Self-Sufficient Living: What Does It Mean?

Reasons to Practice Self-Sufficient Living

1. Personal Satisfaction

The biggest reward for self-sufficiency is knowing that you 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 have a self-sufficient life refuse to depend on their government and 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

This is usually the biggest and most important reason for taking the path towards self-sufficiency. Self-sufficient people have a strong desire to be prepared for potential catastrophes and upcoming emergencies. The ability to be self-sufficient means being ready for any emergency whether it be the weather, war, or other disasters.

4. Environmental Preservation

Self-sufficient people care very deeply about their environment. They reduce waste in their homes to a bare minimum. Organic practices are used. They reuse as many materials as possible. They use environmentally safe products. Self-sufficient people work towards the protection of endangered life such as bees and wildlife.

Many self-sufficient people live in tiny homes. See Why I Chose a Tiny House.

How to Practice Self-Sufficient Living

1. Grow Your Own Food

There are many ways to become self-sufficient. The first is growing your own food. There are no limits here.

Some options include:

• Fruit and vegetable growing: Growing what you eat in a plot right in your own backyard.
• Indoor gardening: Whether in a self-built greenhouse or a structure with grow lights and adequate ventilation.
• Herb gardening: unlimited design options to grow all the herbs you use within a fairly small 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 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 with your journey to self-sufficiency. Learning each new skill will enable you to become more independent.

These skills include:

• Canning Food (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.
• 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 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

Do you practice some of the ways to become more self-sufficient on your homestead? What other ways can you share with us to practice self-sufficient living?