Top Three "Self-sufficient" Ideas
OK, I am having a TERRIBLE day. I feel pretty damned hopeless, and need something to turn my brain toward things I CAN do. I am sharing my best three "self-sufficient" things that I have come up with since I woke up. Please share yours with me!
1. Veggie-oil car with hho cell. We are getting 34 mpg out of a 1979 Mercedes Diesel (up from about 25 mpg before the hho cell - they really do work.) One car off the oil teet!
2. Chickens. The eat all my leftovers and waste foods and turn them into eggs for me. And they entertain me - I never guessed I would enjoy the company of chickens so much. They have a lot of personality!
3. Garden. It is the first year I tried to do anything very big, and I did a pretty crappy job. Even so, I have put up enough corn, beans, tomatoes, grapes and zuccini to last the winter, and got about half my supply of onions and taters.
Get the book on square foot
Get the book on square foot gardening you can grow a lot in a smaller area with a lot less maintenance and weeding.
Replace ornamental plants with producer plants like berries and fruit trees etc.
Assess your skills and see what might be in demand in hard times; like making hho devices or your own ethanol still. Just about any construction or repair skills will be in demand. If you have a garage machine shop or wood shop etc. welding. Start brushing up if you haven’t been doing it much.
Another big thing is an alternative power source. If the grid does down tomorrow will you be able to access all those great self sufficient articles you saved on your computer? Get a couple of deep cycle batteries and inverter and a solar panel or two. Also have a back up generator diesel or gas, if it’s gas make sure it has a cast iron or reinforced cylinder or it will wear out faster if you run it a lot. Make sure you have fuel for it, and you can convert it to alternative fuel if necessary.
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A few more books
Here are a couple more books to go with square foot gardening.
"Introduction to Permaculture" by Bill Mollison
"Permaculture: A Designers' Manual" by Bill Mollison
http://www.tagari.com/catalogue.php
(Introduction to Permaculture book description.)
Written to introduce readers to Permaculture concepts and design strategies. Topics include: energy efficient site analysis, planning and design methods, house placement, design for temperate, dry-land and tropical regions, urban Permaculture garden layouts, land access and community funding systems, chicken and pig forage systems, orchards and home wood lots, how to influence micro-climate and a large section on selected plant species with climatic tolerances, heights and uses.
Continue the Revolution into your own personal life!
Free yourself from the bondage of debt! as Dave Ramsey says - "The borrower truly is slave to the lender" Today Americans are slaves to the credit card companies and other lending organizations - Quit being a slave! - stop using credit cards! Get your money out of banks - your having money there allows them to loan more out to others!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j94ZJ2Vwtks
How can I complain about the governments out of control spending when I'm doing the same thing with my own finances? - an epiphany I had a few years ago while listening to Mr. Ramsey.
http://www.daveramsey.com...
Dont forget to sign the petitions to open the debates to all third party candidates!
http://opendebates.org/yourrole/petition/
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/presidential_debates/inde...
Fellow Veterans, This Is A Call To Arms!
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February 20, 2012 - Veterans For Ron Paul March on D.C.!
In addition
1. Learn to make soup stocks and other traditional foods.
Check out "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon
Here is a very useful book which talks about the traditional use of gelatinous stocks and broths for health and healing. She also discusses lacto-fermented foods among other things. In addition to recipes, the book is full of quotes, references, and folk health wisdom from all over the world.
I think she is right about western society missing an important aspect of it's diet in these bone broths. (perhaps this will become even more important when food and medicine are in short supply)
Here is a good article by Sally Fallon called "Broth is Beautiful."
http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/broth.html
"Let your food be your medicine, let your medicine be your food."
Hippocrates -- the father of medicine
2. Build a library for yourself and to share with others. I had a post a few days ago titled "Essential Books to Own." You may find some good info in the comment section.
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/62983
3. Build relationships with other likeminded people near you.
Sustainably Living
I just went to a sustainable living fair over the weekend here in Fort Collins, CO (great place, everyone ... lots of good people, close to the mountains when shit hits the fan, etc.). Anyway, there was a demonstration on how to convert your diesel to burn veggie oil. The guy has a veg co-op that's running now in town (and has been for awhile). He also runs a forum where he, and others from around the world, answer questions on how to convert to veggie. The forum is at : burnveg.com.
I would suggest we start banding together and creating more co-ops (for food, fuel, and housing). United we stand (in liberty), divided we fall (in socialism/fascism/tyrannism/etc).
~VerticalVoid
I asked my dad how he got thru the Depression
He was just a kid then but I wanted to know first hand how they got through it. His answer was basically what you would get here.
1. They had a big garden
2. They didn't live in a big city so cost of living was lower.
3. His dad worked one day a week.
4. They kept everything to use for barter, to repair, whatever. Nothing was considered junk.
That is the high level program to get through a depression.
I am adding hunting and fishing to my list.
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My grandma lived through the big one, too
When she passed away, we cleaned out her house. She had saved every little snippet of string, aluminum foil and wax paper were neatly folded and stored to be re-used, every piece of clothing she ever owned was stored somewhere in the house. Nothing was wasted.
Oh, and she mowed her own lawn, tended her own garden, put up all her canned goods, etc. until she was nearly 80.
Truth exists, and it deserves to be cherished.
Good show
Thanks for putting a smile on my face. I keep telling my husband that there is a gardener somewhere inside of me waiting to come out. We are talking about maybe doing a roof garden.
LivingTheDream