Self Sufficiency I ASS100

A comprehensive guide to living self-sufficiently. Ten lessons develop your understanding of self sufficiency, food and nutrition, and making the right decisions about changes in lifestyle; as well as showing you how to do a whole range of practical things such as mud brick building, making crafts, growing fruit, vegetables, herbs, and other crops; raising poultry, sheep & goats, extending the life of clothing, conserving energy, recycling, simple home medical care and first aid, and lots more.

Learn to provide yourself with the basic goods and services required to live; and gain a perspective on the broad range of alternative lifestyles that you might lead.

Course Structure The content of each of the ten lessons is as outlined below:

1. Introduction
2. Health, Nutrition and Clothing
3. Horticulture - Fruit and Vegetables
4. Horticulture - Herbs
5. Animal Husbandry - Poultry and Bees
6. Animal Husbandry - Grazing Animals and Pigs
7. Building
8. Energy
9. Craft and Country Skills
10. Making Decisions

Aims

• Discuss the nature and scope of self sufficiency.
• Explain the importance of good nutrition and health.
• Explain the importance of suitable clothing and clothing care.
• Explain the relevance and application of horticulture to self sufficiency.
• Explain the cultivation and use of herbs.
• Explain the main requirements for successfully raising animals.
• Explain the fundamentals of caring for grazing animals.
• Explain the available alternatives to eating meat.
• Discuss various building techniques that can be used to construct buildings.
• Discuss alternatives to conventional energy sources.
• Determine and describe accessible craft and country skills that may contribute to self sufficiency.
• Analyze potential changes in lifestyle to increase a person\'s level of self-sufficiency.

Some Things You May Do In This Course

• Identify essential and non-essential services offered by society
• Identify services that one can be self sufficient with
• Identify self skills that can aid in self sufficiency
• Obtain skills that can be developed to assist in self sufficiency
• Identify needs, wants and likes; and the purpose of prioritising needs
• Identify items one can provide for oneself
• Develop cost efficient meals
• Identify purpose of fitness to self sufficiency
• Plan a food garden
• Identify crops plants most suited to a persons locality that assist in self sufficiency
• Explain the use of bees hives, poultry and other animals for self sufficiency
• Estimate carrying capacity of a piece of land for animal stocking
• Describe multipurpose animal stocking and their uses
• Consider energy alternative techniques such as wind, solar, water fire, etc.
• Reduce present energy usage
• Candle making
• Cloth and garment making processes
• Practice food preservation techniques
• Practice handicraft techniques
• Identify criteria when planning to set up a self sufficient lifestyle in a new location
• Identify criteria on how to improve self sufficiency in present location

More About Self Sufficiency

Firstly In order to make the change from a reliant to a self-reliant way of living, a trade needs to be made: money for time. People who do successfully make the change often have a feeling of empowerment; they have reduced their reliance on purchased goods, finding that they really can live without the so called trappings of modern society. Some have a sense of freedom; a narrowing of choice requires less energy. This time and energy must then be used to build, grow, sew, cook and so on in order to supply basic daily needs that were previously supplied by the money earned.

Once people realise they can trade money for time they need to consider their approach to everyday life; evaluate their real needs as opposed to their perceived needs. You may need to compromise to achieve a balance between the things you would like to have and the things you are able to provide yourself with. A self sufficient lifestyle might make you less dependent on society, but this might only be possible at the expense of giving up luxuries.

A good place to start is to look at and answer the following questions:

What can you live without?

What can\'t you live without?

How far do you want to go in being self-sufficient?

What knowledge and skills do you have i.e. practical, management, budgeting and organisational?

What skills do you need?

Have you considered how much life will really change?

Do you understand the physical work involved?

Are you fit enough both mentally and physically?

Are you prepared to compromise?

On a practical level make up a list of all the goods and services you get from modern society such as, doctors, chemist (medicines), cleaning aids, meat, vegetables, cereals, clothing, and electric heating and so on. Then go through the list and note the goods and services that you think you could supply for yourself and also those you could not. Then have another look at the list and note all the skills that you already have and those that you will need in order to supply these goods yourself. From this you will gain a fair idea of where your skills and skills shortages are.

How to start?

In your own back yard!

Understand the expectations of all who will be involved yours might differ to theirs!

Change your approach to life long before you make the change. Think of the lists you made up earlier and start by reducing your spending now and providing for yourself as much as your situation allows.

Look at where you lack skills and start developing them: do a course.

If you are living on a small plot of land start growing your own vegetables: the experience and knowledge that you gain will be invaluable when you finally make the change.

Consider volunteering or WWOOFING before deciding where you will live. This will give you invaluable insight into how other people cope and what a self-sufficient life-style is all about.

(WWOOFING Willing Workers on Organic Farms).

Try to talk with others who have already made the change.

Get fit!

Get Attitude!

Years ago I interviewed a couple that led a pretty well self sufficient life. Their first comment ¢‚¨Àúthis is our way of life was all revealing. They came from an age when it was normal for people to have a large family, grow their own vegetables, have a few chickens in the yard for meat and eggs, preserve food, recycle as much as they could, sew their own clothes, have water tanks, do their own repairs and provide their own entertainment. They did not have a romantic view of their way of living it was just what they did. If circumstances changed they changed with it. They enjoyed the fruits of their labour, their family and life.

Keeping it real!

Once you are on the road to leading a self-sufficient life-style you may, from time to time, need to assess what you are doing and why you are doing it. It is very easy to lose sight of your original ideals in the toil of daily living. In the opening section of this article we looked at how in modern society people become fed up with the day to day grind of working for money and look to change to improve their lives. They trade money for time. They are to all intent and purpose providers in exactly the same way as you are in a self-sufficient life. Getting up everyday to go to work for forty or fifty years is hard. Getting up and providing all your family needs for forty or fifty years is also hard. The difference is that in the first instance you are there because society demands it, in the second it has become your choice. You may have chosen this way of life to improve the emotional and spiritual needs of all involved or it may have been a simple wish for an uncomplicated life, fresh air and clean food. Over the years you may need to compromise, take another path; think of other ways; but it is your original vision that you should always carry with you. To be truly successful in simplifying life: remember this is not a sea-change or a self sufficient lifestyle, this is just our way of life.

Ten lessons develop your understanding of self sufficiency, food and nutrition, and making the right decisions about changes in lifestyle; as well as showing you how to do a whole range of practical things such as mud brick building, making crafts, growing fruit, vegetables, herbs, and other crops; raising poultry, sheep & goats, extending the life of clothing, conserving energy, recycling, simple home medical care and first aid, and lots more.