One step at a time to become self suffient....what's next?

[patandchickens]

I think that two very, very major self-sufficiency skills are:

- learn to use less, period

and

- learn to fix and rebuild things (includes sewing, carpentry, metalworking, small engine repair, plumbing, electrical work, etc)

You might continue working on the first, and pick one form of the latter to take up as an educational hobby

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[me&thegals]

I think dacjohns nailed it! We talk about all these skills, but living within or under your means is a huge, huge step.

In case you already there, I really love the sense of satisfaction that comes with producing our own food. There's nothing like looking in the pantry to see bags of dried herbs, jars of canned food, or in the freezer for stacks of meals to be.

Learn to forage what is already there--the only work you put into it is picking it. Also, find people who have too much of their own food to deal with. We luck out with cousins who have endless bushles of windfall apples and another friend with about 50 bushels of pears. We just need to be willing to help pick and then deal with them somehow. LOTS of money saved. Or, find the wild things

Reduce, reuse, recycle or don't get it in the first place. It saves quite a lot of $.

Learn to make things on your own--laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, butter, buttermilk, yogurt, etc. Somethings can save you quite a bit of $.

Enjoy the simple things in life. All this self sufficiency takes so much time that if you can enjoy the process, you won't need more time and $ to go to the movies, out to eat or however you might otherwise spend free time and $.

Become an apprentice. People who have skills are nearly always delighted to share them with others. I have a canning class coming up this week where I will teach 6 other women how to can. I'm sure you can find people around you who have skills you would like to learn. Offer to help them in exchange for being their shadow and learning the skill yourself.

Good luck!

 

[chicken stalker]

I have been trying to talk my husband into a couple goats

I am not a goat milk fan so I have my heart set on Irish Dexters

http://www.steelmeadowfarm.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/scratchies.jpg
(Those are full grown adult cows in that photo)

Step 1...get land...LOL

I've got 26 acres
OMG I didn't know that there were mini cows!!!! ooohh man you really shouldn't have told me that!

 

[Augustmomx2]

I'm trying to do one step at a time, as well. I expanded my garden this year, started a flock of backyard chickens, began water-bath canning & composting. Yeah, I didn't listen to my own advice. But I had/am having a great time doing it all.

I'm trying to plan my new steps to coincide with the weather. Its getting cooler, so my goal is to learn how to knit this Fall/Winter. Also, I'm focusing more on a "homemade" Christmas this year. I have scaled down quite a bit, but would like to focus on homemade items for friends/family. Also, I want to become really good at baking bread. I've made it in the past but not enough to where I feel comfortable making it and you can taste that I know what I'm doing.

Next Spring/Summer, I would like to hatch out some of my own chicks, expand my garden (again) and start the majority of my garden out as seeds vs seedlings, as I have in the past and work on my compost pile.

 

[Wifezilla]

learn to fix and rebuild things

My hubby isn't the handiest of fellows...not his fault...his dad didn't like the kids touching his tools. With this website, he has fixed 2 different issues with our refrigerator AND fixed our dryer. Saved us a BOAT LOAD of money

www.RepairClinic.com

It is so much easier to get a $10 part than a $400 new machine!

OMG I didn't know that there were mini cows!!!! big_smile ooohh man you really shouldn't have told me that!

If I can't own them...someone else needs to...and send me pictures!!!

 

[PunkinPeep]

I'm kind of where you are. And i'm realizing that i have to keep in mind that i won't be good at everything right from the get-go. So i think a big part of becoming ss is practicing. Learn to just jump in and start learning from your mistakes.

Something we're planning to add in the spring is honey bees. They don't take much room, they improve your garden just by being in the vicinity, and once you figure out what you're doing, you can start selling some honey to make a little money on the side.

I'm also working to learn how to make my stevia plant thrive. Between the honey and the stevia, hopefully we can rid ourselves of sugar usage. We'll be healthier and save tons of money.

I'm starting to collect recipes for my favorite foods that use butter instead of shortening or oil, so that when i get my beautiful dexter milk cow i'll be able to use the butter i make for all my baking needs.

I also started noticing things that go to waste. One is holey socks; instead of tossing them, i can repair them or - they make the best dust clothes in the world.

My husband discovered that the place where he works was routinely throwing away or burning perfectly good 2x6's because the remnants were only 4 feet long. There are lots of things we can use the 4 foot pieces for, so he started bringing them home. We're going to use a lot of them to make pretty raised beds for gardening.

The longer i go, the more little things i notice that i should be able to re-use if i can just think of a way to.

