Self-sufficiency is about having the skills, resources and planning needed to get by with what we have locally.
It is one aspect of resilience.
A simple metric may be to ask: How often do you visit WalMart/SAMS/LIDL ?
- Once per day - not self-sufficient at all - you need help.
- Once per week - not exactly self-sufficient.
- Once per month - better, or maybe you just have a larger freezer.
- Once per year - now you're getting there.
- Once - definitely self-sufficient.
Make the tools to make the tools to make the things you need.
This can be taken to a bit of an extreme. Do you knap the flint, to dig the ore, to smelt the metal, to forge the plow, to grow the corn, to make the mash, to distill the drink ? At some point, a non-self-sufficient person provided the tools to allow you to live a self-sufficient life-style.
Many of the principles of self sufficiency are used in other movements such as homesteading, survivalism, simple living (or voluntary simplicity) , hobby farming, smallholding and off-grid living. All utilise some aspects of living solely on what you can produce yourself from your own piece of land. Since this is almost impossible to do entirely many choose to produce more than they need in food and other goods, which they can then barter with for other goods and services.
Like all things, taken to an extreme self-sufficiency is unhealthy. We also need to take advantage of interdependence, which offers much efficiency, resilience and variety in our lives, when planned appropriately.
See also
External links
- Selfsufficientish.com, the urban guide to almost self sufficiency.
- Self Sufficiency Guide- A practical guide to becoming more self sufficient.
- [1]- Several articles that deal with living off a piece of land self-sufficiently as a case study where this was done. In English and Suomi.