How to become more self-sufficient?

[ReadyAndWilling]

hey all, the idea came to me on the train on my way home from work.

i think it came to me after watching some Next Generation. i really like the idea of becoming more self-sufficient. does anyone know how i can go about this? it seems like the economy keeps getting worse and worse.

anyway, i'm wondering things i can do to become more self-sufficient. i've never tried growing plants, but i guess i can give it a shot. is it possible to grow your own food? what about generating my own source of electricity? how far have solar panels come?

surely someone else has had this idea TrekBBS before me.

 

[Deks]

In terms of growing your own plants... well, you need a relatively large garden for the most part, and then of course 'populate' it with appropriate seeds for food.
You will also have to care for the food in question in order to avoid insects and possible moles.

But also try avoid using too many chemicals in the process because, what's the point of growing your own healthy food if you saturate it with chemical products?

Solar panels can be efficient, but you would really need to first invest into them... and of course, you can always get more and calculate the amount of panels you'd need to generate excess power which you could sell and make a profit in turn.

Also try to optimize your current expenditure of power and other aspects to minimize the costs before making the switch.

 

[Sci]

There is no such thing as self-sufficiency. Living is always a communal exercise; even someone who lives off of the food he grows depends upon someone else to supply him with seeds and upon a government to recognize and enforce his claim of ownership to his land.

 

[T'Girl]

You don't need a unusually large area to grow food if you accept not growing ALL your own foods, if your still buying starches like rice and potatoes and concentrate on growing veggies then a plot only twenty feet square might be big enough. You need to consider what will grow in your climate.

Even in my small apartment I grow spices, peppers and onions in a window box, there's always a way.

 

[AstroSmurf]

This doesn't belong in General Trek and would be better served in MISC. (It would also work in Science & Technology but I thought it would get more play here.)

Moving now...

 

[tharpdevenport]

Solar power just isn't at the point yet. Magazines like Popular Science covered, have covered people trying this -- the investment, upkeep (replacement parts, so forth), versus savings ... not a lot.


Now you could take up wood working, and learn to cut and make your own desks, tables, bookshelves, etc, and save some money and pick up an important life skill, which can also be used to make some money of the side.


The government has become so big, you can't escape it.

 

[MetalPants]

Self sufficiency?
The question is suffient in what areas. Like you can learn to knit and sew, but I doubt you'll raise cotton and lambs. You can collect rainwater but you'll need filters to make it clean enough for drinking, cooking, cleaning and you'll probably buy the containers to hold the water. Ceramics to make pots to store stuff- yeah you can probably build a kiln, but you'll be looking for fuel/power and the right types of clay and such.

Unless you go "native" and doing the hunter/gatherer thing in the woods, you need a community.

As for me, I knit, sew, make candles, I make hand milled soap, have built my own forge, and soon want to move into some ceramics. Down the road I want to make biodiesel, and lye soap. I am leaving the grid as much as I can.

 

[Jadzia]

One of my relatives is about as self sufficient as one can be in England without sacrificing quality of life.

He grows all his own food, freezes what he can't use fresh and lives on that throughout the winter, giving excess away to friends and family. He hunts rabbits and pigeons on land where such activity is permitted. The only things he buys from the supermarket are teabags and cooking oil.

His cost of living is very low, and is able to make ends meet doing odd jobs to pay for council tax, utility bills, and the replacing the odd thing that breaks which he can't repair.

His character is rustic and physical. He has no desire for modern technology or modern entertainment as he derives so much happiness from his lifestyle.

 

[KJbushway]

Self-sufficent.
Well for growing your own food, you can get your own classes for that, that teach you how to grow without chemicals, how to gather seeds from the plants you grow.
For meat, well its actually more healthy to eat a raw diet(all stuff you can grow). If you want meat, you can hunt yourself, but be careful there is deer in the wild with sex-hormone drugs in them becuase their water supply is polluted.

Electricity. Well that can be collected from different stuff.
Wind Mills and solar panels.
You can reduce the amount of electricity you use by getting energy efficient appliances.

In order to become self-sufficient you will need to spend in the beginning, its best to start early and work your way up.
There is websites for this and books if you don't have time to surf the internet. There is also classes I believe.

