Self-Sufficiency

[ArkTinkerer]

LCountz,

No offense here. Very sedate polite forum and I like it this way!

I just see so many people miss out because they get caught up in the commercialization of so many good things in life. Gardening is sticking seeds in the ground. Make it complicated and expensive if you want but don't condemn it later because of what it has become. Biking can be enjoyed on a cheap $20 flea market buy or even a freebie on craigslist or freecycle. Or it can be a $2000+ custom mountain bike!

I have old machine tools I play with (and plan to play with a lot more!). They are worth more as scrap metal than what I paid for them. My machinist friend said I should have bought new $5000+ tools instead. He misses the point that fixing the tools is part of the fun. I will understand the tools better, and their limitations, after going over every inch of them.
Is it profitable? Maybe. I could make a lot more selling my time. But that would be real work instead of tinkering...

 

[EastWest Gal]

Fresh herbs are super easy to grow, especially thyme, sage and rosemary. Harsh winters kill rosemary but I just stick a new plant in the ground. Some are problematic--basil attracts Japanese beetles for example.

Garlic is great. I buy a bulb or two from the store. Stick the cloves in the ground around the periphery of my veggie plot in late October. A few shoots show up. Then I bury them in the November leaves. In the spring they get uncovered. Harvest in July, wash well and dry, hang or braid, good to go when they've dried slightly. 15 bulbs from one bulb. And it helps keep the digging animals away.

Thought about self sufficiency a lot, never did enough. But I do make my own music.


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[daylatedollarshort]

If cooking for ourselves from whole foods counts as self sufficiency then I guess we are more into that these days than we used to be. Today I made home made soup in my energy saving Instant Pot with stuff from around the kitchen - black fungus, shitake mushrooms, mustard greens, fava beans cooked from dried beans, dried tomatoes and leftover chicken. DH was surprised it actually tasted pretty good.

I use drying racks for clothes. It is a good Zen activity and I get some fresh air and sunshine. I also make my own cleaning products with natural ingredients. DH has learned to cook quite well and do our own taxes. So I guess we do little things for self sufficiency, if those all count.

 

[Elbata]

Reading "The Rational Optimist" I learned we're becoming more dependent, not self sufficient, and that's a good thing. (Google "I Pencil").

I do my own AC, appliance, plumbing, car repair and maintenance, but when it comes to growing my own potatoes, it's easier to buy a 5lb bag at the dollar store.

 

[Major Tom]

And, if one looked at everything from an economic standpoint, then YES it is cheaper to sit on the couch, very quietly, watch over the air TV, and eat one egg for breakfast, a PBJ sandwich for lunch, and some 60/40 hamburger for dinner...but who wants to?!?!?!?

I think this guy would consider that a rather over-the-top lifestyle

The Strange Tale of the North Pond Hermit

 

[ArkTinkerer]

If you really want to be a slug-a-bed you can get paid for it...

NASA will pay you $18,000 to stay in bed for 70 days | DVICE

 

[imoldernu]

A fun subject.

Since I turned age 8, a secret part of me has always wanted to be there, when the rest of the world had given up. Even though I was too young then, to join Boy Scouts, I had a old Handbook, which taught me about self sufficiency. I always carried my home made emergency kit... razor blade, fishline and hook, safety pin, aspirin tablets, water purification tablets, flint, tinfoil (what we called it then), signal mirror, two bandaids, needle and thread and a Hopalong Cassidy mini compass ring.

A small part of me still thinks in survival terms. After WWII, there was a great underlying fear of nuclear disaster and the scout program was geared to wilderness survival. Not a direct connection, but the "Be Prepared" motto put a premium on the concept of self sufficiency.

For a taste of this, spend a few minutes here... The 1911 Handbook, for what I'd consider an amazing compilation of basic knowledge about the world we live in. If there was to be only one book left in the world... this might be "It".

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29558/29558-h/29558-h.htm

(check out the requirements for an "Aviation" merit badge for kids ... in 1911... and, for some of our members, the Merit badge for "Beekeeping".

In 1911, the Boy Scout Handbook was the "Wikipedia" of 103 years ago. Still pertinent today.
..................................................
While I don't hunt or farm, reliance on others is very limited. Now, because we live in a CCRC community, there is no outside work, but like the OP, I do all of my own repairs, and have an unending curiosity about hobbies and things I've never done or been exposed to. Nature is my second home. Being outside in the woods trail and streams is my idea of nirvana.

