Thread: Homesteading / Sustainable Living

Something I saw on social media paralleled a theme I have been reviewing recently: how can I reduce consumerism in my life and become a producer, becoming more self-reliant? The first thing that comes to mind is practicing or doing better at the three "R"s-Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. I already do well okay some of these. For example, we have a recycling bin and have the city just added glass recycling, so we bought the special bin for that. We also compost kitchen scraps that eventually are used in the garden or flower beds. I also walk to work 90% of the time and eat lunch at home.

One thing I have been working on is buying less coffee at work three times a week at $3 a cup and consuming less soda. New endeavors are to produce enough food in the garden to have enough surplus to preserve and to actually teach myself some woodworking and actually make something.

Does anybody else have any desire or plans to become more self-sufficient in the coming year?

Here is the social media post I referenced at the start.

Like you we'd like to grow more so we have a surplus to freeze or dehydrate. I'm not big on canning, you loose some of the health benefits from what I have read.
Also do more gathering of berries for jams and jellies.
I'd also like to start an herb garden, but they tend to takeover areas, so it will probably be a container situation. Which will also be beneficial as we can bring them in for the cold season and still have fresh herbs.

There's a bit of what I have in mind

It would be a good idea to learn to do as many of those things as possible. There may come a time when those who want to survive will HAVE to do them.

Be careful about what you do with the 3 R's. Rain catchment or harvesting is illegal in
some states (not in Oklahoma). I'm have been setting up rain catchment to supply my
grapes and a future garden. My water bill has doubled because of hidden fees (not
taxes). Stormwater fee ($4.40 a month) is for the rain that falls on your property, but
if you can catch and store over 500 gallons, that same fee goes up another $35.00
a month. Yet, I can't find anything about this in the local codes. Its not a tax, its a fee.


Up front, I have two 275 gallon totes with a first flush system that store 550 gallons
of potable rain water.


In back, I have three 55 gallon drums that catch and store 165 gallons.


I love my grapes, but I want a garden for vegetables.

We bought a new place last year (hence the fewer posts this year). This place, hopefully, will allow us to become pretty much self-sufficient. In the past year we have started a compost heap, have about 8 chickens (Barred Rocks, large brown eggs and plenty of them). We put in a garden last year that just produced so much it blew us away. SWMBO has developed a knack for canning and preserving. We are now looking at ways to use the rest of the land to our advantage. We just replanted about 10 acres in pines and we still have about another ten to play with.

Thanks for this post. Do any of our other members have or want to start homesteading? Maybe we could make this a topic in and of itself. It seems to go along with why we do what we do anyway.

OK so if you catch the rain they charge you more? That makes no sense to me at all, but then again things politicians do never make sense to me

Just remember crop rotation in your garden area, this way you can avoid soil born diseases.
Homesteading is an awesome thing, as I'm a farmer we do a bit of this kinda stuff. And for the most part we are self sufficient.

Originally Posted by jfleming9232

We bought a new place last year (hence the fewer posts this year). This place, hopefully, will allow us to become pretty much self-sufficient. In the past year we have started a compost heap, have about 8 chickens (Barred Rocks, large brown eggs and plenty of them). We put in a garden last year that just produced so much it blew us away. SWMBO has developed a knack for canning and preserving. We are now looking at ways to use the rest of the land to our advantage. We just replanted about 10 acres in pines and we still have about another ten to play with.

Thanks for this post. Do any of our other members have or want to start homesteading? Maybe we could make this a topic in and of itself. It seems to go along with why we do what we do anyway.

Thanks for the advice. I come from a farming family as well. It's nice to get back to my roots.

My CCNR's and HOA prevents half of the list. grrrrrr! I would love to have my own chickens, but they fear it would invite predators into our neighborhood. I told them at the last HOA meeting that's why I have a shotgun...that didn't go over well at all.

Originally Posted by ReardenSteel

My CCNR's and HOA prevents half of the list. grrrrrr! I would love to have my own chickens, but they fear it would invite predators into our neighborhood. I told them at the last HOA meeting that's why I have a shotgun...that didn't go over well at all.

For god sake don't tell them about the 50 cal. turret mount in the attic or the ARs in every room :<0)