Self-Sufficiency

How hard do you think it would be to buy a few acres of land in the woods, build an authentic log cabin, and just be completely sefl-sufficient?

 

depends on amout of work time and effort you put into it and the location.

 

hhahahhahah,, harder than ya could ever imagine unless yer rich to start with..

trust us..

luv n lite..

 

you have to think of the level of you want to live on Im mean to be really self sufficient you would need to make your own tools mine the metal and so forth,
if you had to make all your own nails and suchlike.

working on the land with old time tools is really hard work , myself I think living somewhere where you can do some say market gardening or small farming as a part time activity is nice and back that up with another business or job .

thats hard too but at least your not trying to cut yourself off from all the other humans on the planet

 

I think it'd be... well, not easy or simple, but possible enough-
Feed your soil right, and it'll feed you really well.
What you gotta do, though, it barter with your neighbours.
Organize a CSA system, maybe, to get the few bucks you need.

The tough part is knowing what you really need to spend your money on...
If you can stand simplicity, you could live moderately well with little startup capital.

 

"your soil"

its not your soil.

you must aquire it,, so as you can caretake it in the manner it deserves..
there inlies the problem..

ahh i see i see says the blind man..

many are willing,, few grasp what there giving away.

AN LUVIN IT!!

LUV~N~LIITE

 

total self sufficiency would be a person lost in the woods and being able to survive for a year ..very few could do it ......even our forefathers relied on other people for help ..the stuff they brought to their homesteads was brought over from another place ..be it the tools or the materials ........iron that was used to forge would be impossible to smelt and refine in a homestead setting..wrought iron of old ,what was used by our forefathers was very similar to the steel used in car springs today ....modern wrought iron is not wrought iron at all but mild steel ..........they also brought seed for planting with them and in some cases the plants themselves because some plants like potatoes you do not plant seeds but the germinated eyes of the plant..etc etc etc .........but a person can achieve a certain degree of self sufficiency ,just that you still have to have recourse to civilization for some things .

 

fyi: potatoes do grow seeds.

on the self sufficiency thing I agree there are a lot of things that cannot be gotten in any one place in the world. you might find most but there will still need some things to be brought in from the outside unless you have a huge mass of land and enough people/smarts to take advantage of that situation. That and tons of elbow grease

 

Or a tokin' client base...

 

yes i agree ,potatoes do grow seeds but as in apples the seeds will not produce the same parent plant because of cross polination .that is why they always plant seed potatoes ...in other words pieces of potatoes that the eyes have begun to germinate..apples are grown either by grafting or getting a branch to grow roots ..reason why wild apple trees never produce good apples.this year i am grafting 10 different types of apples on to the same tree ..hope the results are favorable

 

That tree better have green apples on one side and red on the other, that would be so cool. Hope the graftings take.

 

i talked yesterday to the smartest man i know and that's saying something because i know a lot of people ...he's an agonomist and i asked him if an apple graft would take on a birch tree ....something i have always wanted to try ..he told me that a birch is not that far related to the apple tree which are from the rose family ..i grafted ..i'll see if it takes ..he said he'd check later this summer to see how it went.........by the way ,how do i know this guy is smart??well the guy who used to administer the iq tests in schools for the county told me once that in the thirty someodd years that he administered the tests ,this guy had scored the highest ever .......wish i knew his score

 

Amen - Amen - Amen

But it can be done. I'm doing it, and I think lots of others can too. Some of it depends on your definition of, "be completely self-sufficient".

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

build the cabin... rent it to rich city folk...live off the rent

Self sufficiency, made easy

 

Hell right about now, I would be happy with just my own acre of land to pitch a tent on....but I can't even afford that.

 

^^ That's the way to go.
Think about what you really NEED to be happy
and have a grouvai night living YOUR way.

Good life...

 

ive lived in the canadian rockies for a month in northern british columbia, hunted fished lived in home made .....er hand made shelters, I mean survival is one thing you just need the skills and knowledge of how to go about it.

I mean building a cabin can be relativily simple ,...ok never mind not simple but you can use logs notched together, moss and mud for insulation, grass for a roof,
there was a show documenting two families who did this for one year, built the houses toiled the earth , It was absolutely amazing seeing it.

I suppose with enough start up you could live really well off the grid.
when I was down in new mexico I took some tours of the earth ships in taos...
http://www.earthship.org/
check it out....
if I was to be off the grid Id do it that way.

 

I grew up in Oklahoma.(you can grow about anything there)
My parents didn't like to buy anything at the store that we could produce ourselves.
It taught us to be pretty handy at growing and building things. Good skills to have.
I'm thankful to them everyday for teaching me all of that.

 

and don't forget the Self-Sufficiency bible: www.bagelhole.org

Love and Rest

 

I think several people or families should get together. First to find just the right area that they would do well in. It would have to be a place with water supply, that is the most important. Next making lists of what would be needed. For example tools (nothing run by gas), food items, shelters (tents, teepees, etc.), items to catch wild game, cash iron skillets and dutch ovens, etc., clothing,. Books for survival, like cooking, preserving, building. Seeds for growing vegetables. This place should be way back in the woods, (and there is a lot of areas like this). They would have to raise cows for milk, and meat, pigs, chickens. So this means a area big enough for cows to graze, but they also need hay to eat in winter. Everyone would share in the work. Men plowing land for grains and food, firewood, etc. Women could plant, raise the vegetables, and preserve.

There is a lot to think about. It would be like going back in the 1800's and early 1900's. But if people were serious about it, it could be done, simply by helping each other.