And sometimes i watch Little House on the Prairie or something similar just for inspiration and to remind myself how unnecessarily dependent we are on the grocery stores, etc.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Can you not substitute lard for shortening? Or butter for that matter? You might just have to play with the amounts to get the right consistency.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Can you not substitute lard for shortening? Or butter for that matter? You might just have to play with the amounts to get the right consistency.

I guess lard and the processing/collecting thereof is something i need to add to my list. But a straight substitution of butter for shortening in some recipes (specifically cookies) tends to yield a much different consistency in the finished product. That's why i'm practicing now.

Thank you for mentioning lard. I hadn't thought about it much. But that's definitely the old way, right?

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

lard is the best thing that you get from a pig - no kidding! and yes you can pretty much substitute it for any shortening or butter....but you'll get a different taste which can be a plus or minus. so you can, for instance use half butter and half lard. but hands down its the best for pie crusts. and cake.

as for how to take the next step... are you kidding? with 26 acres you could do just about anything! yay you!!!

once we started with the chickens and the garden we stood in Sam's one day and thought - so what do we buy here? pork, chicken, and ground turkey. so we started raising turkeys (love them!), pigs, and the free rangin' kind of meat chickens. and we've never gone back. honestly i cant remember the last nite we bought meat from the store. maybe last summer some time (we are relatively new at this)??

same thing with the garden - what do you buy? learn to plant and grow that. then learn to store it - i'm not a canner, i'm a freezer...which led to ...so what happens when the power goes off? then solve that problem (we didnt buy a generator but we have power inverter for our big ol truck and that works to keep the freezers going).

then think about what you consume - do you really need all that stuff? do you own it or does it own YOU? do you owe money on it? get rid of the debt. do you have two incomes? do you really need two? could you live on one? what could the non-working person accomplish for your ss life without a working a paid job? learn the skills you need (carpentry for instance) and then work on your own stuff. its fun! my biggest surprise is that, since everyday feels like vacation, i dont even want to go anywhere and i was a traveloholic before!

we were so well positioned when my hubby got laid off that we didnt even skip a beat. everyone else is in woe and we are literally eating the fatted calf.

our next goals - for this winter we'll move to more efficient heating with the wood stove - and next year, we'll have a pasture ready. and we'll be able to grow most of the food for or critters.

one last tip - unplug from the mainstream marketing machine. stop watching tv/movies etc and after a while all you'll see is how ugly it is. love what you have - not what someone is convincing to buy. develop a sense of humor and a 'roll with it' attitude instead of running to 'retail therapy' when you are stressed.

good luck!

 

[miss_thenorth]

lard is the best thing that you get from a pig - no kidding! and yes you can pretty much substitute it for any shortening or butter....but you'll get a different taste which can be a plus or minus. so you can, for instance use half butter and half lard. but hands down its the best for pie crusts. and cake.

as for how to take the next step... are you kidding? with 26 acres you could do just about anything! yay you!!!

once we started with the chickens and the garden we stood in Sam's one day and thought - so what do we buy here? pork, chicken, and ground turkey. so we started raising turkeys (love them!), pigs, and the free rangin' kind of meat chickens. and we've never gone back. honestly i cant remember the last nite we bought meat from the store. maybe last summer some time (we are relatively new at this)??

same thing with the garden - what do you buy? learn to plant and grow that. then learn to store it - i'm not a canner, i'm a freezer...which led to ...so what happens when the power goes off? then solve that problem (we didnt buy a generator but we have power inverter for our big ol truck and that works to keep the freezers going).

then think about what you consume - do you really need all that stuff? do you own it or does it own YOU? do you owe money on it? get rid of the debt. do you have two incomes? do you really need two? could you live on one? what could the non-working person accomplish for your ss life without a working a paid job? learn the skills you need (carpentry for instance) and then work on your own stuff. its fun! my biggest surprise is that, since everyday feels like vacation, i dont even want to go anywhere and i was a traveloholic before!

we were so well positioned when my hubby got laid off that we didnt even skip a beat. everyone else is in woe and we are literally eating the fatted calf.

our next goals - for this winter we'll move to more efficient heating with the wood stove - and next year, we'll have a pasture ready. and we'll be able to grow most of the food for or critters.

one last tip - unplug from the mainstream marketing machine. stop watching tv/movies etc and after a while all you'll see is how ugly it is. love what you have - not what someone is convincing to buy. develop a sense of humor and a 'roll with it' attitude instead of running to 'retail therapy' when you are stressed.

good luck!

Excellent post!!!!! Quite similar to us!