I'm not really all that self-sufficient at all, but this year my village started up a community garden on an old bit of wasteland and I feel like I've gone from 0 to 60 in terms of wanting to be 'green' - and self sufficient.
The CG is great - really taking off and everyone is very enthusiastic. We're using piggy pigs to help us clear some scrubland where an orchard is to be planted. The first lot have gone to great sty in the sky and some little 10 weekers arrived last week. They're a bit of an attraction in a village not really used to livestock. We're thinking of going permaculture in the garden; last week I had no idea what permaculture meant (do you need dreadlocks and a dog on a string to do it?); now I'm a subscriber to Permaculture Magazine. In the future, in amongst all those fruit trees we plan to keep free range hens, a few sheep, start up a pond...and construct a big polytunnel (is that allowed in permaculture??, lol!)
Apart from being all of thrill about gardening, I'm a mum of two (a boy aged five and a girl aged 3), a no longer breastfeeding breastfeeding counsellor (!), ex-biology teacher, ex-microbiologist, wannabee but crap cook, slightly obsessive photographer. Sometimes I knit. Sometimes I spend too much time on t'interweb.
(thanks)