Preparing For A Self-Sufficient Life

Have you read this article? http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/27/11143/168/114/667032

We've been working to be self-sufficient for a while. With the real possibility of food shortages and/or very high prices, we are even more motivated. BUT... even if nothing happens, and there's plenty for all of us, we are tired of depending on agribusinesses and oil dudes and transportation and government ... we plan to be self-sufficient anyway. We live in Colorado - where we've been caught by blizzards with no food in the house, and utilities downed by ice storms.

However, we have a problem. We have to sell our house in February or March and move to a different city, about an hour away. Will we be able to sell our home, find another one and move in before the first seeds need to be planted? We are hoping and praying we can. Meanwhile we must plan as if we will, so since we intend to grow almost ALL of our food next year, we need to make preparations NOW.

First, we need to store enough to get us through to Fall 2009. (Like rice, salt, honey, cornmeal, potato flakes, quinoa, millet, spelt, amaranth, oats, wheat berries, dried eggs, powdered soy and rice and goat's milk, spices, tea, olive oil, dried fruits and veggies, and canned fruits.)

Over the rest of this Winter, we plan to learn how to grow everything we need, including cotton, quinoa, etc., and how to process it, like how to make soybeans into soymilk and tofu. We'll learn bee-keeping, animal husbandry, cotton-ginning, and more. Of course, we understand, there is no substitute for real-life experience.

The seed and other garden catalogs have started arriving. My favorite Winter project! We've begun placing our orders, but have more planning to do. Since we have lots of containers from last year's garden, we'll grow what we can in those same containers, including: tomatoes, okra, peppers, beans, onions, garlic, eggplant, spinach and other greens, parsley and other herbs. We are already growing indoors: bunching onions, carrots and radishes as well as greens.

Once we find our land, we'll move our containers, then order and plant potatoes, sweet potatoes, berries, fruit trees and bushes, nut trees, etc. We'll need to order grain seeds and cotton seeds from other places. We'll grow black elderberry bushes for privacy fences and cough syrup. We'll grow bayberry bushes for wax for candles. We'll grow herbs for seasonings and medicines. We'll grow cotton for necessities like cloth, medical supplies and more. We'll grow juniper for fire-starting and berries. Subsistence farming for a family, and hopefully, a community. Then... we'll get chickens (meat, eggs, fertilizer, pest control, feathers, goats and/or mini cows (milk, meat, leather, lawn-mowing), and bee-hives (pollination, wax, honey). Anything we can grow or raise or do to be a self-sufficient family, we'll do. There are some things we can't do for ourselves: salt, olive oil, sewing needles, tampons, tea, spices, scissors, etc, but we're exploring ways to substitute for these necessities.

As for our plans, we're looking for three other families to build this life with. Must have at least two adults, and be like-minded. Maybe you read www.survivalblog.com ?!?

Now... as we create this self-sufficient, we'll take you through our process, giving as much information as we can. Please feel free to contribute your own information about YOUR journey into self-sufficiency.