Table of Contents
Self Sufficiency: Getting Back To Basics
Prepping: The Ultimate Survival Guide
Homesteading and Self Sufficiency Guide for Beginners
Self Sufficiency: Getting Back To Basics
How To Live Off The Grid
By: Terence A. Williams
Chapter 1- Self-Sufficiency Defined - What Does It Mean?
Many people want to be self-sufficient. They want to know how to be self-sufficient themselves. They want to know how to teach their children to be self-sufficient, too. They expect the people around them to be self-sufficient, because they don't want to be sufficient for others as well as themselves. People value self-sufficiency. You may think you want to be self-sufficient. Maybe you're not there yet and you're trying to learn. But do you really understand what self-sufficiency means?
Sufficiency means to have or be "enough." If you have enough money to pay your bills and your household expenses, then you have sufficient income. Self-sufficiency means being enough by yourself, so someone who is self-sufficient can supply their own needs without anyone else's help. Now, that may sound pretty simple, right? You're enough for yourself, so you're self-sufficient, right? But if you think about it a little more, you may start to wonder if that's really true.
Historically, pioneers were purportedly self-sufficient. They couldn't rely on the same resources that were readily available in more settled areas. They built their own houses. They grew their own food. They made their own clothing. They furnished their own homes. But even these pioneers had to rely on somebody else, because they relied on each other to accomplish these monumental tasks. This sense of community and joint effort still inspires us today, which is why we talk about barn-raising and old fashioned hospitality.
In contemporary society, a strict definition of self-sufficiency is even less applicable. If we drive to work, we're dependent on others. Why? Because we don't drill the oil, refine it into gasoline, and ship it to the gas station. We simply fill up our gas tanks, pay the cashier, and go! If we cook meals using food we buy at a grocery store, we're dependent on others.
Why; because we don't grow the crop or raise the animals. We don't harvest or slaughter it. We just select our purchases, pay the cashier, and cook our meals! If we send our children to school or purchase homeschooling supplies, we're dependent on others. If we use electricity, we're dependent on others, too. In contemporary society, we rely on others to produce the products and services we need to enjoy the lifestyles we have.
So, when we talk about self-sufficiency, we often mean something other than a strict dictionary-style definition. A woman who is self-sufficient is able to support and provide for herself. A man who is self-sufficient is able to cook his own meal and wash his own clothes. Children who are self-sufficient are able to perform age-appropriate tasks and can often entertain themselves without frequent redirection.
But self-sufficiency can become even more complicated when a disability is involved. Think about the soldier who lost his legs while serving his country. Some people might believe that such a man could never be self-sufficient again! Yet, people with disabilities have been fighting those assumptions for years. Many people with disabilities work to support themselves and they take care of household tasks, too. Sometimes they have family members or friends do what they can't. Other times they hire help to perform tasks that are beyond their abilities. Still, in some very real ways they attain an unexpected degree of self-sufficiency that is no less real than the self-sufficiency attained by able-bodied individuals.
So, perhaps self-sufficiency isn't so much a matter of what you can do for yourself all by yourself. Perhaps our measure of self-sufficiency should depend on a person's ability to use the resources available to solve the problems present in his or her life. If a self-sufficient person is hungry, then he knows how to feed himself. For a child, that may be fixing a bowl of cereal or making a peanut butter sandwich. A teenager may have more advance culinary abilities or may choose to buy something from a restaurant. An adult will be responsible for budgeting and grocery shopping, as well as meal preparation and ordering take-out. As long as the person can solve the problem, we could call him or her self-sufficient.
But it isn't even that simple! Think about the disasters that have hit the world. From Rita and Katrina to Super Storm Sandy, we've experienced some pretty challenging disasters. And that's not including the wind storms, tornados, floods, and fires that have disrupted our systems and driven people from their homes. Where does self-sufficiency fit in then?
If we rely on systems--like power grids and public schools--to live our lives, then we leave ourselves vulnerable should those systems fail. When it comes right down to it, we're all vulnerable. We're all at risk! If our community is hit by a disaster, we'll discover quite quickly just how insufficient we are!
Of course, there are people who think about those possibilities and engage in emergency planning. They have stock piles of food, water, and other necessities to see them through the hard times disasters bring. Others take it further and design underground bunkers, waiting for an even bigger disaster that may never come. These people strive to maximize their self-sufficiency as much as possible by learning survival skills and by storing food, supplies, and even drugs and medical equipment.
Remember, strictly speaking, self-sufficiency means being able to supply one's own needs without outside help. As our society and our global economy changes, people and even nations are becoming less self-sufficient and more inter-dependent. A lot of people recognize this as a form of progress. Others consider inter-dependency a blow to personal or national pride. A few even consider it a matter of dire vulnerability.
Self-sufficiency isn't simple. We all have to choose just how self-sufficient we want ourselves and our families to be. We have to work for the level of self-sufficiency we want and take whatever precautions we deem necessary. After all, self-sufficiency is something we each have to define for ourselves.
Chapter 2- What Is Homesteading and What Are the Different Types of Homesteading?
Homesteading is a way of life. It is a style of living that rejects materialism and encourages self-sufficiency. There are many motivations for homesteading and different types of homesteading, many ways to pursue this lifestyle .The simplest explanation is a self reliant community. That community can be a family or unrelated group that has voluntarily decided to live cooperatively. A basic tenet involved is living off of the land. Necessary skills and activities include gardening, raising animals, creating energy, sometimes hunting, foraging and fishing.
This can take place anywhere. Obviously, a rural area is conducive to this lifestyle, but there are urban homesteaders. Communities exist who have a presence on the internet and invite others to consider joining them. Urban homesteading actually began recently as a movement in the 1990s and 2000s. It should also be noted that this more modern homesteading movement belies the traditional picture of isolation that homesteaders depicted.
In an extreme form, homesteaders grow, hunt and forage their own food, make their own clothes, concoct their own cleaning products and generate their own energy by means of solar, wind or water energy. They also will craft any games, activities and hobbies they and their children enjoy. Obviously, food preservation is also involved here, usually in the form of canning.
Historically, governments have encouraged homesteading with actual legal acts to encourage the migration to unpopulated, less desirable regions. There was usually government support offered for a specific length of time and/or until defined goals were reached.
The