You can make your own cooking oil as well. You can get a hybrid car, or get a hand down and modify it yourself, if you have mechanical expirence.

 

[ebusinesstutor]

You can grow quite a bit of food in a small space. Check out the library or the internet for tips on this. During World War I and II people did this - they were called Victory Gardens.

It probably isn't possible to be totally self sufficient that way in an urban setting, but it can help.

Also you can get huge reductions on grocery costs by just buying differently and couponing. My wife raised 3 kids on her own with a minimal grocery budget and is a master at finding the best deal. Our grocery bills are cut in half since she took over the shopping and we have more food than ever.

In a rural environment, if you own or rent some land, it is possible to grow more. Growing up, my family had an acreage and we ate our own potatoes all winter and had enough left over for seed potatoes to plant in the spring. We grew almost all of our own vegetables as well. We also purchased 1/2 a pig or a 1/4 of beef and cut and wrapped it ourselves. And we bought live chickens and killed and wrapped them as well. At one point, we did raise some ourselves as well.

It is an interesting journey to explore - start by taking just one step and move on from there. Don't let failures stop you, this is how you will learn what works.

 

[Holdfast]

Watch The Good Life a lot; at the very least, you'll fall in love with Felicity Kendal and forget all this nonsense about becoming self-sufficient.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Watch The Good Life a lot; at the very least, you'll fall in love with Felicity Kendal and forget all this nonsense about becoming self-sufficient.

Says you, pal. I watch it for Penelope Keith.

 

[Holdfast]

Watch The Good Life a lot; at the very least, you'll fall in love with Felicity Kendal and forget all this nonsense about becoming self-sufficient.

Says you, pal. I watch it for Penelope Keith.

Nah, she's better in To The Manor Born.

 

[T'Girl]

Watch The Good Life a lot; at the very least, you'll fall in love with Felicity Kendal and forget all this nonsense about becoming self-sufficient.

Says you, pal. I watch it for Penelope Keith.

Nah, she's better in To The Manor Born.

Felicity Kendal was a hell of a lot better in The Good Life than in Solo, although younger in Solo of course.

 

[Captain_Nick]

hey all, the idea came to me on the train on my way home from work.

i think it came to me after watching some Next Generation. i really like the idea of becoming more self-sufficient. does anyone know how i can go about this? it seems like the economy keeps getting worse and worse.

anyway, i'm wondering things i can do to become more self-sufficient. i've never tried growing plants, but i guess i can give it a shot. is it possible to grow your own food? what about generating my own source of electricity? how far have solar panels come?

surely someone else has had this idea TrekBBS before me.

I thought about going native for a long time. In my arrogance and desire to prove to myself that I was number one smart guy in the world I thought I could dispense with other people all together and live a life of happy isolation in the middle of Australia's nothingness. How hard could it be? Other people can do it, so I can if I want it bad enough.

Strangely enough though the idea of having to hunt and 'clean' my own meats, forage for foul tasting greens and starches, sleeping in the cold deserts with no blankets or a nice soft mattress, having to content with rain and wind and lightning and it seems fires and floods as well; not having the ability to claim a patch of land nor the weapons to protect it, no shelter, no protection from diseases, and having only the vast nothingness all around me - the idea of having to endure all that, just to prove a point to my ego, didn't really appeal to me very much.

People are awful, disgusting, arrogant, sensitive little crybabies, but life would be so much worse without them.

Welcome to the paradoxical nature of existance. (if I paid money to play on this ride I will demand a refund when I get off)

 

[Captain_Nick]

Sorry mate the point of my post was 'why do you want to become more self sufficient?'

 

[KJbushway]

I would want to become more self-sufficent not to show off, but because it would let me have a little more money to do my self projects, plus I want an Earth for my kids and theirs in a future. I also want to get rid of factory produced foods, which are often re-called due to poor handling.

 

[Captain_Nick]

Well you can cut them out of your own life quite easily. Get yourself a garden and some chooks. It is relatively cheap and food that you grow yourself really does taste better.

 

[KJbushway]

Thats what I have heard. I also know how to make my own vege-oil. an for a person who loved onion rings, thats sweet.