TanksHill
Super Self-Sufficient
Dac's I gre up in Huntington Beach, Ca. Flat land, houses on tiny little lots with hardly any yards. Vista is still very rural compared to where I grew up.dacjohns said:
Vista is very diferent than HB.
g
What kind of SS are you?
- Thread starter hikerchick
- Start date
Vista is very diferent than HB.
g
dacjohns
Our Frustrated Curmudgeon
Gina, I agree.
pioneergirl
Wannabe Pioneer
I like the term Self Reliant as well. To me, if you can sew on a button, you're self reliant. If you grow a small pot of cherry tomatoes on the porch, you're self reliant. It comes in all degrees, all levels. At the moment, with my job, the only self reliant or self sufficient thing I'm doing is hanging my clothes on an antique dryer instead of using the electric one.
When I get my plot, I won't be completely self reliant. DH will still have a job to pay taxes. I'll still sell my wares at the Farmer's Market or to anyone who wants to buy them so I can buy more seeds, or put gas in the tractor, or buy dewormer for the horses, etc. As time goes on I'll try growing things that I buy (spices, etc) but I will never be like the Native Americans. Even the Amish go to WalMart!
When I get my plot, I won't be completely self reliant. DH will still have a job to pay taxes. I'll still sell my wares at the Farmer's Market or to anyone who wants to buy them so I can buy more seeds, or put gas in the tractor, or buy dewormer for the horses, etc. As time goes on I'll try growing things that I buy (spices, etc) but I will never be like the Native Americans. Even the Amish go to WalMart!
FarmerChick
Super Self-Sufficient
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then everyone in the world is self reliant.
everyone does something for themselves at some point...LOL
like a button or turning off that extra light or growing a mater plant on the porch.
Are we trying to find a name for us? Something new?????
everyone does something for themselves at some point...LOL
like a button or turning off that extra light or growing a mater plant on the porch.
Are we trying to find a name for us? Something new?????
patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
I really really like me&thegals' definition of "saying, "You know what? Just cuz everybody else does it this way does not mean I have to" and Bee's spotlight on "self-reliance" -- put those two things together and that's exactly how I feel. Only youse guys' version is much more concise, LOL
Pat
Ha, that is so well put! I have to remember that. Yeah, that's what I was trying to get at earlier... there is off-the-grid where you chop wood and wash clothes by hand and burn beeswax candles; and then there is off-the-grid where you have honkin' great solar panels or whatever, to power a normal home's worth of electrical appliances so you can use your curling iron in the morning and sip Mr Coffee while you catch up with online news. The difference between Countryside magazine off-grid (well, sometimes) and Harrowsmith magazine off-grid, LOLBeekissed said:
Pat
patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
But isn't the point, *how* self-reliant you are, and how much you are interested in increasing that?FarmerChick said:
I know a lot of people, in fact am married to one *sigh*, who are not particularly self-reliant and honestly see no value or point in it and are certainly not trying to become MORE so.
Versus, how people on this forum feel about it.
Pat
FarmerChick
Super Self-Sufficient
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off grid to me means literally nothing. no electrical supplied even by the old car battery or the generator or water wheel or anything.
FarmerChick
Super Self-Sufficient
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YES great point.patandchickens said:
the value in the feeling of what you are striving for.
me&thegals
A Major Squash & Pumpkin Lover
I didn't know my husband had a brother!! I cannot get this man to camp in the backyard with the kids and me when his nice cushy mattress is only 30 feet away. Or walk to the farm to work (1/2 mile) rather than rev up the big diesel truck. And so on.patandchickens said:
<deep breath>
Sometimes I see so much waste around me--water, electricity, fossil fuels--that I feel like I need to use that much less just to make up for them. Do NOT even get me started on BIL/SIL's geothermal heating system using 1000s and 1000s of gallons of water per day....Right across the field from us, where I work really, really hard to conserve water.
Anyway, I majorly digressed. Some people work hard to enjoy the finer/cushier things in life. Some people work hard to get further and further away from relying on those things.
Wolf-Kim
Lovin' The Homestead
Currently, I'm only a dabbler.
I'm making steady progress toward being mostly off grid.
My goals are to be completely self sufficient for my food. This means growing fruits, veggies, and herbs. I worried about grains, because they take up quite a bit of space, but then hubby's family has Celiac's. So, they have to stick with corn and rice, if that is one of the few things I have to buy, that's perfectly fine with me.
We are currently raising chickens, ducks, geese, quail and rabbits. The chickens, ducks, and geese are eating solely whole corn, oats, and barley. They are actually laying better now then when they were on laying pellets, go figure. The quail are on chick starter, so more than likely we'll be downsizing those to a trio and keeping them for fun, or simply getting rid of them all together. The rabbits are on rabbit pellets and bermuda/alfalfa hay.
