Why the SS life?

[mamos]

Hi All

I was just wondering what motivates people to want to be more self sufficient

mamos

[Annpan]

This has been discussed a few times before, and I am sure I put a different answer everytime.

I always loved cooking, and an allergy to garlic meant I needed to make all our meals from scratch

I read 'the river cottage cook book' which inspired me to live a less dependent life. Then I got pregnant and we decided that we would raise and educate our own child/children (one of us would stay at home, it made more sense at the time for it to be me)

We decided to move out of Glasgow after having our front door used as a urinal and domestics happening outside our bedroom widow at 2 in the morning - we lived in a ground floor flat on one of the busiest main roads in Glasgow, right opposite a McDs and KFC. No fit place to raise a child.

I joined ish and decided that it really could be done and the support that members of 'ish gave us made it truely possible. We got rid of the TV and I started knitting and sewing more, We bought a house in the country with a HUGE garden and bought a spade

[contadino]

Because, as a friend pointed out a few weeks ago, I'd become an anarchist and hadn't even realised.

[Odsox]

I was born into the mindset being born on a country smallholding immediately after the war (one of the baby boomers)
So it's been a way of life literally all my life.
Plus I'm terminally mean and detest paying for something I could do myself, and I like to really know what I'm eating.

[mamos]

There are many reasons why I am trying to be a little more self sufficient.

I hate the fact that we rely on unknown people for most things in life. Through no fault of our own we could we could be plunged into darkness, our water could be contaminated or there could be food shortages and unless you are prepared you could find life very difficult.

I no longer want to rely on others

mamos

[Clara]

I hate the fact that we rely on unknown people for most things in life. Through no fault of our own we could we could be plunged into darkness, our water could be contaminated or there could be food shortages and unless you are prepared you could find life very difficult.

Yeah that - and that these unknown people could literally hold us to ransom over the very basics we need for survival, unless we know how to survive without or survive another way......and that this will be exponentially more important for my children, so I'd better learn what I can in order to pass it on.

.......another accidental anarchist

[Thomzo]

I took a total dislike to the thought of other people preparing my food after I worked in the food industry. All those urban legends are true

Then I bought a house with a big garden and realised that if I have to spend time gardening, I might as well grow something useful.

I've always been creative and love making things myself so I make my own cards, clothes if I have time, presents.

Zoe

[Green Aura]

There were a few factors really.
1)We've generally been green for many years

2)We discovered that we were really crap at gardening - of the manicured back garden variety - but really attentive and nurturing of our tiny veg plot. So that grew and the rest shrank.

I've always knitted and made things for the home and I also cooked every day, apart from the odd pizza (which incidently always gave us both a hangover, every time) and I've never got the taste for, nor trust for, ready meals or junk food. I like to know and be able to taste what's in my food - and it's even better when we've grown it ourselves.

Then we moved, and as there's nothing but a small (but very thoughtfully stocked) Spar - the nearest supermarket is 70 miles away, we needed to provide more for ourselves. There are no clothes shops, plumbers or electricians in the immediate area (although we do have a chocolatier, bookshop and a funeral director who does double-glazing - or is he a joiner who does coffins?) and so we have to do for our selves.

And I love it - I suppose our main aim was to simplify our lives and live more quietly in a very beautiful place. So self-sufficiency was a bit of a side issue initially, but has become more central to our lives. I'm constantly stunned at the things we are learning to do (I knew we were academic but never thought of us being particularly practical) - but then I'm totally humbled when I see what our neighbours do.

So we're just starting but I have high hopes that well succeed - if I can just persuade OH to let me have the chickens. ducks and a goat or two......

[Millymollymandy]

I've always enjoyed gardening so growing veggies (once I'd got the space) was just an extension of growing the pretty stuff. I got into bird watching and wildlife once I'd moved away from London and from watching TV programmes and reading books I got more and more away from using chemicals in the garden and making habitats for wildlife etc. It has been a very gradual process over many years though and some of it was intially caused by lack of money at one point (cutting back on electricity and water usage etc etc). Also where I live now in the French countryside I am just doing what everyone else around here does really - keep hens, grow veg etc - the only difference between us and (some of) them is that we nurture the wildlife* rather than shoot it!

* Rats, colorado beetles, aphids, caterpillars on my brassicas excepted.

[moocher]

my grandparents had a smallholding,though it was only veg when i was able to run around as they were getting on then and didnt want livestock though they used to have hens,rabbits calves and pigs.
i cannot afford to buy organic food from shops and would like my kids to grow up without being fed food full of additives and colourings.
also its nice for them to know where stuff comes from as when i was at primary school i was taught about farm animals, what the words were for several ie herd,flock.and also we had the proper harvest festivals with fresh produce,not the ones today where handful of unwanted tins are thrown in.

[DominicJ]

Peak Oil

Not saying we're all going to die and the survivors will be living as early caveman, but a bit of solar hot water and your own home grown berries might be the difference between a bit and none.

[sleepyowl]

Although I have always been a towny I've always wanted to live in the countryside, as a kid I wanted to be a farmer & now I think it is coming back around although in a more developed way, I just wish I had the money to be completely self sufficient

[StripyPixieSocks]

Well it all started when I was little and my Dad was into recycling long before it was fashionable and he always was a great gardener who grew his own so I guess it just rubbed off.

Of course I remember him nagging us about recycling and so one morning hung all the used teabags out on the washing line so they could dry so he could use them again (as a joke).

Holidays in Wales almost always included a trip to the Machynlleth Alternative Technology Centre which I adored more and more as it grew and I got older!!

I have always been told I am a hippy out of my time lol... nowadays I still hold true to the promise I made myself to try and live life without as much impact on the earth as possible or as someone wise once said "try to leave the earth with only your footprints"... or something along those lines :)

Also the money-saving aspect of it is a HUGE part, particularly of late and I really need to get a house with a garden sometime soon. I also like the fact I know exactly what is going into growing my food and I also know some poor farmer isn't getting ripped off, there's no carbon footprint and on and on and on... and lets face it apart from the fact all the best people are SS (just look at the wonderful people here ) can you think of anything nicer than a warm strawberry fresh off the plant in the summer?

... wait... that's what got me started in the first place, my Dad's Strawberry plants

I also like being self reliant and that I am not adding to corporate greed and buying things I don't want or need.

... there's lots of reasons really and to be honest I need to think about it more and come up with a concise reason!

"I broke out of the corporate matrix" perhaps?!

[Odsox]

Another good reason of course is being born out at the moment with this recession.
If you produce all your own food then whatever happens in the world you will at least be well fed.
If you grow your own fuel you will stay warm this winter.
If you generate your own electricity ...... etc. etc.

[mamos]

Some fantastic answers

Keep em coming

mamos