Self sufficient?

[Domromer]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to start this thread. I think it's similar to the living simply. I'm just wondering what kinds of things people are doing to be more self sufficient. Gardening, solar panels, making clothes, stuff along those lines. I'll go first.

1. we garden
2. raise chickens
3. catch crabs for dinner
4. have a passive solar home.
5. plan on becoming better at bike maintenance.

[Newspaperguy]

A few of the things I'm doing or have done include:

Making my own jams, salsa, tomato sauce and other preserves for the winter.
Repairing my own clothing. (This may lead to sewing some garments as well.)
Butchering beef. (I've done this in the past and some of it is still in my freezer.)
Gardening.
Doing most maintenance on my bicycles.
Swapping services. For instance, a friend likes to grow tomatoes. I'll can them for him if he gives me some for my own use as well.

[lyeinyoureye]

Fix everything yerself. Try to pay for as little as possible, legally of course. Etc...

[pluc]

I still live with my parents and brother so that puts things into perspective.

Usually, anything that involves doing changes to the house doesn't work, I get outvoted by the others, but I've been educating them for years to being more aware of what they do. If it was only my choice the would be a vertical wind turbine and solar panels everywhere that fits. ;)

I do my own bread and most of the cooking. Pre-cooked meal doesn't usually get in the house (except for some exceptions).

I repair my clothes. I'd like to do my own too but I just don't have time for it between the different non-profits I'm in and all the projects I have.

I made a water collector to catch the rain water for my mom's (many!) plants. It eventually started to leak, then fell apart. Filling buckets was a hassle too since I didn't think of putting a hose connector on it, I'll redesign it next year.

I think that's it, apart from every usual thing you'd do like electronic thermostats, water-efficient shower head, flo-compact lightbulbs and the like.

I'm looking forward to your ideas.

[wahoonc]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to start this thread. I think it's similar to the living simply. I'm just wondering what kinds of things people are doing to be more self sufficient. Gardening, solar panels, making clothes, stuff along those lines. I'll go first.

1. we garden
2. raise chickens
3. catch crabs for dinner
4. have a passive solar home.
5. plan on becoming better at bike maintenance.

Everything except 3 an 5 the crabs around this area are the kind you DON'T want to catch...we live near a very large military base:p #5, I have worked as a bicycle mechanic in the past and other than the lack of tools to do something like facing or tube replacement there isn't much I can't do on a bike. Our home is solar assisted, but not full passive. We are planning a new house (whether it gets built is another story) I want to go active solar on it with a solar panels for lighting. It can be done pretty easily using the current LED/CF lighting. Solar water heater and earth shelter for the insulation factor. In this part of the country cooling is the largest part of our energy bill.

We make all of our purchases with minimum packaging in mind, for durable goods we look for the best product for the job, repairable, durability and how long we can expect it to last. Repairable is becoming a real issue; repair parts for most smaller items don't exist anymore, they figure it is cheaper to throw it out rather than repair.

Aaron:)

[Artkansas]

I live in a small apartment, only run the AC when I am there, never run the heat, try to take short showers, avoid pre-packaged meals, ride my bikes everywhere and maintain them.

[Domromer]

Riding you bike is part being self sufficient too.

[fat_bike_nut]

I definitely need to work on my self-sufficiency. But at least I know how to cook for myself, and for a guy, I don't think I'm all that bad at it :D

[gerv]

1. Grow tomatoes, zucchini and a few other vegetables.
2. Fix bicycles myself.
3. Big on re-purposing technologies.
4. Bake bread.

[Domromer]

Big on re-purposing technologies.

What's that?

[Amber_]

1. I recently started composting to prepare for the garden I'm setting up next spring (veggies).
2. I ride my bike to work.
3. I am really big on the DIY concept. If I want to know how to do something, I just learn. Library, internet, asking others, etc.
4. I cook nearly all my own food and I don't buy any processed foods except pasta, some breads like tortillas & pitas and some canned goods.
5. I knit, sew, etc. and most always give handmade gifts instead of store-bought ones.
6. I trade graphic design services for other stuff: furniture, gym membership, etc.

[Cyclaholic]

I'm car-free, my wife has a station wagon which is driven twice a week to take the kids to/from daycare, she burns less than 1/4 tank a month. Once our oldest is able to commute to/from school by bike we'll be 100% car free. Every other trip is by bike.

We grow about 30% of our veggies - lettuce, tomato, cucumber, spinach, celery, beans, cabbage, a few others at times...

We grow lots of different herbs. My wife is very good at growing them and we always have a lot to trade.

We bake about 50% of our bread. I make about 50% of our pasta by hand.

We have 1 lemmon tree which supplies us with 3 times as much as we need so we trade the rest with other neighbors for their produce, 2 fig trees, and one macadamia nut tree.

We collect rainwater which is used for irrigation but we'll soon be adding another 20,000 liters storage capacity. We're going to try to become 100% water self-sufficient.

No a/c or heating, only passive solar. We've replaced all lights with compact fluros and will soon be installing solar hot water system, together that will cut our electricity consumption by about 50%. Clothes are machine washed (grey water goes into garden) but hung out to dry. We have plans to set up photovoltaics and batteries to go 100% self sufficient on electricity once he have the $$$ saved up.

100% of our food is prepared at home, we don't eat out, and we only drink water (all by choice)

We do all this on a pretty average size plot of land in the suburbs.

[KidTruth]

I steal everything I need from the internet.

