self sufficient an expensive hobby ?

[paul123456]

wow ,

what alot of reactions .

I only mean that in an effort to be as much self sufficient as possible , it would include of course growing your own veg .
And seeing as it is very difficult to do this 100 % on a yearly basis , then you'll have to buy in .
Buying in organic then seems to me to be the best way ,

regards

paul

[Flo]

But Paul - as you say you are only buying in because you are not self sufficient in something. You choose what you want to buy in. You could trade or barter something for organic vegetables if you have a service or a skill to offer. Say a haircut or three, cleaning a house, mending a car. Do you know about the LETS schemes that run in some areas?

These are people who want to be involved in a community which is based on needs of the individuals, who can offer what and what the group can do for its members rather than on the need for money. This is just another form of a community working towards self sufficiency. Which goes back to my original post where I thought aloud that no one person can be self sufficient but a community can be.

People pursue a self sufficient path because they are short of money and needs must, or because they choose to do so, or because they have enough money to invest in things that would enable them to be more self sufficient than if they did not have the money. But no-one will ever be truly self sufficient because they can't produce or make all the essentials of life. No-one has enough skills to do that. That's why people started out living in groups, tribes, villages. It enabled the group to be self sufficient.

Where you are in the scheme of things depends on your circumstances and how many like minded people you can find to form a group with you to work towards the self sufficiency of the group. The replies on this topic just show how much different people can achieve with the effort that they make. You do what you can as a person or find like minded people who will work with you - but don't expect to be self sufficient all by yourself.

Paul - the way that you write, you do seem to be determined to regard self sufficiency as an add on to life like a car or a boat rather than a way of life. People here in these forums are more inclined to take self sufficiency as a way of life and see what they can manage to do as they live their own lives as individuals or as a group with friends and family. I don't consider self sufficiency to be something an individual can achieve and therefore a bit of a misnomer for each of us individually. But self sufficiency is something that a group can achieve.

It looks as if there are two ways of thinking here which are not meeting. But Paul, you have provoked an interesting discussion.

[caithnesscrofter]

what's wrong wi landrovers? Lol when i think about it, it is my landrover that keeps me even more ish! I harrow with it.. Haul in all my own wood which is then all cut by hand.. Shift cattle and horses... Hauls feed for the animals... Shifts round silage bales from a to b... Moves building supplies and trailers of gravel and sand, charges batteries for my leccy... Gets 6 of us 15 miles to the nearest town for supplies once a week, where i also have lots of room in it to do a bit of skip diving whilst i'm there. And the list goes on...Lol yes, landrovers are expensive in amongst an average lifestyle.. But, not really when you have no mortgage, no rent, no bills and no debt. On to the topic... Modern goals of selfsufficiency is about peoples inherent drive to be more independent and less interdependent. We are nannied by the state and people inherently abhor it in my opinion. Doesn't matter where you live... A wee croftie in shetland or a cooncil hoose in birmingham... We can strive for more independence in a multitude of ways... And this makes us a bit more in control which is no bad thing!

[Annpan]

Ahha, yes you USE you landrover for the purpose which it was built, all to many folks have a landrover because they think they ought to, or so they can put a trailer on the back to collect firewood. Not really worth the outlay on the new Landy is it?

[KathyLauren]

And that is the secret of self sufficiency - being part of a community where everyone can chip in with skills to make the whole group have enough of the essentials of life.

WOW! I totally love this sentiment! It expresses beautifully what I think of when I think of "self-sufficiency." I don't want to be self-sufficient by myself. Or even me and my wife. I want to be part of a community that is self-sufficient (-ish).

At this point in my life, it is not about money. My main objective is to lower my environmental footprint. Very often, that will end up saving me money. Sometimes, it will cost me more.

For example, recently we switched from drinking orange juice at breakfast to drinking apple juice. The orange juice comes from 3000 miles away, gets processed with who knows what chemicals in some huge anonymous factory, then gets trucked across the continent, spewing diesel exhaust all the way, to a huge anonymous grocery store. For all that, it's probably cheaper. But, you know what? We didn't even cost it out. Because the apple juice is made by our friends Anne and Larry from apples grown organically three miles from here. It was a no-brainer for us. We support our local farmers, we get a great product, that's probably a whole lot more nutritious, and we are not supporting huge multinational agri-food corporations or oil companies in the process.

[Big Al]

So whos got out of the wrong side of the bed this week annpan ??

From wikkipedia

Self-sufficiency refers to the state of not requiring any outside aid, support, or interaction, for survival; it is therefore a type of personal or collective autonomy. On a large scale, a totally self-sufficient economy that does not trade with the outside world is called an autarky.

[yugogypsy]

Paul,

I think its all a matter of attitude and what you feel you really need most.

Right now I've (unfortunately ) got a guy who wants and needs more than me in the way of "things".

I can live without TV,and whatever type of movie player. I can live without a stereo.

I've got a huge clothes closet and only use 1/3rd for my clothes and the rest for storage.

I don't like doing anyting in a hurry and feel like I've been paired with Speedy Gonzales.

The only thing I do need is my car, because I've been ill a long time and haven't got my strengh up to walk the half mile to the bus.

Reduce,re-use, recycle is my motto.

If you've got pallets you don't need new lumber, if you've got leftovers, you don't need pizza.

I don't buy books or magazines and rarely buy music.

Part of this is dictated by my income, some is self-denial and some is common sense-if you haven't got the money, you don't spend it.

Lois