Is a Self Sufficient Lifestyle Only Feasible if Healthy and Strong?

I have found that one can do amazingly large tasks a little bit at a time. So, if you have too much pain to split a pile of wood you can split a few logs each day until the job is done. Same with carrying things, building things, planting things, etc. Start early, take breaks, go slow, discover different and easier ways to do the same old stuff.
 
You right......plus if strength is lacking, you will want some nice straight pieces. Nothing that was cut from a knotty piece or near a fork where another branch was, unless its small enough to not need splitting, of course. I've used an electric b4. Seems a lot lighter. Never thought of using one lately because I would have to haul a generator....no power in the woods. Its a plan though. Plus, I find that electric tools last longer than motorized sometimes. Thats how it always worked for me with weedeaters. Our chainsaw needed service after only 2 years of use. Old electric one lasted a few years.
Denim Deb said:
You'd be amazed at how much wood you can get w/a 14" electric chainsaw and a small generator. Because of my Meniere's, I can't use a gas chainsaw-the smell makes me dizzy, but I bring home a ton of wood that I cut w/my little saw and generator. I've gotten to where I don't like it any bigger around than like 10" diameter, though. It's easier for me to handle, and easier (normally) to split.
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They have a 2000 watt generator at TSC. A friend has the same saw as I do,and that generator. And, while she can't pick up the generator by herself (it weighs about 45 lbs), she can normally find someone to put it in the back of her pickup. I think my generator, also 2000 watts, but different brand, weighs about the same.
 
I have 2 chainsaws, plus a DH and DS, but that is really not a bad idea. Plus I have adult children that live away for Ed. reasons and a little extra portable power could come in handy, depending on the severity of our next storm.

Another thing......I use my chickens and goats to clean up my garden before I go in to plant. Every little bit helps. They get free food, I get to spare my back and arms (plus some would say its greener)

Gotta agree with Bee's last post...pace yourself. Pick your battles.
 
I don't buy into this strong stuff to be self sufficient. Over the years I have had wounds that one would think would do me in and I'd have to hire someone to do my work for me. Nope. From a broken back, to spider fractures in my feet to crushed fingers, to being stabbed and having 75 stitches in me...none of this has stopped me from plowing fields with horses, cutting wood, putting up fence lines through a woods, shoveling snow up to my waist (I'm 5'9) to hauling out deer by hand. I never rely on machines to do my work for me, thus do it all by hand and muscle power and I have yet to be done in to where I need help from a neighbor. Sure sometimes I have to go super slow, but its just me and I am not in any hurry to beat the sunset. What I don't get done today, I finish the next day...so what? When one is living on their own, who cares about time. Who cares about being fast or being in a hurry and you come to enjoy days a whole lot more than if you put yourself on a time schedule and have to hurry through something.

My grandmother, back in the late 80's, was 87 years old and still split her own wood, still mowed her lawn with a walking propelled mower. She shoveled a longer drive way than I shovel and then still managed her meals including killing and cleaning chickens and rabbits. When we think strong, we often relate to physical power, but that's not it...strong means persistent, means to have stamina to continue working to get something done, and also means to set oneself up a schedule so that one doesn't overdue oneself.
 
I agree! Strong doesn't always mean great physical strength...sometimes it merely means persistent and with great fortitude.
 
I think that anyone who chooses a SS lifestyle, in spite of problems that would stop the majority of the population, are strong, mentally. And, it's hard to get them down. How many of us, in spite of some type of limitation, find a way to do what we want anyway. We find ways to adapt and improvise and keep going. We might be down to heal for a short period of time, but once we're able, we're back up and at it.
 
Yep....we're not exactly the type that give up the ghost easily, are we? :D If we can't farm vigorously anymore we just find a way to farm smarter. I simply love finding ways to refine my routines and chores down to no wasted motion, no inconvenience, no wasted time.

This is why I mulch my garden until I don't have to worry about weeds...I remember hoeing long, long rows when I was young because Dad wanted the perfect garden. Unfortunately he also wanted a huge garden.

It is also why I set up a self-feeding system for my sheep instead of lugging hay bales...a person learns to get around heavy lifting when the muscle moves away. Waterers move closer to the source of the water, fencing solutions become better with cattle panels, same with shelters/coops/etc., wood is easier to get on the porch if you build a ramp and roll it up there in a cart, 100 lb feed sacks can be opened right there on the tailgate and reduced into smaller portions for depositing into feed cans....there are so many ways to adapt SS living to less physical strength.
 
I am often reminded of my friend Clint. Clint is a former U.S. Marine, strong as an ox, but lil ole me can bury him easily when it comes to plowing a field with a horse. One would think he could out do me in this area because of the physical workout one goes through, but the secret is stamina (physical and mental)...its not a soldiering on stamina that he was trained to do, where he could beat me hands down if we were in that scenario...when it comes to farming though, when one doesn't use a machine, I can beat him and you betcha I boast it every chance I get just to rub his nose in it a bit more (us little guys have to have a win sometimes LOL). Clint gets pooped out easily when we do a plow day, but he is not pacing himself correctly, therefore burns himself out quicker than I do.
 
Tatter said:
I am often reminded of my friend Clint. Clint is a former U.S. Marine, strong as an ox, but lil ole me can bury him easily when it comes to plowing a field with a horse. One would think he could out do me in this area because of the physical workout one goes through, but the secret is stamina (physical and mental)...its not a soldiering on stamina that he was trained to do, where he could beat me hands down if we were in that scenario...when it comes to farming though, when one doesn't use a machine, I can beat him and you betcha I boast it every chance I get just to rub his nose in it a bit more (us little guys have to have a win sometimes LOL). Clint gets pooped out easily when we do a plow day, but he is not pacing himself correctly, therefore burns himself out quicker than I do.
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Hey Tatter! Good to see you! Sort of a "Tortoise and the Hare" situation! I agree! Slow and steady wins the race! :)
 
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