[Pippa]

1 We keep chickens.

2 We keep goats for milk and have two very cute kids that I will have to make a difficult decision about in the next week or two. :(

3 My partner kills 3 mutton at a time for the farmer across the road in exchange for one for us (the farmer is older and has arthritis in his hands so he can't do it himself)

4 We go out eeling and gathering watercress when we can, also try to gather berries and nuts (mostly walnuts) in the appropriate seasons

5 Ride my bike :)

6 I dropped some hours at work so that I could get more things done around home, more baking, preserving and general home cooking, finally start my vege garden again (the goats took over the old one) and try out some of the things I have been wanting to do for ages, like keep a few meat rabbits.

7 We have a lot of fruit trees on our section and we swap with other people for fruit we don't have. My mum lives just down the road and she always has heaps of fruit that she is trying to give away. I have also recently found a few citrus trees of various types on public property that I am keeping an eye on....

I am also hoping this year to keep an eye out for fruit trees that are full of fruit that no one is picking. I plan to ask the owners if I can pick the fruit and they can take what they need and I will take the rest away. Could be a win win situation.

There is heaps more I want to do, but it takes a slightly crazy person to do it I think. (my partner would suggest it takes a very, extremely crazy person and that I am that crazy) But he doesn't complain too much :)

[Sianelle]

I guess I do similiar things to what others have already mentioned. :)

I'm learning how to be a better gardener and grow my own fruit and veges.

I bake my own bread.

I buy my clothing second hand from the thrift shop/'op shop'/Sallys.

I buy repairable and serviceable tools from 2nd hand shops.

I do all my own bicycle repairs.

I don't own a car.

I try as much as possible to recycle and not just bin things.

I am a wee bit of a 'tip rat' in that I obtain almost all of my bicycle parts, steel and materials for projects from the local rubbish tip. The number of good gardening tools I've found there that just need a new handle fitting to them isn't funny.

I support the weekly market in our town and buy locally as much as possible.

I use low energy light bulbs.

I've got a wetback on my wood stove for water heating.

[Newspaperguy]

A few years ago, I installed a programmable thermostat in the house. In winter, I'll only heat the house during the hours when I'm home. Although we can get temperatures of 40 C in summer, I don't have air conditioning and I'm actually quite comfortable.

I've replaced most of the light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. When remaining bulbs burn out, they will all be replaced with CFs.

[Juha]

For those of you who bake your own bread, do you buy the flour or do you grind it yourself? I've been baking my bread for some time now and I'm thinking of buying a small grain mill. If you have one, I'd be interested to hear your experiences. Economically or energy-wise it probably makes no sense at all, but it would provide complete control over what goes in the bread. Also, freshly ground flour has better nutritional value and aroma.

I pick berries and mushrooms for fun, i.e. I don't make serious effort to fill my freezer for winter. Growing one's veggies is very seasonal business in our latitudes. I would imagine a greenhouse is required to be self sufficient throughout the year.

Energy saving bulbs don't do much for me, as my house is electrically heated anyways. I have use for the extra heat generated by less energy efficient bulbs.

--J

[Mr. Jim]

I do many of the listed things. One that hasn't been brought up is using freeware or shareware on the computer. No packaging, no CDs created none to dispose of.

[Domromer]

I do many of the listed things. One that hasn't been brought up is using freeware or shareware on the computer. No packaging, no CDs created none to dispose of.

I run linux!

[Domromer]

speaking of being self sufficient...My hens laid their first egg today!!

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[wahoonc]

For those of you who bake your own bread, do you buy the flour or do you grind it yourself? I've been baking my bread for some time now and I'm thinking of buying a small grain mill. If you have one, I'd be interested to hear your experiences. Economically or energy-wise it probably makes no sense at all, but it would provide complete control over what goes in the bread. Also, freshly ground flour has better nutritional value and aroma.

I pick berries and mushrooms for fun, i.e. I don't make serious effort to fill my freezer for winter. Growing one's veggies is very seasonal business in our latitudes. I would imagine a greenhouse is required to be self sufficient throughout the year.

Energy saving bulbs don't do much for me, as my house is electrically heated anyways. I have use for the extra heat generated by less energy efficient bulbs.

--J

I buy flour but have toyed with the idea of grinding my own. I typically buy 25# sacks of bread flour, ditto sugar. We make home made pasta along with the breads. For specialty breads (like wheat and rye) I buy the flour in smaller batches from a semi-local organic foods store. We have 40 acres but I don't know what type of wheat I can grow in the this part of the country (time for some research!:p ) I do agree that fresh ground is the way to go. I have just gotten my first batch of green coffee beans in and hope to start roasting my own shortly.:D

Aaron:)

[Sianelle]

I bet it tasted good too :D

[Cosmoline]

I've been having lots of fun lately with sourdough. I got a pot of starter going this summer using ambient yeast and whatever was in the flour. It's matured since then, and I make a point of never putting it in the refrigerator. It makes some fantastic pancakes and biscuits. I just never put anything in the starter pot but flour and water, and the yeast culture does the rest. To slow it down I add less water and more flour. To speed it up I increase the heat by putting it in a warmer place and add more rye flour, which the culture LOVES. The container is about 2 gallon size, so I can end up with a great deal of starter if I want it. It's far too intense for any other bacteria to get a foothold on it, so it keeps itself sanitary.

I used to hunt and fish a lot more when I was up in the valley off grid. In town there's less opportunity for that, though I do plan on grabbing some caribou on a drop hunt next year. I also go on a meat boat run during most summers and pull in chicken 'but plus silvers.

[wahoonc]

Cosmoline,
Thanks for the reminder...I haven't run sourdough in quite a few years. Time to hit my mom up for a new starter:p

Aaron:)