What does self sufficiency mean to you?

[NH Homesteader]

It's a catchphrase right? You see it everywhere on the internet, people going back to their roots and escaping the daily grind! But what does it mean to you? What are you doing to be more self sufficient? What do you wish you were doing? What the heck does it mean to be self sufficient anyway?

 

[Country homesteader]

To me self sufficiency means providing for oneself and their family where the food is farm/garden raised and so much more healthier than store bought.
I also wish I had milk cows in order to get pure straight good for you milk ( I was raised on) and cream to make butter ( there's nothing better than having a slice of toasted homemade bread with homemade butter on it.
I could live without TV but I think I would have to keep my radio.
I'm trying to get a good producing veggie garden and an herb garden going. Right now we have about 40 hens that give us eggs and 4 steers we are raising for beef.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't like the term any longer, so never use it nor discuss it. I just refer to it as common sense living.

I like being able to heat the house or use the toilet without relying on the power grid, as it goes out frequently where I live...so we have wood heat and an outhouse~if you can do that, it makes a lot of good sense to do so. We need to get around to putting a hand pump on our well head for those occasions as well.

I don't like eating commercially raised meat and eggs, so we raise chickens...if you have land, it just makes sense to do so. Same with growing a garden and canning it up....just makes sense to eat healthier foods while saving money and getting exercise and exposure to Vit. D out there in the sunshine.

I like to make do, make things last, repurpose, dumpster dive, etc. because it just makes good sense to do those things if you want to save money and not have a wasteful life...it's just being a good steward of the things God provides in your life. It's good sense.

I don't like depending on electronics too much for entertainment, socializing or daily life tasks as they take the life out of living. Real life is not in a gadget but lived right out loud where you can feel it, smell it, touch it and taste it. We don't have a TV nor do we actively use cell phones, the computer is an old lap top that we can access for information exchange and very few sites are actually visited on there...this is one of the few. It just makes sense to avoid getting sucked into dependency on machines and things that waste your time but produce little of real value.

So..in a nutshell, self sufficiency doesn't mean much to me...no one is sufficient unto themselves and all depend on God for everything, whether they know it or believe it, or not. But, common sense living? Yeah...I'm a fan and it just means one takes the situation in which they live and tries to make the most common sense and practical approach to improving it and preserving it.

 

[MoonShadows]

Self-Sufficiency is such a broad term. I don't know if anyone can truly define it or there will ever be consensus on it's definition...not that any consensus is necessary.

I like to think of all this as "Back to Basics". It seems (to me) our world has become so modernized and fast paced that we have or are in grave danger of loosing touch with the basics. For me, that means returning to a simpler relationship with my God. Forget the institutions (religious and worldly), their "requirements" and imposed rules and opinions of right and wrong and walk with my God through life with him as Mentor and me as Student. Really, that's all that matters. It means having a few true loving relationships rather than being with the "in" crowd, desperately seeking others' approval, or having 1000 friends on Facebook. It means shedding today's societal norms, trends and toys which may provide "fun" and distraction but, in my opinion, keep us from really appreciating, enjoying and using for its intended purpose this simple but glorious gift we have been given, our mortal lives here in paradise with our companions, the animals, and mother earth.

Yes, it's more than the above, but it is difficult to put into words and to cover it all in a paragraph, essay or book. perhaps, For me, it means peace with my God, peace with my loved ones, and peace with the earth, something I strive to grow at/with/to a bit more each day. I don't call it Self Sufficiency; I call it Back to Basics.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

For me, it means being as independent as one can be in todays world. Call me a control freak, lol. But, I like growing as much food as possible. I like keeping animals. I like knowing where my food comes from and what went into it. I like saving money. If I can grow better and safer food and save money doing it - why wouldn't I? I like projects - turning pretty much nothing into a little bit of something. I like having a back up system for electricity that will hold us over in the event of an outage. I like a challenge!

 

[Wannabefree]

For me it's financial independence, unsustainable fuel independence, utilizing as many local resources as possible, and most importantly BEING a local resource. If we aren't teaching the next generation we are really just pissing in the wind so to speak...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Dang, I like that answer. I love seeing young 'uns getting started in this lifestyle!

 

[Wannabefree]

Yeah and the kids are sponges when you start teaching them!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Self sufficiency? No such thing. I call it good stewardship. Using the resources you have been blessed with to the greatest advantage. To that end, my husband and I live frugally, and always have. That's not saying we don't have things that we enjoy. He has his guitars, I have my gardens and animals. We built our home, and paid off the 15 year 15K mortgage years ago. We use a combination of wood, pellet and oil heat, relying mostly on wood heat. I am super blessed in that hubby is skilled in many areas, and he takes the time to teach me. ( I shy away from mechanical stuff, but love to do wood based projects, and love to work with tile.) He can take care of almost all electrical, plumbing, and some automotive repairs.

On the home front, we have cleared a fair amount of land to get more sunshine, remove problem trees from around the house. That cleared land has opened up the space for me to plant an orchard. (on less than optimal land, but... the trees seem to be doing ok.) I am also working on a hugel kulture mound.

We built an incubator, and I've been hatching my own chicks since 2012, Though, I occasionally purchase chicks to increase the genetic diversity of my flock. I sell surplus eggs, and have sold older hens, and some chicks. Cockrels go to the freezer.

Garden style is deep mulch, which is being converted to BTE, and the orchard is BTE. This spring, I have planted: a peach tree, 2 Cornelian Cherries, Cranberries, Wine Cap Mushrooms, Fiddleheads, and still have 2 Lingonberries to plant. My gardening goal is to be able to preserve enough produce to carry us through the winter. I'm still enjoying raspberry jam and peach (purchased fruit) salsa from last season. It's spoiled me for ever buying such things from the grocer. Last year, I ventured into pressure canning and dehydrating.

I am an avid dump forager: Thermopane door and windows for my chicken coop, lots of building materials, wood chips, wonderful compost, and some very functional furniture have come from what we lovingly call our "Town Mall". My most recent find was a Maple wood night stand which we are refinishing, and an orthopedic kneeling chair which I have always wanted. I think they stopped making them about 30 years ago. I would say that I've found everything but the kitchen sink there. But, those can be found as well. I brought home a beautiful bathroom sink, which I intend to build a cabinet for so I have a place to wash my veggies before bringing them into the house to finish processing. That will keep the soil, the water, and the leaves and such out in the garden, where they are intended to stay.

My long term goal is to be independent of the grocer. I am scrambling to get the land tamed and productively planted while my body still has the strength to do so. (I am 61 y.o. and have many aches and pains. Some days, getting out of bed is a challenge.) We will always have a financial burden, medical being the greatest challenge, as hubby requires some very expensive meds which he could not live without.

But, I trust it all to God. He has met our every need, and I am blessed beyond all measure.

 

[sumi]

This is an interesting set of questions… and a great topic! For me self sufficiency means being independent. I.e. not needing to rely on providers for things like food, energy, etc.

I went from being fairly SS, harvesting rain water, growing vegetables, keeping a large flock of chickens and raising and butchering pigs (selling eggs, chickens, meat, fire wood and meat) to having just a small flock of chickens and growing a few veggies in containers to get my "fix", but I would love to be able to do more. Keep more animals and grow my own vegetables on a larger scale. Keep a goat or three for milk, etc. Right now, where I live makes that impossible, but once I moved and onto the right property…