Who considers themselves self sufficient

[MC Rider]

..........And making the new tooth would be another challenge off the list.

I saw a thing that said they can be 3d printed now, so maybe you could.


I'll agree with RobbieB. If you can get along without financial assistance / charity, you are as close as you need to be to self sufficient.

 

[jollystomper]

I am not totally self sufficient. But I try to have enough practical skills so that, when the Zombie Apocalypse arrives, what remains of society will see enough value in me to not offer up my brains to appease the zombie overloads .

 

[catii]

Living in Hawaii, my yard has 8 fruits, & I live across the street from the ocean, where I catch fish, octopus, crab, & lobster in season. I used to be a paramed, so do most of my own health stuff. I hunt with a high-power air rifle & crossbow. Not totally self-sufficient, but better than most.

 

[NW-Bound]

Living in Hawaii, my yard has 8 fruits, & I live across the street from the ocean, where I catch fish, octopus, crab, & lobster in season. I used to be a paramed, so do most of my own health stuff. I hunt with a high-power air rifle & crossbow. Not totally self-sufficient, but better than most.

Add some solar panels, a source of drinking water, and you are golden.

 

[Walt34]

I eat my road kill.

We've been doing that for generations. Family lore has it that when Grampa was a streetcar driver, on days he was lucky enough to run over a rabbit he'd stop and collect it for that evening's dinner. And my father was the one who wrapped a chicken in aluminum foil and cooked it by placing it on the car exhaust manifold during a drive to PA from D.C., turning it over at the halfway point. No word or how well that turned out though.

And I was quick to buy a copy of this book when it came out: The Original Road Kill Cookbook.

 

[travelover]

.........
And I was quick to buy a copy of this book when it came out: The Original Road Kill Cookbook.

Here is another book you might like in keeping with family tradition.

https://www.amazon.com/Manifold-Des...ocphy=9033614&hvtargid=pla-448676447507&psc=1

 

[RetireeRobert]

The closest I have come to self-sufficiency is financially. That is, I do not rely on employment for sufficient funds to be able to pay my bills. And if my government pension was ever kicked out from under me, I still have enough income stream from passive investments to fund myself.

But in terms of grow my own food, generate my own power, supply my own medical needs, etc.---no, not at all self sufficient.

 

[old medic]

I eat my road kill.

LMAO.... yes we have....waste not ... want not

 

[GTFan]

Nobody is self-sufficient. Absolutely no one.

 

[RAE]

Living in Hawaii, my yard has 8 fruits, & I live across the street from the ocean, where I catch fish, octopus, crab, & lobster in season. I used to be a paramed, so do most of my own health stuff. I hunt with a high-power air rifle & crossbow. Not totally self-sufficient, but better than most.

Sounds like a great lifestyle. We do some similar things, but we're in Michigan (and Florida for part of the year). We make wine from fruits grown in our yard, harvest our own deer and fish, forage for edible mushrooms and edible plants, grow a big vegetable garden that provides a lot of our veggies, harvest wild rice. We buy a lot of of our meat (other than venison) from local farmers. I do most of my house and yard maintenance myself. My goal is not to be completely self-sufficient (I'm not close to that), but to do as many things as I can on my own. With regard to food, we do what we do largely for health reasons. I like knowing where my food comes from, and how it is grown/raised.

 

[troutnut1]

My observation is that real self-sufficient people won’t be here bragging about it on the world wide web…

 

[Retired Expat]

I would not be self-sufficient until I made my own chips, with which to build a computer to get on the Web to make this post.

It's impossible to be self-sufficient while living surrounded by today's technology. Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, lived as a survivalist in a shed in the mountain, but he still came into town occasionally to get "stuff".

Robinson Crusoe, a fictional character in a 1719 novel, lived for 28 years on an isolated island after being shipwrecked. He was about as self-sufficient as it could be, after he got bootstrapped with some tools he salvaged from the wrecked ship.

No, I doubt that anyone could be that tough. And if he were, he would not have the means to frequent this forum or surf the Web.

Self sufficiency is kind of a spectrum. Few if any are 100%. But do you cook versus buy prepared. Do you grow stuff. Can you fix things or build them or do you have to “call the guy” for everything

I no longer can work on my own car as I did when younger when they were simpler but neither can I process crude oil into gasoline so must rely on others.

But compared to friends, family and all the folks we know I am considered incredibly self sufficient. It is a matter of perception

 

[travelover]

My observation is that real self-sufficient people won’t be here bragging about it on the world wide web…

No, they are still trying to create transistors from found minerals.

