The Road To Homestead Self-Sufficiency

As I have mentioned before, our goal of homesteading is to become as self-sufficient as possible. There are many things that one has to think about to become entirely self-reliant and it can take some time to accomplish this goal. I will be talking about a few things that we have done and some things that we are in the process of doing to become more self-sufficient on our homestead.

The first thing, and probably the easiest thing, a prepper/homesteader can do is to plant a garden. This will allow you to reduce your dependence on grocery stores and save money. Also, it will allow you to raise food that is healthier for you and our families and ensures that they are eating the best. We usually put out a larger garden that is about 100 ft X 100 ft. This allows us to grow fresh food to eat over the season, but it also lets us have enough extra food to can for the winter. We generally like to focus on a few vegetables and most of our garden consists of potatoes, green beans, corn, and tomatoes. I would recommend starting small, and as you gain more experience, then plant more. One can grow a lot of food in a small spaces and there are many people online that do this very well.

Another way to become more self-sufficient is to think about how you would get backup water. We live out in the country and have a well with a high water table, so our source to get backup water consists of a hand pump that we have placed on our well. This will give us access to water in case the electricity goes out. I have seen others that use rain catchment systems or have access to mountain streams, but having access to some form of backup water is one of the most important things that a prepper/homesteader needs to think about.

The next thing that is helping us get to being self-sufficient is raising our own animals. We raise chickens for eggs, cattle for both beef and milk, and rabbits for meat. We even have plans of raising fish in an aquaponics system. This lets us have a good source of protein that is kept as organic and natural as possible. One does not even a whole lot of space or land to raise animals. Chickens and rabbits for example do not require a lot of space to flourish.

The final thing that we are doing to get to a self-sufficient lifestyle is to have a backup source of electricity and heat. When something as common as the power going out during the coldest part of the winter occurs, it makes one not what another occasion like this to happen again. Instances like this and experiencing outrageous electric bills, made us really think about backup heat and electricity. So to solve our heat problem, we invested in a wood/cook stove. In just a matter of a year or two, the stove paid for itself and it keeps the house much warmer than electric heat ever did. Then just recently, we purchased several solar panels, so that we have access to backup electricity. The solar panels are still a project that we are working on and trying to get done, so that we are not relying on the electric company for our power.

These are just a few things that we are currently doing or trying to implement to become more self-reliant. It will help eliminate our dependency on outside resources and will ultimately save us money. I hope that this helps those heading towards a lifestyle of becoming self-sufficient.

Thanks for reading!