2006 Self-sufficiency Challenge

I would also suggest that you set a time limit, maybe only a week or two. And do it 4 times a year (different seasons different issues). People could particpate longer if they wanted to, but they will be better apt to keep good records if it is a shorter time.

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We own just under an acre of land with a ridge running east and west all the way through the north end and our 100+ year old house (that once was a boarding house) is built into the ridge right in the middle of our land. So I have room in the front and back to plant food. Right now in the front I have a lot of flowers, but have decided to remove maybe half and plant veggies there next year.

We have a small veggie garden in the back yard, a pair of New Zealand Rabbits and just got our first litter late Friday night, 8 babies (raising them for meat). Off the front door along the top drive way I have an herb garden. We wil be getting some laying hens soon and roosters for the freezer. I would love to get a dairy goat, maybe next year. Just have to talk my husband into letting me turn the lawn mower shed into a goat barn, lol.

Just off the back door sits a wood cook stove in a small pavilion type building that I call the "cook house." Pat (my dh) and I just finished putting a new roof on that. I have to get a pipe for the stove and will be using it for as much cooking as possible. For heating water too. This afternoon we will be preparing an area for a compost pile.

We have a good supply of lamp oil and several lamps, wicks and candles. Have been storing up for awhile. Ideally I would love to be living in Northern Idaho, that is but a dream, so I have learned to be content here in Northern Wisconsin. Sometimes in the early morning, when the yard is blanketed with a light fog, I feel like I am in the mountains.

I am also going to start making some of our clothes. I did that when we were first married. Pat likes western shirts and I like wearing simple dresses, I have made both before. I made my wedding dress and the shirt he wore that day. I also quilt, crochet and knit, make paper mache art and make pressed flower art. Pat makes art and furniture for the house and yard from odd shaped branches/small trees. We do have a home business that we sell what we make, but the business does not generate enough income to sustain us yet and Pat is on disability because of a back injury so I work as a Special Ed. TA (teaching assistant). I am giving that 2 more years and by then I hope I will be able to quit.

Oh ya we also heat with wood. A good friend offered us wood for the winter, He has it cut in pole length and all we have to do is come and get it. So do we sound like we are trying to be self-sufficent? lol.

I think this is a wonderful way to inspire each other. As to the poster (sorry I really need to spend more time reading this thread) who said they may not be able to compete, I think that it would be inspiring enough for each of us to make our own goals and then report back how close we got, what problems deterred us and why we met them early.

I love to read about that family in CA. They have charts for their goals and weigh each edible grown. Very illustrative.

http://www.pathtofreedom.com/pathpro...tings_2002.htm

I think they have some great categories. Each of us has a different set of parameters. Even though they are different, we can learn from one another. When I get discouraged about how much is left to be done, it helps to look at where we have evolved from. Sometimes you learn that something really isn't as cost effective as you had thought--or simply is harming your marriage because a particular goal is not shared by both members.

I would like to suggest snowball savings as part of the exercise. This is where you save money in some area and apply it to another in a way that will cause greater savings still.

For instance: the first year we grew food, we saved money. The next year we took our investment in seeds and food (because we saved our own seeds) and applied that to a canner.

This year we have canned much food and will take those savings and apply them to beehives. Etc., etc.....

I know that many years ago just reading (not doing) about others who were ahead of us because they had land, etc.. was very educational and inspiring. It's not enough to hear success stories, it's good to hear failures too so you can avoid them.

I think this is a great idea and has me thinking already of what kind of goals to set!

Being single, I'll welcome the challenge,
I can get so complacent sometime with no one to answer to.

Donnie--who's already wrote off the year-till the fall anyway

I think you're going to need some kind of set-in-stone "system" for grading us homesteading "wanna'be's" (LOL!), or a whole lot of hemp that we can share around the table while playing cards and dreaming of living on 100 acre farms.

We are living on blueberries, zuchini and goat milk. Its a tough life.... Still have 10 cord of wood left to split....out of 120 cord.

Thinking about windmills....

Never did get the mangels planted....maybe next year.

How about another catagory for those of us who are dealing with legal restrictions?

Us folks who live within city limits simply CANNOT do meat, and a LOT of us live withing city limits.

Ok, OK, some cities allow rabbits, but some cities do not. A FEW cities allow chickens, but most do not. Yes, a city dweller CAN go fishing, but the fish may not be biting. Also, fish near cities tend to be small due to the number of people fishing.

It IS an interesting challenge.

My family would rebel if I tried to deprive them of every food that is bought, but I CAN make as much use of my garden as possible, bake all bread from scratch, and possibly provide a couple of meals from fishing and some beans from the garden.

Perhaps I can make a few breakfasts of muffins instead of cereal from a box, also.

Terri- we will definitely include categories for those who are not yet living on large enough acreage to do meat animals and large gardens. As you mentioned, cooking from scratch and fishing will be included; maybe edible landscaping and container gardening for urban/suburban dwellers; sprouting seeds; composting and/or vermicomposting; etc.

There are a lot of websites which contain info on urban/suburban homesteading; rooftop gardens and fisheries; etc.

Maybe someone who is in that type of situation would like to do some research and post some links here so that others can get an idea of some of the possibilities for those types of environments?

This is very true. It would be difficult to come out ahead by fishing because of the cost for license, and if you had to drive out of the city to figure cost of fuel for the amount of fish would probably be better to buy in your corner store. Also, there are legal restrictions on quantity of fish you can catch and possess.