We also have a couple of horses. Not self sufficient by ANY means. The main reason they stay, is because we have a 6 acre pasture that if not grazed, has to be mowed by tractor. Of course, the horses are pets and occasional recreation.
My goals:
To graduate nursing school with my husband(both of us will be RNs) and to purchase a farm in Virginia. We hope to have a small herd of angus cattle and one or two Jersey cows. The cows will provide us with beef and milk, as well as selling the extras. We will have heritage chickens, for table and hatching eggs. Rabbits, for meat, fur and fertilizer(I love those things!). And as always a couple of horses(because I can't be without them), they will be trained to ride and drive. Hogs, for pork and recycling table scraps. Bees for honey, pollination, and wax. Geese and ducks, for eggs, live harvested down, and possibly meat. Surplus of anything will be sold.
The land will be split up into pasture, garden, forest, and the house, barn and garden. If we buy a large enough existing farm, we may farm the cropland for oats, hay, barley, and corn for the animals.
We hope to have a stream fed pond, in which we would utilize for fish and harvesting energy. Maybe even playing with a methane digester.
We would keep some land forest for the wildlife and for harvesting timber for use as lumber and firewood. (Hope to heat the house by woodburn stove).
Will we ever be completely off the grid? Probably not. Both my husband and I will work as RNs and we will both have a vehicle and probably toys that run on fuel. (ATV and vehicles) Not to mention we will be using a tractor for gardening and caring for the animals. There will probably some animals that need to be supplemented by storebought feed and possibly hay. Not to mention, Adam and I still wish to see the occasional dentist and both of us require correctional lenses.(We both hope to take advantage of laser eye surgery and be done with glasses and contacts)
BUT, we hope to raise or grow all our own food. Have excess to sell and 'pay' for ours. Have our home run on energy and fuel that we harvest, if not completely, then partially. And have as little waste(and carcinagens) in our home as possible.
I'm making steady progress toward being mostly off grid.
My goals are to be completely self sufficient for my food. This means growing fruits, veggies, and herbs. I worried about grains, because they take up quite a bit of space, but then hubby's family has Celiac's. So, they have to stick with corn and rice, if that is one of the few things I have to buy, that's perfectly fine with me.
We are currently raising chickens, ducks, geese, quail and rabbits. The chickens, ducks, and geese are eating solely whole corn, oats, and barley. They are actually laying better now then when they were on laying pellets, go figure. The quail are on chick starter, so more than likely we'll be downsizing those to a trio and keeping them for fun, or simply getting rid of them all together. The rabbits are on rabbit pellets and bermuda/alfalfa hay.
We also have a couple of horses. Not self sufficient by ANY means. The main reason they stay, is because we have a 6 acre pasture that if not grazed, has to be mowed by tractor. Of course, the horses are pets and occasional recreation.
My goals:
To graduate nursing school with my husband(both of us will be RNs) and to purchase a farm in Virginia. We hope to have a small herd of angus cattle and one or two Jersey cows. The cows will provide us with beef and milk, as well as selling the extras. We will have heritage chickens, for table and hatching eggs. Rabbits, for meat, fur and fertilizer(I love those things!). And as always a couple of horses(because I can't be without them), they will be trained to ride and drive. Hogs, for pork and recycling table scraps. Bees for honey, pollination, and wax. Geese and ducks, for eggs, live harvested down, and possibly meat. Surplus of anything will be sold.
The land will be split up into pasture, garden, forest, and the house, barn and garden. If we buy a large enough existing farm, we may farm the cropland for oats, hay, barley, and corn for the animals.
We hope to have a stream fed pond, in which we would utilize for fish and harvesting energy. Maybe even playing with a methane digester.
We would keep some land forest for the wildlife and for harvesting timber for use as lumber and firewood. (Hope to heat the house by woodburn stove).
Will we ever be completely off the grid? Probably not. Both my husband and I will work as RNs and we will both have a vehicle and probably toys that run on fuel. (ATV and vehicles) Not to mention we will be using a tractor for gardening and caring for the animals. There will probably some animals that need to be supplemented by storebought feed and possibly hay. Not to mention, Adam and I still wish to see the occasional dentist and both of us require correctional lenses.(We both hope to take advantage of laser eye surgery and be done with glasses and contacts)
BUT, we hope to raise or grow all our own food. Have excess to sell and 'pay' for ours. Have our home run on energy and fuel that we harvest, if not completely, then partially. And have as little waste(and carcinagens) in our home as possible.