In the Buddhist context nirvana refers to the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the divine ground of existence Brahman (Supreme Being) and the experience of blissful egolessness.

So yeah... self sufficiency... not necessarily end time but more a philosophical framework for fitting in with self confidence.

Adding one more item... one of the pages I turned up when poking around the self sufficiency subject... For only $24,000 you can buy a Zombie Apocalypse survival kit.

http://www.dudeiwantthat.com/gear/weapons/zero-zombie-apocalypse-kit.asp

 

[ggbutcher]

Tales from South Louisiana

I eat my roadkill.

On one trip back home to Cajun country years ago, my parents met me at the airport. Mom had a plate lunch for me in the truck (couldn't wait to feed me until we got home...), and she had to issue the disclaimer that the barbeque pork was a road-kill wild boar a friend 'encountered' while driving to Oakdale. Tasted fine..

Eating road-kill is like eating off the floor: if you can establish the pedigree (in the case of the floor item, did you see it hit the floor and do you know what it is) and it hasn't been there too long, go for it...

 

[MRG]

Eating road-kill is like eating off the floor: if you can establish the pedigree (in the case of the floor item, did you see it hit the floor and do you know what it is) and it hasn't been there too long, go for it...

True, just make sure it's legal in that state. A good buddy of mine lost his hunting privileges for a year from picking up some venison. Don't know it that state has changed it's laws since then.

Years ago road killed venison was handed out to prisons and schools in that state. They've since stopped doing that. So the viable food source is wasted, and a huge expense to collect and destroy. What a waste.

 

[braumeister]

Possum: the other white meat.

 

[unno2002]

[FONT=&quot]I consider any investment that reduces an otherwise ongoing expense to be part of a "Broadly Diversified Portfolio".
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Stuff - If you are going to need something “down the road”, and can buy it now for later use, there is a good chance it will be a better “investment” than normal investments. Buying food on sale, in bulk cuts down on overall food costs. (One of our “highest return” investments for the past few years has been cans of corned beef. I could NOT have guaranteed after tax returns that would have kept up with the rising price of a can…) For some published thoughts on this aspect, see the book Alpha Strategy, available online free to read at: [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Alpha Strategy[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jack Spirko, a podcaster on preparedness, speaks on how preparedness is also a retirement plan.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Preparedness As A Retirement Plan | The Survival Podcast

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]For more thoughts on “outside the box” investment / cost cutting try:
http://www.offthegridnews.com/otgN451/cutelectricbills.pdf
http://www.offthegridnews.com/otgN451/Supermarket_Survival.pdf[/FONT]

 

[LOL!]

The local grocery stores have plenty of free samples practically every day. So "foraging" in the stores can be quite productive.

One trick is to have a set of 5 to 10 close-by stores that one can eat at for free without being in the same store every day. If they are within walking or biking distance, so much the better.

I still remember one store celebrating king crab legs day. I think my son ate about 5 pounds of them just by himself, but the staff was very happy that they didn't have to throw them away.

Another favorite is wine-tasting at these places.

 

[rodi]

I'm less interested in self sufficiency and more interested in saving money and efficiency.

We garden because we like to cook and fresh fennel, thyme, rosemary, basil, tomatoes, artichokes, peaches, nectarines, limes, oranges, grapefruits, pumpkins, etc. make the cooking interesting.

I cook from scratch - including bread, pie dough, etc... because I like the product better than storebought - and I have time now that I'm retired.

I'm learning to sew - because I bought a cheap machine at a garage sale and want to relearn skills of my youth. I don't expect to be producing designer clothes - but can see doing some simple stuff.

We've talked about chickens - but DH is against it. I'd love to get them, but worry about hawks having them for dinner. (We're on a canyon and red-tail hawks are regular neighbors.) Our neighbors owl box is occupied - so that might also put any chickens we got, at risk.

We're still weighing the pros/cons of solar... but would probably not go so far as getting inverters and going off the grid... So not really self sufficient there.

 

[MRG]

.....snip.....

We've talked about chickens - but DH is against it. I'd love to get them, but worry about hawks having them for dinner. (We're on a canyon and red-tail hawks are regular neighbors.) Our neighbors owl box is occupied - so that might also put any chickens we got, at risk.

Red-tail hawk will take a chicken, at least they took ours. So will raccoons, fox, coyote..... If you don't want to feed local predators you cage an area with good tight fence to keep the unwelcome critters out. Depending on how many hawks in the area, may get away with letting chickens roam for part of the day(not dawn or dusk).