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Hey....I will love to be part of it.... Mind you I can't do alot but I will do as much as the land I have will alow. We do have wood on hand for the winter.

Don't worry about what you can't do, just focus on what you can do. I am crying right now because DH and I are looking at a new farm- bigger than what we have now, but the 105 year old house has been partially renovated by the present owner- including all new electric heating and appliances. If we buy it one of the first things we will have to do is have a new chimney built to replace the one the current owner just ripped out, aaargh.....

It is a nearly perfect farm for us, but it will mean taking a giant step back in our efforts at self-sufficiency, at least until we canget things set up the way we would want them. And, it would mean starting over with garden and orchard, AGAIN, sigh. But, in the long run it would be worth it, so I am trying to be positive, and we will measure our initial progress based on what we improve, rather than on out total level of self-sufficiency.

We are working on the parameters for the challenge, and will post them here when they are complete.

What a great Idea! Even if certain folks can't participate in all areas because they are city dwellers, etc. at least they can learn at least a few new skills. That's what I try to do every year. You'd be surprised what you can accomplish just living in town, too. You can still get bargains on food and learn to can and dehydrate; most folks have room to begin the basics of food storage, rabbits don't take up much room in your backyard (just be sure you know of someone who will help you butcher if you are too squeemish or need to learn first hand. I found a treadle sewing maching and have it on standby ( I'm no great shakes at sewing but can lay a straight seam and have mastered threading the stupid things). Solar/crank powered lights and radios wouldn't hurt - emergency supplies may at some time in the future be harder to impossible to lay up. We have batteries (solar, rechargeable) on hand and keep all betteries not in use stored in old unused freezer in metal boxes. Hubby does this; not sure why, maybe EMP protection. He has laid in a lot of 12 volt appliance (fans, etc.) and LOTS of 5 gallon buckets of those tall emergency candles from Wal Mart (come 4 in a pk.) I handle the food; he focuses on all else. Tents are handy too and this is the time of year to find good sales. Our power went out in Nebraska several times when we lived in "severe boonies" and we closed off doors to one room with wood heater. At night we pitched a tent; much warmer to sleep with combined body warmth for us and little one. Never forgot that; always have tents on hand. Lots of ways to practice self-sufficiency and preparedness; kinda like killing two birds with one stone. By the way Terri, we have grown peanuts twice now in central Ks. They were great both times! Seed easy to save, makes great peanut butter home style. My hub prefers it; not as sickeningly sweet as store bought. Planning on messing with amaranth and quinoa grains next spring; Seeds of Change (heirloom) have some. Wheat plentiful around here and cheap; I buy straight from my uncle as much as I want. Freeze and store in 5 gal. buckets with mylar pouches I seal with an iron. Practicing with grain mill (the Country Living model) from a store in Yoder, Ks. we found on sale. Daugter has got in the swing of things; too. Fills buckets with $5. a week or so of first aid, deodorants, powders and bars upon bars of soap. Dollar General is her haunting place. She sticks a manual can opener in each bucket, too. We buy our seeds now for next year; heirloom as much as possible and we do practice seed saving. Lots of possiblities and a very friendly site here for us all to learn off of each other. I'm stoked; now is the time to take stock and set goals with fall around the corner. Please, please don't anybody be discouraged by what you can't do; concentrate on what you CAN do and areas to grow.

This is just a thought, but do you think we could ask for a seperate forum just pertaining to this subject? That way it would be easier to ask specific questions or report a specific thing we learned or have done and have it all in one forum?

I think this sounds like a great idea too. There are lots of things that I would like to learn how to do. A separate forum may be a good idea, as mentioned above.

This is a fabulous thread! Thanks BearCeekFarm. It is always so inspiring to hear what everyone else is doing. I am constantly trying to learn to do new things in order to become more self-sufficient.

My new years resolution for 2003 was for selfsufficiency in jams and jellies. I met the challenge and was so pumped I began to do even more canning.

In the interest of peace with my husband, and in a move applauded by my marriage counselor, I just gave away 2 FULL grocery bags of homecanned tomatoes etc at work.

In short, I would like to play with you guys, but my husband won't allow me on the playground...

A seperate forum is a huge undertaking which is why I suggested a simple stickie so the Homesteading challenge could be easily found on he homesteading board. Keeps it obvious to everyone visiting too.

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Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup........

Hey Ross, I think a sticky would be great once we get a little closer to kicking this thing off. Sure looks like we have enough interested people.

I have been doing some reading and thought I'd pass along a couple of books which might be of interest here-

One is called "Eating Cheap" by Ragnar Benson. Has an interesting comparison between India and China, and why the Chinese can feed so many people from such a small area while the Indians starve. Promotes gleaning for surplus food from farmers and producers, scrounging for food, foraging, and utilizing game and other wildlife sources. Includes a chapter of recipes for basic food items. I would not be likely to employ all of his methods, but he has an interesting philosophy which is worth reading.

The other is "Goatwalking" by Jim Corbett. Very weird book, I recommend getting it from the library or borrowing it rather than purchasing it. I'm not even sure what the point of this book is, since it jumps around a lot. he starts out talking about Goatwalking, and that part is very interesting. I learned a lot about range goats and goats in general from this part. Anyone who is interested in survival techniques should read this part, as should anyone who is into self-sufficiency, and definitely anyone who is interested in goats. It gets a little weird after that, combining politics and religion, but it is not a smooth mesh. I slogged through it and was glad I did, but wish it were better written. Still, I did glean some very useful information from it and would recommend it. If we are ever in a SHTF situation, I want a milk goat along.