mississippifarmboy
Power Conserver
Well, I read we needed to start with these questions and answers, so here goes.
1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like? I live in northeast Mississippi in the good ol' USA. We have very little spring, fall or winters usually, but long hot dry summers.
2. How many people are in your family? Marital status? 6 people total and I'm divorced. Myself, my girlfriend, my kids 3, 12 and 14, and my ex wife. (Yes, I said EX wife. She is disabled and has no income so I built her a small cabin beside my house and I still take care of her and pay all her bills, take her to her doctor's appointments and although she's my ex, she's also my friend. Divorce doesn't have to be a fight ya know. :/) Not traditional, but it works for us and the kids just have an extra parent.
3. How would you define self sufficiency? Being able to grow or raise as much as possible here on my own land without depending on anyone else.
4. What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed? Spare time? I'm a farmer. No spare time here. If I had any spare time I'd spend it playing with my kids or reading.
5. Have you ever built a house , or other types of building? Do you want to? I've built several cabins and the mobile home I live in now was a burned out hull I traded a bedroom suite for and I rebuilt it from the ground up. I have built sheds, coops, barns and everything in between. I like building things although I'm not a carpenter.
6. Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet? I can weld, but been years since I have.
7. Who or what inspired you to become more self sufficient? Being poor and not knowing any better.
8 Cloth or paper? If it means like cleaning stuff.... cloth.
9. In what ways are you self sufficient now and in what ways would you like to learn more? I'm always learning. Every day brings a new lesson. We currently raise a huge garden, have fruit and nut trees, I forage some, have rabbits, milk cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, guineas, ducks, geese.... We raise most of our food, but I'm always looking to do more.
10. In what way(s) will you never choose to become self sufficient? I can do without anything pretty much. But if there is one thing I'll buy before anything else it's toilet paper. I grew up poor (read that to mean the Sears & Roebuck catalog and corn cobs in an outdoor outhouse). I will never "choose" to go back to that. "shudder"
11. Are you interested in stocking up for future needs? I already do. My goal is to have at least two years worth of food stored back and 5 years ammo.
12. Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world? Sitting in the back yard under the oaks watching my chickens.
13. Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi? Both. Can also plow with a mule if I need to and have all the equipment to do so.
14. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these? I'm not the artsy type. I can build most anything I need to around the farm, but it's functional, not pretty.
15. Can you have legally livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds? Yes, no restrictions. We own a horse, Jersey cows, Pygmy goats, several kind of rabbits, meat pigs and potbelly pigs, turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens, pigeons, dogs, cats, a gecko, guinea pigs... probably some stuff I'm forgetting.
16. Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood? Both
17. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing? I enjoy our garden, but it's a ton of work. The main garden is about 100' by 200'. We raise a little of everything... Corn, beans, peas, lettuce, cabbage, peppers, melons, pumpkins, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, greens, just whatever is needed.
18. Do you fish? Bait or explosives? Bait or a net.
19. How much space/land do you have or rent? City? Country? Live in the country on a few acres we own. Part of our old family farm. My kids are the 5th generation on this farm.
20. Are you a Novice, Technician, General, Advanced? ARRL? HUH? I'm just a dumb farmer?
21. What is your self sufficient specialty? Or what one would you like to learn? I guess my special talent is making do with nothing. I started my farm with nothing and I'm proud to say I still have most of it left.
22. If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take? I'm just a student of life.
23. Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet? I cut firewood.. does that count?
24. Are you interested in herbal medicine? Yes, but not my forte
25. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be? Right where I am. But I'd buy all the land around me and fence it all in.
26. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking? Yes, both.
27. What would your ideal super hero/villain be? No idea, I quit reading comics before Carter was president.
28. Are your family or friends also interested in self sufficiency? They better be if they want to eat. The kids are still learning though.
29. Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs? I drink raw milk from our own cow, eggs from our chickens and ducks, and I like any type of natural foods. But cooking? When I cook company goes home and children run crying. A cook I'm not.
30. What was your MOS? MOS? What the blazes is that? Moment Of Stupidity?
31. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs? Yes, for all I can. I do not sport hunt though. If I go in the woods with a rifle it's for meat, not antlers.
32. What skills do you have that help you be more self sufficient? I'm too darn dumb to know when I'm beat. Therefore I never am. Plus I was raised dirt poor, so I know how to survive on near nothing.
33. In which fictional universe would you most like to live? This one. Is this one real?
34. Do you have solar panels? Plans to use solar energy? Don't have any, but if someone would like to donate some I bet I could figure out how to hook them up.
35 What is the mass/weight ratio of a European swallow carrying a coconut from the tropics to England? I'll tell you the next time I watch Monty Python...
36. Have you ever lived completely off grid? Would you like to? Yes I have. I would love to again.
37. In what do you trust? In the order of my trust.... God, myself, my family, my friends and Sam Colt.
38. Do you make things yourself to save money? Some, would like to make more.
39. Has trying to be more self-sufficient changed your attitude or habits about money/spending? Never had any money to worry about, if I had a lot of money I'd probably just finish the farm and try to help someone in need. I'll admit... if I had the money I'd eat Chinese at least once a week though. I LOVE that stuff!.