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[daylatedollarshort]

We've talked about chickens - but DH is against it. I'd love to get them, but worry about hawks having them for dinner. (We're on a canyon and red-tail hawks are regular neighbors.) Our neighbors owl box is occupied - so that might also put any chickens we got, at risk.

The main predators for one of our friend's backyard chickens are raccoons.

 

[Amethyst]

I do all our food preparation, with some help (chopping) from Mr. A. We purchase most of our food fresh/raw, and have managed to eliminate almost all "junk" food from the family diet. No chips, crackers, etc., and all baked goods are baked by me. We do eat commercial ice cream, and sadly went back to packaged bread, after the fourth bread machine in a row began to produce inedible hunks which no ingredient "tweaking" seemed able to fix. I also grind coffee beans. I tried making yogurt in an electric yogurt maker. The yogurt tasted great, but the prep was a nuisance so I gave it up.

Nine months out of 12, I use the "solar dryer" for machine-washed sheets. Gym clothes are always washed by hand and air-dried. Towels and such go in the dryer, because otherwise they're stiff as a board. I don't think the solar drying really saves much $$; it's just that we love the smell of wind-and-sun-dried fabric.

We do our own interior painting.

We wash and wax our car, although there's an automatic car wash 3 miles away.

As mentioned in other threads, we do our own yard maintenance, unlike our neighbors. It seems to us that it has been about 15 years since average folks started hiring landscaping companies. Their trucks and trailers are everywhere on the road, whereas 15 years ago you hardly ever saw them.

I would love to be able to hunt deer on our property, but it is not allowed. Gardening used to be a major joy in life but the deer have wrecked that. They even chewed up junipers, hollies and Leyland cypress last winter, and they're not supposed to like those.

I mend clothes that are good enough to be worth the trouble. Nowadays, making clothes is not worth the considerable effort involved -and fabric and patterns aren't cheap! When the U.S. did not trade with China, clothes were comparatively more expensive and sewing made more sense. My mother hailed from that era, and taught my sister and me to sew. In fact, I made custom curtains for our master bath this spring, because I could not find anything I liked ready-made that would fit the odd-sized window, and I could make curtains far cheaper than custom-made.

Amethyst

 

[Walt34]

We grew up mostly self-sufficient, as much as one can be in suburbia. Did all our own car maintenance/repairs as well as on the house. Paying someone to do it was simply not an option because we didn't t have the money for that.

Perhaps because of that upbringing, I have a passionate loathing of plumbing. It always took six trips to the hardware store, always for some oddball never-before-heard-of piece, part, or tool. So the instant I could afford it, I called a plumber for any of those maintenance items. To me, having the money to call a plumber is a luxury that I don't hesitate to indulge in for anything that will take longer than about an hour.

We didn't garden, no one ever had the interest in it for some reason. I never did either.

While I could if I wanted to do all or most of my car maintenance the last few years that has been limited to oil changes and light bulb replacements. I had my fill of sitting or lying in the driveway, freezing or broiling, and getting greasy up to my elbows. And frankly, vehicles now seem to need a lot less work to keep up than they did then. So I take it to a shop when it does need work done. That's a luxury too.

Lately I've even been taking them to a car wash instead of doing it myself.

This is the first year I hired a lawn service. A couple months ago I had a little issue with a blocked heart artery and ended up with two stents. No permanent damage, and doc says full recovery with no restrictions. But it manifested itself when I was mowing the lawn, and DW seems to believe that if I ever touch a lawn mower again I will instantly die. So to ease her concerns I hired a lawn service for the rest of this year. I fully intend to resume my own lawn-mowing next year.

But it may turn out that by then I will have become spoiled and not do that. It sure is nice to have the option.

 

[ArkTinkerer]

The local grocery stores have plenty of free samples practically every day. So "foraging" in the stores can be quite productive.

One trick is to have a set of 5 to 10 close-by stores that one can eat at for free without being in the same store every day. If they are within walking or biking distance, so much the better.

I still remember one store celebrating king crab legs day. I think my son ate about 5 pounds of them just by himself, but the staff was very happy that they didn't have to throw them away.

Another favorite is wine-tasting at these places.

Sounds like urban foraging! Lot lower risk of inadvertently gathering something poisonous too.

