Official Poll: What is your motivation to be more self-sufficient?

[flowerbug]

growing our own food as much as possible within the various conflicts and requirements, that i can do that in ways which also helps the environment and cuts down our expenses is a great combinatorial effect. like having zero mile food which is also healthy and substitutes for animal products at times (beans substitute in part or in whole for some meals for meat and cheese that we buy). the various flowers on the produce are a help to the native bees. the joy of having things we've grown to be able to give them away. it's hard to say which two are the top, but the being able to help the environment is a large part, but also to me enjoying the results of my labor is very high up there too since to me exercise for the sake of exercise alone is just blah, i really like having exercise give me edible results or helping out the birds and the bees and other soil community creatures.

 

[Beekissed]

It's just good stewardship of the resources God has provided for us, as well as it just makes good sense to be frugal, grow some food here and redeem the time given to us wisely.

 

[baymule]

I want to know that my food is not drenched with glyphosate or 2-4-D or what ever the "safe" poison of the week is. My Daddy always had a garden, my earliest memories are of toddling behind him in his garden. I have gardened off and on through my life and picked it back up about 8 years ago. There is nothing that compare with fresh vegetables, raised without chemicals or pesticides. A small investment in a pack of seeds or a 6-pack of plants brings large rewards, both in food and satisfaction that I am feeding my family with good food.

I can, freeze and dehydrate the extra and I buy what I don't have room to grow. I pick blueberries and blackberries for yummy cobblers all winter. Friends give me figs and pears which I turn into jam and preserves, and give them jars of each in a "thank you". My pantry is packed with gleaming jars.........ok......maybe a little dusty. I have Food-Saver bags of dehydrated vegetables. I have stored beans, rice, wheat, quinoa and sugar in quantity that would feed us for awhile.

We live in hurricane country and when we take a hard hit, the power can be off for weeks. I can walk in the darkness to where I keep a box of kitchen matches and down below in the cabinet, I can lay hands on a kerosene glass lantern. We have a generator for the freezer, but finding gas for it can be an ordeal in and of itself. A bar-b-cue pit cooks what we need to eat when power is off. We have warning when a hurricane is coming, so I bake brownies (need comfort food lol ) I store water in every available pot, plus in big plastic trashcans with lids.

I would hate to pay the bill for the fresh vegetables I grow. There is no way we could eat as healthy as we do if we had to buy it all. I cannot fathom why anybody with a bit of a yard does not grow a garden. Lazy, I guess.

Even thought we are in the center of our small town, I have chickens in the backyard. BYC-RIGHT??? The hens provide us with fresh eggs and the old hens are good in the soup pot. I am contemplating ordering some Pekin ducks to raise for the freezer. DH used to think I was nuts, now when I voice "I'm thinking about......" he just grins. He's a good sport and piles in to help me in whatever madness I have concocted.

I posted this in January of 2014. In September of 2014, we closed on a doublewide and 8 acres 160 miles away, to be close to our daughter and her family. We moved on February 2015 and got busy with making it our home. We've had our ups and downs, worked hard to make improvements, moved our horses, got MORE chickens, got Katahdin hair sheep, raised a series of feeder pigs for the freezer and got more dogs. We made a bigger garden and have worked to improve the soil. We are in a great community with wonderful neighbors. I don't know that we will ever be self sufficient, but we sure knock a hole in it.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

In order to have good, healthy food, we must have good, healthy soil. That is the driving force behind my gardening, and poultry flock management. I want to be as independent as possible from the grocery store. Our finances are tight. So, to buy everything "organic" would leave us hurting in other areas which require financial input. So... I grow and process as much as I can.

In spite of the focus on growing our own food, I am also sensing that God is leading me to scale back a bit. Primary garden is smaller. Some of the extra gardening needs will be shifted to flower beds, HK bed, BTE orchard, and periphery of the yard. I'll be using part of the primary garden space to build a Woods Open Air style coop to house a down sized chicken flock, and add a couple ducks.

