What kind of SS are you?

[hikerchick]

I am really enjoying the responses in this thread. How clever of me to have started it.

 

[MorelCabin]

I know a lot of people, in fact am married to one *sigh*, who are not particularly self-reliant and honestly see no value or point in it and are certainly not trying to become MORE so.

I didn't know my husband had a brother!! I cannot get this man to camp in the backyard with the kids and me when his nice cushy mattress is only 30 feet away. Or walk to the farm to work (1/2 mile) rather than rev up the big diesel truck. And so on.

<deep breath>

Sometimes I see so much waste around me--water, electricity, fossil fuels--that I feel like I need to use that much less just to make up for them. Do NOT even get me started on BIL/SIL's geothermal heating system using 1000s and 1000s of gallons of water per day....Right across the field from us, where I work really, really hard to conserve water.

Anyway, I majorly digressed. Some people work hard to enjoy the finer/cushier things in life. Some people work hard to get further and further away from relying on those things.

Some people work hard to enjoy the finer/cushier things in life. Some people work hard to get further and further away from relying on those things.


Yup, that is exactly me and my hubby...he can't camp either...cushy bed it is for him...hundreds of $$ in gas for 'toys' cause the man with the most toys wins...nothing simple for him...it gets to me too at times...and now I have decided to just join him...well kind of...with some resentment.

 

[hikerchick]

Toys are fun, though.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Toys are fun, though.

Agreed.

I would lose my mind without my computer and internet.

The tractor is so conveniant to use when digging, plowing, mowing, hauling hay, etc.

Adam would go crazy without his television and video games. Not to mention his guns, that man loves his guns.

 

[ducks4you]

good thing is SS does not have a tried and true and defined definition of HOW to accomplish it.

thank goodness cause we all come at it from every angle imaginable..LOL

TOO TRUE!!!!
Here's what I have done, as a result of moving to get my horses in the back yard 10 years ago.
1) Pantry is a room, not a closet or shelving unit
2) (continue to use) a clothesline
3) Grow and can the foods that I grown/can well, and use a lot
4) Working the land, clearing the weeds, cleaning up after all of the animals has become my exercise routine
5) Cleaning up/Organizing my house, garage, barn and outbuildings has focused the purposes of all of them
6) Living 22 miles from town makes me make EVERY TRIP WORK for multiple purchases
7) Solar "fairy lights" save me money on my electric bill--I have 10 of them in strategic places
8) Burning down my burn pile makes me feel good--better entertainment than on tv!!
9) Keeping chickens has focused my animal-lover needs to productive livestock/pets (the "unwanted" rabbits were fun, but were just pets that added to my workload)
10) A coffee-maker with a timer (so it looks like the "maid" prepared it for me!!) is a NECESSITY to getting up early in the morning
11) Changing the oil/filters and adding stabilizer to the fuel of my outdoor machines has extended their lives and focused my machine/tool needs
12) Gardening has solved my problem, "But what do I do with all of this (horse) manure?!?!?"

When I get all of my sewing stuff organized, like I had about 20 years ago, I'll get going on all of those sewing projects, too!!

 

[onebuggirl]

I have worked very hard to be as ss as I can. I have a dh that supports me and is having fun with our adventures and a daughter that is young enough to not know the differnce...well McD's was hardest for her to give up.
I have chickens, we garden, I can, bake, ferment, make yogurt, make laundry soap....and such. I also always try to buy from farmers directly or through thier farm stands. We just got a freezer so we are looking for grass fed meat to go in it. We are making all of our Christmas gifts and purchased our baskets from the local 2nd hand stores. I am knitting and learning to spin. If I could have a dairy cow I would. I pushed my luck and got chickens approved in town...I should probably wait 10 years to ask for a cow
It has been very satisfying to see our bill at Wal-mart getting smaller and smaller. We do shop at Sam's for some stuff and other places for bulk.

 

[ducks4you]

onebuggirl, are there any Amish near you? Their meat IS grass-fed and it's AWESOME! The local town, 6 miles away, buys ALL OF THEIR MEAT from the Amish community 30 miles away, so I buy my meat there, when I don't buy it from the University of Illinois AG department--there's another possibility, too.

 

[delia_peterson]

Ducks4you-explain "solar fairie lights" please..do you make them or buy them? Thanks!

 

[bibliophile birds]

Native Americans weren't totally self-sufficient. you have to remember that they lived much more communally than we do. not everyone was responsible for food production/gathering. some people had completely pointless jobs in the scope of sufficiency- like shamans. they also had elaborate trade networks that brought goods to every part of the US from as far away as Central America and Canada. what about beads? they were highly praised and traded for all kinds of things... and completely useless to everyday life.

by the criteria some people are suggesting, we're trying to be better at living naturally than the Native Americas. it's all a matter of prospective.

for me, i'm not trying to be off-grid. i live as low-energy as i can, but i still want some- like others, i really need the internet. i want solar panels to sell energy back to the grid. whatever energy we don't use here on the farm will make us money. since my state seems mostly uninterested in solar energy (at least from the big power companies) i'm going to make some and cut that little bit of pollution down.

I don't think it has so much to do with money or the lack thereof anymore. It has more to do with a strong yearning to slow down the time, smell, feel and see the world around me and how I fit into it, to feel a oneness and a purpose that involves just living. Being up to greet the sunrise and having all the work done by nightfall, of sowing the seeds on time and having the harvest in before it's too late. The simple pleasure of making something useful with my hands and eating foods that taste like food used to taste.

beautifully put!

Do NOT even get me started on BIL/SIL's geothermal heating system using 1000s and 1000s of gallons of water per day....Right across the field from us, where I work really, really hard to conserve water.

a good geothermal system shouldn't really "use" water. it just cycles it through the system and back into the water table. it never leaves the pipes, so it's still as clean as it started out.

 

[me&thegals]

a good geothermal system shouldn't really "use" water. it just cycles it through the system and back into the water table. it never leaves the pipes, so it's still as clean as it started out.

It's not a closed system. It was originally going to drain to the ditch, but instead the outlet pipe got buried deep in the field... So, not a good system, for sure. My DH actually called county people around here to see if it was even legal, and they said it's really not cool at all, but so far it is still legal.