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Post by gratefulmomof3 on Jul 15, 2008 11:01:15 GMT -5
Are any of you and your families trying to become self sufficient in your way of life? Or have you already? Maybe things like solar power, or wind power instead of electric? I know alot of us already garden, and some of you can your produce....
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Post by prairiegirl on Jul 15, 2008 23:32:26 GMT -5
What my family is doing is a work in progress. Currently we have 5 chickens that will start laying in the fall, two goats that will be for milk ( will be breeding one in a month), and two female meat rabbits. I take my females to my friends and breed them to her male rabbits. We don't have a garden this year due to my dh being in Iraq. However I do buy produce to can or help out friends in their garden for produce to can. I am going to plant herbs for seasonings and hope to learn more about medicinal herbs. We are also planting fruit trees. We have checked into solar and wind power. However with our house already connected to the grid my hubby said it isn't economical to transfer everything. I believe this is everything. But like I said we are always looking for ways to be more self-sufficient.
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tbhas6
Senior Member
Posts: 1,146
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Post by tbhas6 on Jul 16, 2008 22:00:31 GMT -5
We have been investigating renewable energy sources (solar, wind turbines, rainwater harvesting, etc.) for our future planned home (hopefully within 2 years), as Prairiegirl mentioned converting our existing grid tied home is cost prohibitive. But until then ...
Learning to conserve has been our primary goal because we have learned that when one has renewable energy sources, conservation is imperative. One simply doesn't have the endless supply of resources to operate the t.v., radios, lights, 30 min. showers, dish washers, etc. non-stop.
Also, once we decided we were interested in moving toward a more sustainable lifestyle we eliminated our debt. We realized that as long as we were slaves to a debtor, we would never be free to "pull up stakes" and move to an area more conducive to sustainable living. We would be forced to stay put for the job security so the debtors could be paid. Now that we are debt free, we have the ability to live comfortably on a modest income. Debt-free allows us the freedom to move anywhere and accept a lower paying job if necessary.
We have a subscription to a sustainable living magazine, "Back Home". It has given us many ideas and has helped us figure out which sustainable energy sources, foods sources, income sources, etc. might be a good fit for our family and our goals.
tb
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Post by pursuer on Jul 19, 2008 12:27:09 GMT -5
I actully think once we get into our own place, and we can start planning things a little bit better, we are going to look into bee-keeping. One of the things I do to be self-sufficient is make my own... everything. I enjoy making our herbal healing tinctures, body care "recipes," cleaning supplies and food. In making the body care recipes and one of our cleaning supplies, I use beeswax. We are now honey addicts, pure and organic. Having bees would actually help us a lot, actually. Then we both eventually want to live with solar and wind power, but that's a long ways off. Having a little farm of food-source animals, such as chickens, rabbits and cows is also in our plans, but about the same distance off as soalr and wind power.
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