I am an avid dump scrounger: finding wonderful building materials, as well as household goods. Every dollar not spent is a dollar that can be used to secure our financial future. I have not worked since the end of September, and consider myself to be now retired. Hubby is retired as of 1/1/20. We are entering a new chapter in our lives and excited about the prospects.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

@baymule , your post brought a smile to my face. I am largely who I am today, because of the way my father mentored me as a child. He was an incredible gardener. He also had a flock of chickens, raised sheep, and horses. He was instrumental at getting me started with my first flock of chickens at the age of 12.

Which brings me to an important add on to this thread: How are we, as the current generation of homesteaders: mentoring, teaching, and passing on our love of growing things to future generations? It concerns me that these things that we value may be lost to future generations. I know we are all willing to teach. But... is the next generation willing to learn? Do they even see the value of healthy soil and healthy food? Do they see the value of the independence that comes from living a life style that promotes debt free living and independence from government control of every area of our lives, including what we put in our mouths?

 

[baymule]

I mentor and teach every chance I get. Anyone who wants to learn, I gladly take the time to teach what I know. What good does it do to have a lifetime of experience and knowledge if you die and take it all with you?

We have a friend named Sarah. I've know her since she was 11 years old. She lived with me and DH for awhile, some 10 years ago. She still tells the story how I dragged her out of bed at 6 AM on a Saturday morning to go with me to the local hardware store for FREE TOMATO DAY!! They gave away a six pack of tomato plants and I need her to go with me so I could get 2 six packs! I had her digging in the garden, helping me plant them, going with me to the horse pasture, shoveling manure and working it into the garden. She ate fresh vegetables from the garden and never forgot it. Since then, twice she has had a garden, growing her own vegetables. She closes on 4 acres and a doublewide in the Houston area in February and will be planting a garden. I planted the seed and she will harvest the increase.

Just this evening a young couple with a 9 year old girl and 5 month old twins came over for a free pair of Silkies I gave away. They just bought a house and 2 acres less than a mile from us. His parents run a vegetable stand in town and we buy from them. He was very interested in the sheep and I let his little girl feed them from her hand and hold a 2 week old lamb. She was thrilled. So here is a great opportunity for exchange of information on both our parts.

These are but 2 examples of people who want to learn. Yes, they are out there, few, but they are out there.

 

[CrealCritter]

I mentor and teach every chance I get. Anyone who wants to learn, I gladly take the time to teach what I know. What good does it do to have a lifetime of experience and knowledge if you die and take it all with you?

We have a friend named Sarah. I've know her since she was 11 years old. She lived with me and DH for awhile, some 10 years ago. She still tells the story how I dragged her out of bed at 6 AM on a Saturday morning to go with me to the local hardware store for FREE TOMATO DAY!! They gave away a six pack of tomato plants and I need her to go with me so I could get 2 six packs! I had her digging in the garden, helping me plant them, going with me to the horse pasture, shoveling manure and working it into the garden. She ate fresh vegetables from the garden and never forgot it. Since then, twice she has had a garden, growing her own vegetables. She closes on 4 acres and a doublewide in the Houston area in February and will be planting a garden. I planted the seed and she will harvest the increase.

Just this evening a young couple with a 9 year old girl and 5 month old twins came over for a free pair of Silkies I gave away. They just bought a house and 2 acres less than a mile from us. His parents run a vegetable stand in town and we buy from them. He was very interested in the sheep and I let his little girl feed them from her hand and hold a 2 week old lamb. She was thrilled. So here is a great opportunity for exchange of information on both our parts.

These are but 2 examples of people who want to learn. Yes, they are out there, few, but they are out there.

Maybe it's my age but I also teach/mentor.

 

[flowerbug]

i'll talk gardens and teach anyone who cares to listen, probably until their ears are numb.

 

[Beekissed]

I try to teach but really have no one interested in learning it around here. So, mostly it's sharing things I've tried and found good to folks on forums such as this.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I pretty much share your experience, Bee. While folks SAY they want to learn, I find that there is VERY little follow through. I'm ready, willing and able. But, can say that it's a rare event that anyone actually puts anything I share into practice. They like what they see, and say they are going to do it. But, it doesn't happen.