1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like? I live in northeast Mississippi in the good ol' USA. We have very little spring, fall or winters usually, but long hot dry summers.
2. How many people are in your family? Marital status? 6 people total and I'm divorced. Myself, my girlfriend, my kids 3, 12 and 14, and my ex wife. (Yes, I said EX wife. She is disabled and has no income so I built her a small cabin beside my house and I still take care of her and pay all her bills, take her to her doctor's appointments and although she's my ex, she's also my friend. Divorce doesn't have to be a fight ya know. :/) Not traditional, but it works for us and the kids just have an extra parent.
3. How would you define self sufficiency? Being able to grow or raise as much as possible here on my own land without depending on anyone else.
4. What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed? Spare time? I'm a farmer. No spare time here. If I had any spare time I'd spend it playing with my kids or reading.
5. Have you ever built a house , or other types of building? Do you want to? I've built several cabins and the mobile home I live in now was a burned out hull I traded a bedroom suite for and I rebuilt it from the ground up. I have built sheds, coops, barns and everything in between. I like building things although I'm not a carpenter.
6. Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet? I can weld, but been years since I have.
7. Who or what inspired you to become more self sufficient? Being poor and not knowing any better.
8 Cloth or paper? If it means like cleaning stuff.... cloth.
9. In what ways are you self sufficient now and in what ways would you like to learn more? I'm always learning. Every day brings a new lesson. We currently raise a huge garden, have fruit and nut trees, I forage some, have rabbits, milk cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, guineas, ducks, geese.... We raise most of our food, but I'm always looking to do more.
10. In what way(s) will you never choose to become self sufficient? I can do without anything pretty much. But if there is one thing I'll buy before anything else it's toilet paper. I grew up poor (read that to mean the Sears & Roebuck catalog and corn cobs in an outdoor outhouse). I will never "choose" to go back to that. "shudder"
11. Are you interested in stocking up for future needs? I already do. My goal is to have at least two years worth of food stored back and 5 years ammo.
12. Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world? Sitting in the back yard under the oaks watching my chickens.
13. Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi? Both. Can also plow with a mule if I need to and have all the equipment to do so.
14. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these? I'm not the artsy type. I can build most anything I need to around the farm, but it's functional, not pretty.
15. Can you have legally livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds? Yes, no restrictions. We own a horse, Jersey cows, Pygmy goats, several kind of rabbits, meat pigs and potbelly pigs, turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens, pigeons, dogs, cats, a gecko, guinea pigs... probably some stuff I'm forgetting.
16. Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood? Both
17. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing? I enjoy our garden, but it's a ton of work. The main garden is about 100' by 200'. We raise a little of everything... Corn, beans, peas, lettuce, cabbage, peppers, melons, pumpkins, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, greens, just whatever is needed.
18. Do you fish? Bait or explosives? Bait or a net.
19. How much space/land do you have or rent? City? Country? Live in the country on a few acres we own. Part of our old family farm. My kids are the 5th generation on this farm.
20. Are you a Novice, Technician, General, Advanced? ARRL? HUH? I'm just a dumb farmer?
21. What is your self sufficient specialty? Or what one would you like to learn? I guess my special talent is making do with nothing. I started my farm with nothing and I'm proud to say I still have most of it left.
22. If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take? I'm just a student of life.
23. Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet? I cut firewood.. does that count?
24. Are you interested in herbal medicine? Yes, but not my forte
25. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be? Right where I am. But I'd buy all the land around me and fence it all in.
26. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking? Yes, both.
27. What would your ideal super hero/villain be? No idea, I quit reading comics before Carter was president.
28. Are your family or friends also interested in self sufficiency? They better be if they want to eat. The kids are still learning though.
29. Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs? I drink raw milk from our own cow, eggs from our chickens and ducks, and I like any type of natural foods. But cooking? When I cook company goes home and children run crying. A cook I'm not.
30. What was your MOS? MOS? What the blazes is that? Moment Of Stupidity?
31. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs? Yes, for all I can. I do not sport hunt though. If I go in the woods with a rifle it's for meat, not antlers.
32. What skills do you have that help you be more self sufficient? I'm too darn dumb to know when I'm beat. Therefore I never am. Plus I was raised dirt poor, so I know how to survive on near nothing.
33. In which fictional universe would you most like to live? This one. Is this one real?
34. Do you have solar panels? Plans to use solar energy? Don't have any, but if someone would like to donate some I bet I could figure out how to hook them up.
35 What is the mass/weight ratio of a European swallow carrying a coconut from the tropics to England? I'll tell you the next time I watch Monty Python...
36. Have you ever lived completely off grid? Would you like to? Yes I have. I would love to again.
37. In what do you trust? In the order of my trust.... God, myself, my family, my friends and Sam Colt.
38. Do you make things yourself to save money? Some, would like to make more.
39. Has trying to be more self-sufficient changed your attitude or habits about money/spending? Never had any money to worry about, if I had a lot of money I'd probably just finish the farm and try to help someone in need. I'll admit... if I had the money I'd eat Chinese at least once a week though. I LOVE that stuff!.
Welcome to the journals! 