 

[NW-Bound]

No, they are still trying to create transistors from found minerals.

Making your own transistors? Hah!

First, I want to see you make your own vacuum tubes, like this Frenchman did.

Now, you will say that he did not make his own tools, nor produce his own materials. But what the guy did still knocked my socks off.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

As others indicated, there is a difference between long-term and short-term self sufficiency. We are content with short-term, which I think as anything up to a month. We've done up to a week with no electricity and it was an inconvenience, not a danger. A good stash of food and firewood, a pond and bleach water for water. Tools and medicine, etc.

We have a cement basement room that would make a good fallout shelter, and people joke about us being able to survive a nuclear war. No way. Who wants to survive the the initial war and then slowly die of starvation/radiation over the next year? I'd prefer to be vaporized by the first blast, but we're too out in the country for that.

We are close enough to a city to go there if we want, but far enough away to avoid the intractable social problems there.

We thought about all those things when we picked this location and built the house 40 years ago, and things have worked out nicely. A darned nice place to live even when society is functioning well.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I'm self sufficient. I'm retired and I've got enough dough to pay for what I need -

Ditto, but replace "need" with "want".

 

[Vacation4us]

On your terms I am not self sufficient. I have a long ago memory when dear ol dad made me skin his store bought chicken. I stood over that sink balling like a baby. Still don’t eat chicken with the skin till this day.

My DH calls me bait if the zombies arrive. He is VERY handy and self sufficient. I am ok standing behind him.

 

[NW-Bound]

On your terms I am not self sufficient. I have a long ago memory when dear ol dad made me skin his store bought chicken. I stood over that sink balling like a baby. Still don’t eat chicken with the skin till this day...

Do you mean plucking the chicken feathers?

I have not had to do it myself, but saw it done in my childhood. Boiling water was poured on the dead bird to ease the job. It was a messy job. I would not want to do it. Well, I don't think anybody would want to do it either.

Is it not great to buy meat all nicely shrink-wrapped from the stores without having to think about all the dirty work? Self-sufficiency is overrated.

 

[old medic]

Do you mean plucking the chicken feathers?
Self-sufficiency is overrated.

Our grandson loved us having chickens... had 2 groups, egg layers and meat birds... He came for a visit and noticed half the meat birds were gone.. Showed him the proceed birds in the freezer... and he asked about the feathers (yes a messy job) and I explained plucking them....
They have since been called Pops Naked Chickens...

 

[ivinsfan]

My observation is that real self-sufficient people won’t be here bragging about it on the world wide web…

Well of course they don't have time to read the web...


I would wager back in the good old days being SS included having useful things to barter with others in return for something you needed.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

If society collapses we're not going to last. We don't have firearms or know how to pluck chickens. But if we have a big earthquake and the power goes out for a couple of weeks, I've prepped for that. I have supplies like a solar shower, hand crank washer, food stores, propane bottles, propane stove, water, solar and hand crank chargers and radios, etc. We had the power go out for three days once due to wild fires so I learned from that experience.

 

[Lsbcal]

Happily pay other people to do things to save us the time and trouble.

Did plenty of homesteading type stuff decades ago. We have other priorities now.

I remember the old British comedy about self sufficiency. “The Good Life” https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/the_good_life/

I just want to have fun.

My idea of self sufficiency:

Going to the market ourselves and not ordering through Whole Foods. No fighting with the insects and animals around here for our veggies.

I do my own investing with a PC and mouse. The hours are grueling.

I hire out the harder gardening chores so actually pick up the phone and call someone myself.

I take the car down to get maintenance done. I do this all myself.

I play on-line chess and don't use a bot to win.

etc., etc, .........

 

[Lienlord]

When I order something from a restaurant, I go and get it myself rather than having it delivered.
So I guess that kinda makes me self-sufficient! LOL

 

[NW-Bound]

You are not self-sufficient if someone else has to peel your grapes.

 

[kgtest]

I am not self reliant. I remember watching some person explain what it would take to make your own ham and cheese sandwich from all self-reliant operations. I think they said it would take at least two years and thousands of dollars to enjoy that sammy.

I think as my ol man gets older he tries to be more self reliant which is somewhat ironic IMHO. For instance he stopped paying for trash service, he lives in suburbia and burns all of his trash. I would rather just pay the $30/month fee they charge to wave to the trash man as he automates that process for me. I try to do my own repairs and it has nothing to do with pride and more to do with time > $$ when I hire out these days.