 

[brewer12345]

DW was not recovered enough from the ugly cold that poleaxed both of us, so camping trip this weekend was out. So this morning I went up the canyon and "foraged" a daily limit of trout. I used worms from our compost heap as bait. Then I took a hike in a state wildlife area and saw a number of squirrels, signs of deer and a rabbit. Season is around the corner...

 

[ArkTinkerer]

Amethyst,

Do they not have urban bow hunts in your area? While bow hunting takes some time to learn, many hunters will take care of your deer problem for free. They might even share the harvest with you.

ArkTinkerer

 

[brewer12345]

Amethyst,

Do they not have urban bow hunts in your area? While bow hunting takes some time to learn, many hunters will take care of your deer problem for free. They might even share the harvest with you.

ArkTinkerer

Depends on the severity of the problem. I used to live in the People's Republic of New Jersey. One of the nearby county parks had a severe deer problem. A large tree would fall and instead of a race to see which sapling would replace it, nothing grew because the damn deer would eat it to the ground. A population survey found more than 30 deer per square mile in the park, where natural levels would be 1 to 2. They allowed bowhunting and muzzle loader hunting, but it did not make a dent. Finally the parks department decided to try a cull. They had to hold hearings and after the predictable "don't kill Bambi" crowd had its say they closed the park for two weeks and gave the rangers shotguns to kill every deer they could find. They snuffed scads of deer and gave the meat to local food pantries. 6 months later they did a populations survey: 30+ deer per square mile...

 

[RAE]

My wife and I take great satisfaction in growing/harvesting a lot of the food we eat. I have a big vegetable garden that produces a lot of the veggies we eat; we collect local fruits/berries for wine-making and fresh eating; we hunt and fish (try to get 2-3 deer for the freezer every year); we buy other meat (beef, lamb, pork, chickens) from farmer friends nearby; we get eggs from another farmer friend down the road; we grow several varieties of hops for use in making beer; we grow mushrooms on logs; we harvest wild rice; and more.

I try to do most of the house/yard maintenance and repair work around here, but there are occasionally jobs I'd rather not tackle myself, so we hire those out (like the new porch a local carpenter just built for us). I do simple vehicle maintenance, but major vehicle repair is not something I'm going to attempt.

All in all, we keep plenty busy doing the things we are good at, and that we enjoy doing. It's not really work to us, it's just part of our lifestyle. If I wasn't able to do some of these things, I'd probably be pretty unhappy....

 

[brewer12345]

All in all, we keep plenty busy doing the things we are good at, and that we enjoy doing. It's not really work to us, it's just part of our lifestyle. If I wasn't able to do some of these things, I'd probably be pretty unhappy....

Pretty much the way I feel about it. There is a lot more satisfaction for me in sitting down to a meal I largely hunted/fished/foraged myself accompanied by a glass of homebrew compared with stuff I bought and assembled.

 

[ArkTinkerer]

Depends on the severity of the problem. I used to live in the People's Republic of New Jersey. One of the nearby county parks had a severe deer problem. A large tree would fall and instead of a race to see which sapling would replace it, nothing grew because the damn deer would eat it to the ground. A population survey found more than 30 deer per square mile in the park, where natural levels would be 1 to 2. They allowed bowhunting and muzzle loader hunting, but it did not make a dent. Finally the parks department decided to try a cull. They had to hold hearings and after the predictable "don't kill Bambi" crowd had its say they closed the park for two weeks and gave the rangers shotguns to kill every deer they could find. They snuffed scads of deer and gave the meat to local food pantries. 6 months later they did a populations survey: 30+ deer per square mile...

My parents told me about the Kiabab Forest after the non-hunters had their way. Big deer population boom and then starvation and disease wiped them out. Said it was the saddest thing they every saw. Took years to recover both the forest and the deer.

 

[pb4uski]

I recall when I was in my thirties I considered buying a house with a lot of land and living off the land - cutting, splitting and stacking wood for heat, hunting for meat, fishing for meat, having a large garden for vegetable and fruits, canning fruits and vegetables, having a root cellar, etc. At the end of the day, I decided that self-sufficiency would be too much work and decided to keep working.

Today, DW has a small garden and does some canning. We had a few trees fall a couple years ago and had the wood cut (bigger than my chainsaw would handle easily) but i borrowed a friend's log splitter and split it and that is what we burned last winter, but normally we buy wood cut, split and delivered. I do a lot of our home maintenance and home improvement projects though because I enjoy it and it saves us a a lot at what carpenters charge.