Do you seek sustainability for your sustainability?

[patandchickens]

Given that the extreme vast majority of the human race lives their whole life without insurance, as did ALL our ancestors until pretty recently, it seems to me pretty clear that insurance is a convenience.

It is a convenience you may put very high on your personal priority list, but it is not a literal NEED like food, water, or oxygen.

(Same with paper or writing utensils.)

Pat

 

[Ohioann]

Become Amish.

I'm sorry to disagree but the Amish are not as SS as they may appear to be. I have many friends in our local Amish community and do a lot of taxi work for them. I can only speak for my personal experience in our local community but my aquaintences use electricity from generators (purchased fuel) for home businesses, washing machines, milking , wood working shops; run refrigerators and stoves on propane (purchased), use telephones [line and cell phones] ; hire drivers and vehicles for work crews and for personal shopping; and use the internet (at libraries or thru non amish friends). Yes they do more gardening, canning and clothes sewing than the general population, have home based business, support their own schools and provide vocational training for their children after they leave school after 8th grade. In no way do I mean this to be negative, I admire the way my friends choose to live their lives but their life style is not as technology free as it may appear to be.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Become Amish.

I'm sorry to disagree but the Amish are not as SS as they may appear to be. I have many friends in our local Amish community and do a lot of taxi work for them. I can only speak for my personal experience in our local community but my aquaintences use electricity from generators (purchased fuel) for home businesses, washing machines, milking , wood working shops; run refrigerators and stoves on propane (purchased), use telephones [line and cell phones] ; hire drivers and vehicles for work crews and for personal shopping; and use the internet (at libraries or thru non amish friends). Yes they do more gardening, canning and clothes sewing than the general population, have home based business, support their own schools and provide vocational training for their children after they leave school after 8th grade. In no way do I mean this to be negative, I admire the way my friends choose to live their lives but their life style is not as technology free as it may appear to be.

Have you heard how the local businesses stock up on electronics after the area bishop makes his rounds (smashing radios and the like?)

Yes, there are many things to admire about them and you're right, they aren't as non-English as people tend to believe.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Become Amish.

I'm sorry to disagree but the Amish are not as SS as they may appear to be. I have many friends in our local Amish community and do a lot of taxi work for them. I can only speak for my personal experience in our local community but my aquaintences use electricity from generators (purchased fuel) for home businesses, washing machines, milking , wood working shops; run refrigerators and stoves on propane (purchased), use telephones [line and cell phones] ; hire drivers and vehicles for work crews and for personal shopping; and use the internet (at libraries or thru non amish friends). Yes they do more gardening, canning and clothes sewing than the general population, have home based business, support their own schools and provide vocational training for their children after they leave school after 8th grade. In no way do I mean this to be negative, I admire the way my friends choose to live their lives but their life style is not as technology free as it may appear to be.

Have you heard how the local businesses stock up on electronics after the area bishop makes his rounds (smashing radios and the like?)

Yes, there are many things to admire about them and you're right, they aren't as non-English as people tend to believe.

They live by legalism. They have perfected ways to live by the rules of the church and break them at the same time.

 

[lwheelr]

I have a couple of basic goals as far as self-sufficiency. I don't want to do everything - I don't think I can, because some of our goals require technology, and if I am going to be working hard all day I REALLY need a crock pot, because a wood stove just isn't practical to have running all day in a hot climate.

I want to be able to raise animals, and garden, with as little "outside" expenditure as possible. I want to raise as much of our food, and the animal food as we practically can. I want to save seed so I buy once, and then perpetuate.

I also want to get our basic living expenses down as much as possible, and eliminate all elective debts.

To the degree that I feel these things are practical now, they are achievable.

But the degree to which I feel they are practical, probably isn't the same as someone else's definition of practical. There are some things that I feel are just TOO much work. I don't want to sew my own clothes, nor do I want to weave, knit, or darn socks. Spinning holds no allure for me (it just looks like it would hurt my back a lot to do it!).

I don't want to build my own house. I'd like to get an old house and fix it up little by little though, and I'd be up for getting a piece of land and finding an old house somewhere else and moving it onto the land.

I DO want wind turbines eventually. And a well.

Basically, I want to know that if things get really stupid out there, I can survive if I have to, and still feed our family. All the rest, I know I COULD do, if I HAD to. And that's enough.

 

[SKR8PN]

Farming is tough, but, you guys and gals have no idea just how hard on your body being an auto technician is. Asbestos in brakes, gasoline vapors, coolant and the vapors from it, brake fluid, used motor oil cancer dangers, injuries from lifting engines and transmissions, electrical burns, burns from hot exhaust, torches and welders, cuts from glass, sharp sheet metal, screws,etc., using air tools that not only hurt your joints, but also blow small particles into your eye's and lungs, explosives and poisons(air bags) ......just for sh!ts and giggles, do a Google on Sodium Azide and tell me what you think!

ANYWAY..........back on topic........If I had it to do all over again, I'd follow some of the advise already given. Save, save, save and save some more. DO NOT GO INTO DEBT!!! Pay CASH for that land, rebuild an old house or move one onto the property and repair it, slowly build your stock of animals, but most important of all.... LEARN TO WORK SMART, NOT HARD!!

 

[Up-the-Creek]

This question has popped into my mind several times. Are we truly sustainable? I know its impossible to be totally self sufficient. But how can we be more SS? We all have a garden, chickens, and usually a couple other things. But how can we do this without outside interference? Do I make sense?

Doing anything without outside interference is downright impossible I think. Even our ancestors had to pay taxes,..and usually there was some kind of government to answer to or religious order,..etc.,.. Also I think most peoples ideas of being self sufficent and how to obtain it is as different as the colors of the rainbow. For example, some people think you have to have a power source, where as some of us can live totally without it. I believe also people get to hung up on the words self-sufficent and what they mean. I do it because I like it. It makes me feel good to be able to do what some others can't. I feel a sense of pride of being able to feed my family with what I have grown myself on my land. It makes me feel even better to use less electricity, just so I can cheat the power company out of some money and keep it in MY pocket. It gives me great pride to have built our own home with our own hands,.even if some people turn their noses up to it because it is small. Every little thing I do or we do as a family, we do it because we enjoy it. Back breaking, heavy labor or not, it is a labor of love. It neither is a statement to show how "in" we are, or just to be going against the flow. We do it for our enjoyment and pleasure. That is how we sustain our sustainability,..with a big smile on our faces.