"There isn't nearly enough room to tackle all the ways there are of being self sufficient. Some of you have more opportunity than others and some of you have a lot more interest than others. I realize that some of you live in apartments in large cities and feel as if some things are not possible. You can still provide at least some of your own food needs."

What are some of the challenges you face in being able to provide more of your own foods? How are you overcoming these issues? Are you starting a new project in the upcoming year to attempt to do more for yourself?

Being truely self-sufficient is for the hard-working few, and even then they will still need to purchase or barter for things made/produced by others, but to a lesser degree than the rest of us. 

My grandparents lived in Northern Ontario, Canada, out in the bush country, and they were nearly self-sufficient, but it was a very hard life that drove their 3 children to leave home as soon as they were about 15 and could earn a living for themselves to escape what was a very hard life and my Grandfather a very hard task master.  When the human source for free labor left, my grandparents sold their farm and moved to the city.  Today it's more of an old-fashioned romatic notion to be self-sufficient. 

But that doesn't excuse us from doing what we can with what we have.  I also think nearly everyone can be a little more self-sufficient by incorporating a few simple things in their lives like growing some of the food they consume and learning where they can get free food from neglected fruit trees, berry bushes, plum thickets, nut-producing trees, and keeping a well-stocked home to help during times of emergencies. 

My biggest challenge would be meat.  Even if I produced it by having a few chickens or a hutch of rabbits (which are legal to have in certain numbers in the city limits), neither hubby nor I could kill and dress an animal.  That's where I would have to draw the line.  Although I helped with that sort of thing when I was a kid and we dressed chickens, I was the feather-picker, and wouldn't have anything to do with the icky stuff.  I'd have to barter with a neighbor who needed bread, or something else I could readily produce that they couldn't, to do our "dirty work" for us on any animals.

For an interesting side note associated with being self-sufficient, here's a web site on raising fish in a barrel. 

http://www.tabletophomestead.org/Raising%20Fish%20In%20A%20Barrel.html

This past week during an ice storm was a good example of people suffering from indifference to taking care of themselves and how they think it's someone elses job.  Even with full knowledge of a pending storm they didn't bother to stock food and had nothing with which to provide some kind of warmth.  Several friends of ours who live in big fancy homes out in the middle of nowhere are seeing the need to be a little more self-sufficient in the future.  They failed to have even simple things like batteries for flashlights, water they could use for drinking and washing, a way to prepare and keep food when you are several days without power.  People were calling the local radio station and complaining that FEMA should be providing gas-powered generators to everyone who were without power due to storm damage (and one week later, there are still people without power).  I'd better quit before I get on one of my soap boxes and preach about the difference between being stupid and being ignorant. 

~Gingerbread 

There will always be the poor woe is me care of me people around. In the past, nature would take care of them.   We can have a veggie garden, fruit trees etc, maybe chickens or rabbits but the same don't want to kill them.  Can put out garbage cans for rain water. have flashlights (dh has a flashlight fetish), batteries with kids toys are always in short supply. candles, extra food etc. Have a bbq. Have a wood burning fireplace that a gas fireplace was in. don't know if we can use it to burn wood.  Can make a fire in the backyard. damn the bylaws, no power for a long time, I say light that fire. dh has wood in the garage.  Our neighbour has a wood burning stove in his garage.

Keeping the pantry well stocked and rotated is a challenge. High summer heat here tends to spoil some stored goods, like turning whole wheat flour rancid. We don't cook much in the summer due to the heat so the food doesn't get moved around as quickly. I have the space and climate to garden and have attempted several times to grow things. It hasn't been very succesful for many reasons, the high heat for one, chomping bugs for another and I don't wish to use pesticides. I could grow rabbits, or chickens, but would have a difficult time slaughtering them for food. We would have to be desperately hungry before I could do that. It takes a major amount work and energy and planning to be self sufficient, not everyone is up to the task, either physically or monetarily. However it should be a necessary project for everyone to do as much as they are capable, and be less reliant on their government and their community. E

As everyone who has read my Food Stamps forum knows, I am big on stockign up on groceries & water.  What I worry about is how i will cook if BOTH the gas & the electricity go out at the same time.  (My stove is gas, & I have various electrci appliances, including one of those plug-in burners (never used -- tat reminds me that I should try it out to ensure that it DOES work.  I'm putting tha done as a to-do.)  Living in an apt without a balcony, I haven't been able to figure anything out about cookign without either gas or electircity. 

About a block away, there is a store with a BBQ, SO if I wanted to pay out of my nose, I could get something hot.  BUT, I would not do so.  I can make tea by just leaving the bag in a cup of water for a good long time, & I have plenty of soy foods that don't NEED heating, just would taste better heated.  Yours in Him, Deb 

Brandy,

We have planned three new projects for the new year.First is a new mud room/summer kitchen.We are splitting the existing "Florida Room" into 1/4 mud room and 3/4 summer kitchen.

The next one is a greenhouse made from second hand windows from the Habitat for Humanity store.This will have entrances into the summer kitchen and back patio.The third one is a new shed/manger stalls for the new animals.

All of the lumber is sitting in the driveway covered by tarps just waiting for the weather to get a little better..

The Pennsylvania Farm show start in 2 1/2 weeks. This is our favorite time of the year.We love to see the animals and the food is incredible.This year we will be talking to the dairy goat,sheep and beef steer farmers.My husband is excited as a little boy.We pick up loads of ideas every year.This year means alot to us because we are going bigger than the chicken and rabbits we have done in the past.

We have wanted to raise our own meat for a while and have read as much as we can find on the subject.A real eye opener for my husband was when he delivered feed mixture to a place where they mix dead animals into the feed for that breed of animal.He said the stentch is incredible and it really grossed him out.He said we will know where our feed comes from and we will know what goes into the feed. 

We found a number in our local paper for someone who rents a chicken plucker.I kept the number for future use. I hate to pluck chickens.

 Gingerbread,

All I can say is..people without heat after a storm, EEEP!

I am going to grow more of my own food this year. Lots of challenges to that here as well..shortish  growing season, rocky, acid soil..(and still only 24 hours in a day.)

I put seeds for sprouting on my list, hoping to make it to the co -op tomorrow ... grocery store lettuce is looking kind of sad. Glad, once again, that we don't consume animals.

This thread is very interesting to me!  Lets keep it going.  One of my projects this year is to have a few indoor garden items growing.  My goal is for tomatoes year round and cucumbers, and lettuce.   This would be a dream and luxury come true of mine, how nice it would be to right now while there is 8 inches of snow on the ground to walk over to a room in my own house and pick several fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce for a salad!

Jen

One more thing can you imagine how much better the world could be if everyone wether it is an apartment of house and either a garden indoors and/or outdoors and if everyone including parks and open land planted and maintained a variety of fruit and nut trees for sharing.  The world could possibly turn into a more bountiful place not to mention help the enviroment.  Sorry I am going on about this.  This thought has always been a what if in my mind.

Jenn