Country Living 101 :: 10 Reasons To Become More Self Sufficient

The economic crisis we are currently living through is a good enough reason for most people to want to live more self-sufficiently. Granted, becoming totally self-sufficient is not something you can do overnight but if you start now, within a year you can be closer to becoming a producer instead of a consumer.  Call me fanatical, but I just can't help the overwhelming urge to encourage everyone I come in contact with to start planning for bad times. The hand writing is on the wall, please, heed the warning. If you do, the bad times won't seem...well... as bad. 


I found a pretty good list of the 10 Reasons why you should become more self-sufficient and 10 steps to getting started on your way to off-grid living. This list was found at Activist Post. Check them out, they have tons of good articles. Anyway, on to the good stuff.

10 Reasons to Become Self-Sufficient

1. Freedom from market manipulation – The traditional market-driven investment vehicles are more and more obviously controlled by traders and banking institutions. The debacle of the private Federal Reserve Bank is just the icing on the cake to a previous decade full of Ponzi-type schemes. Now, the institutionalized looting of retirement money is being planned.

2. Hedging against inflation – Have you noticed the price of goods lately? Even Wal-Mart is silently raising its prices. People might have a choice whether or not to buy stocks or gold, but people have to eat – the current increases in basic goods portend hyperinflation, and will not ease anytime soon. Food shortages could make the problem exponentially worse.

3. Increasing health and wellness – It has now been revealed that some "organic" items have been falsely labeled. In addition, a host of "GMO-free" brands have been exposed as deceptive. GMO food lacks the nutritional value of what can be grown in the average backyard. GMO mega-corporation, Monsanto, has a sordid history and has continuously trampled on our trust. It is time that we do the work ourselves.

4. Building community strength – We constantly hear people say, "I don't even see my neighbors, let alone know anything about them." Of course not: 80-hour workweeks and grabbing meals-to-go doesn't exactly promote community interaction. With such little time to interact with our immediate community, it is no wonder why many people report feeling disconnected. In these trying times, it is a local community that can offer the best support.

5. Working for yourself – Working hours are increasing, pay is often decreasing, and corporate executives are taking bigger bonuses than ever. This is leading to a prevailing disgust, as people are being forced to admit that they are living lives of near-indentured servitude. Even for those not working in corporations, working for someone else is rarely as satisfying as creating and working for something where every minute you spend is yours alone.

6. Having more free time – We have been taught to believe that life on a farm is arduous sun-up to sun-down drudgery where you collapse at the end of the day. This is not so much the case anymore. Sure, the setup of any farm or self-sufficient endeavor is often time-consuming and laborious, but new technologies and new skills of manufacturing food via permaculture and aquaponics are offering low-cost start up and minimal maintenance, as these techniques serve to create symbiotic systems that are remarkably self-governing.

7. Generating food and energy security – The planet is running out of food and traditional energy. Climate volatility, market forces, GM foods, and rising costs of harvesting and transporting food are all conspiring to create food shortages even in the First World. This trend will not reverse. And our oil-soaked way of life is being threatened by mounting evidence that the oil lifeline could be disconnecting rather soon. We should be looking to the air, sun, geothermal, and wave power to wean us from the energy grid.

8. Acquiring an appreciation for life – As one gets closer to life-giving forces, there is a natural appreciation for how things come into being. When you have created your garden, toiled there, selected the best for harvest, and have prepared that food for your family and community, the significance of what you have taken part in can be transformative.

9. Restoring balance – Nearly everything in our society is at a peak, or is drastically out of balance. The systems and governments to which we have looked for balance restoration are missing in action. We must take it upon ourselves to restore our own financial and environmental balance sheet. The best way to do that is to reduce our overconsumption.

10. Becoming a producer, not a consumer - This is the best way to reduce your cost of living and increase your self-sufficiency.  In the U.S. over 70% of the economy is based on people buying things.  This is a clear sign of imbalance and, by extension, it is not sustainable.  

Furthermore, we also have seen corporations race to the bottom (see video below) to find low-cost production on the backs of desperate people.  The exploitation of the Third World to clothe, feed, and entertain the First World is something that most people do not want to think about, but it is abominable.  Again, new technologies are making it easier than ever to produce your own food, and even your own clothes.

Now, the solution or at least some steps to a good start This list was also found at Activist Post:

10 Ways to Get to Self-Sufficiency

The global economic collapse has become an eye-opening experience for many people. The ongoing crisis continues to create more joblessness at a time when the cost of essential items like food and energy continue to rise.

The following are 10 suggestions that can lead to independent living:

Reduce your debt: Especially get your credit card debt under control, since it is entirely corrupt.  Call your credit card companies and ask for a work out plan similar to what they received from the taxpayer bailout.  If they don't cooperate to your satisfaction, there are some reasons not to pay at all. 

(Under the willow Tree does not advocate not paying your bills. This link leads to information for folks who are in no-win credit card situations) 

Reduce your consumption: Evaluate your current budget and determine absolute necessity. Push your comfort level to find areas where you can scale back, and then identify comforts that you’re willing to sacrifice.

Reduce energy use: Change light bulbs, have entertainment systems plugged into a splitter that can be shut off completely to reduce phantom charges, etc.  Carefully plan shopping trips and other transportation needs.

Store energy:  Always have back-up propane storage and a large wood pile for a rainy day. Investing in a generator of some kind (even a solar generator) will be money well spent

Invest in food storage: With a falling dollar and rising food prices, why not create a food savings account?  Get some good books, dehydrators and vacuum sealers for storage methods. Best storable food items are grains (rice, beans, flour), canned goods, seeds, and some prepackaged items.

Produce your own food: Replace your lawn with a garden, fruit trees, and keep chickens. Go on hunting and gathering adventures for nuts, fish, and wild game.  Store extra garden seeds!

Learn new skills: Surf the Internet, read books, and take courses in practical skills like gardening, cooking with whole foods, composting, carpentry, alternative energy, natural health and wellness etc.

Start a side business: Turn your passion or hobby into a small side business to make some supplemental income.  Who knows, it may become your path to full financial independence.

Install alternative energy: Start with small installations like a solar hot water system, a solar freezer, a solar attic fan, or a wood stove etc. If you have limited funds, tip-toe your way to independence.

Suggest solutions for your community: Start or join a local cooperative for food, products, and services.  Engage your local community in discussions to take steps for self-sufficiency. Share your story and build support.

These steps will save money as we move closer to the ultimate prize of independence.  

Each action we take to live more simply frees us from the control systems put in place to make our lives more complicated, more toxic, and less independent.

Again, a great big THANK YOU to our friends at at Activist Post