When you hear the term “self-sufficient living” do you truly know what it means? Self-sufficiency basically means having the ability to provide everything you and your family need to live and survive without any help from outside sources. It is also called self-reliance.
Instead, you rely on your own abilities and skills to provide for yourself and your family. You then become independent and thus, self-sufficient. I hope to not only explain self-sufficiency in this post but to also teach you some simple ways to practice self-sufficient living on your homestead.
Reasons to Practice Self-Sufficient Living
1. Personal Satisfaction
The biggest reward when achieving self-sufficiency is knowing that you can grow your own food, learn new things, and live free from others. It gives one the highest form of personal satisfaction. It gives one a greater sense of self-worth.
2. Political Independence
Self-sufficient living means being independent. Most people who live a self-sufficient life refuse to depend on their local government or any other government agencies. They refuse to trust the fact that in an emergency the government will provide assistance. Most self-sufficient homesteaders do not trust the government or their agencies at all.
3. The Need to be Prepared
Wanting the security of feeling prepared for anything is usually the biggest and most important reason for taking the path toward self-sufficient living. Self-sufficient people have a strong desire to be prepared for potential catastrophes and any upcoming emergencies whether it be the weather, war, or other disasters.
Being prepared involves learning prepping skills such as creating an emergency kit, learning natural remedies, especially for common ailments, and creating an income for your family without a 9 to 5 job away from home.
4. Preservation of the Environment
Self-sufficient people care very deeply about their environment. They reduce waste in their homes to a bare minimum. Organic practices are often used. Any materials are reused as much as possible. They use environmentally safe products. They teach their children ways to be more self-reliant. Self-sufficient people work towards the protection of endangered life such as bees and other wildlife.
Many self-sufficient people live in tiny homes built from sustainable materials that are considered earth-friendly or “green”.
Practicing Self-Sufficient Living
1. Grow Your Own Food
There are many ways to become self-sufficient. The first and most common is growing your own food. There are no limits here.
Some options include:
- Fruit and vegetable growing: Growing what your family will eat in a plot right in your own backyard. or on your property. This includes raised beds, container gardens, and even a food forest.
- Indoor gardening: Whether in a self-built greenhouse or a structure with grow lights and adequate ventilation.
- Herb gardening: There are unlimited design options to grow all the herbs you may use, even within a fairly small amount of space.
- Edible grains/ perennials: Provide a yearly harvest of good food.
- Backyard orchard: Growing fruit trees that are feasible for your climate.
2. Raising Animals/ Beekeeping
Even if your property does not allow for cattle, there are many other types of animals that can be kept in smaller spaces.
Options include:
- Backyard Chickens
- Goats for milk or meat
- Sheep
- Rabbits
- Pigs
- Bees
- Turkeys/Quail
3. Home Skills
There are so many skills to be learned that will help you on your journey to self-sufficient living. Learning each new skill will enable you to become more independent.
These skills include:
- Canning Food (dry canning, water bath, and pressure canning)
- Freezing Food
- Dehydrating Food
- Knitting/Crocheting/Sewing
- Making Natural Safe Remedies
- Basic DIY Home Repair
- Recycling
- Saving energy
- DIY Cleaners
4. First Aid and Prepping
With our wacky weather and all the craziness in the world, everyone should know basic first aid skills and be prepared for disasters.
These skills may include:
- Purifying water for drinking. ( You should know the water filtration basics to do it effectively.)
- Building a fire.
- Making DIY fire starters.
- Basic CPR/ first aid skills
- Learning to cook without electricity, outside.
- Learning Self-defense.
- Cleaning and using a gun, bow, and other weapons.
- Make your own traps.
- Finding water.
- Making an emergency kit.
5. Gardening Skills
These skills can help provide you with bountiful harvests year after year.
These skills include:
- Building a greenhouse.
- Composting.
- Making your own fertilizer.
- Collecting rainwater/Irrigation.
- Saving Seeds.
- Attracting beneficial insects.
- Foraging.
A self-sufficient lifestyle is not easy to achieve. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and sometimes a lot of work. But the results are worth the effort you put in. The reward is the benefit of having a life independent of outside sources. You will be able to provide most of the things you need for your family. You will live a happier, healthier, and self-sufficient life.
For more information on self-sufficient living, check out these sites!
- Homegrown Self Reliance
- The Self-Sufficient Home Acre
- The Self-Sufficient Life
- Simply Self-Sufficiency
- The Self-Sufficient Blog
Are you trying to become more self-sufficient on your homestead or farm? Can you think of any other ways to practice self-sufficient living?