 

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