Even basic self-sufficiency can make a huge difference in your life. At a quick glance, you will immediately impact the environment around you. But you will also be healthier as a result.
What It Really Means
When you learn to become sufficient, you remove any dependency, or at least minimise it, on others. A solid sufficiency plan will help you provide all you need for survival and a little happiness. Things like water borehole drilling, food production and clean energy will contribute to a healthier way of living with long-term sustainability. Additionally, you will slowly reduce the useless feeling of desire in your life, which helps you live peacefully and much more frugally.
Better Food for Your Family
One of the best reasons, and often the first, to live a life less dependent on a system is your food. If you have even a small patch of land, you can grow your own vegetables, fruits and herbs. Fresh ingredients like this make for much more satisfying meals with minimal processing involved. A shorter time between farm-to-table tastes much better and keeps nutrients. You can supplement these with things like hunting game, beekeeping, foraging and fishing for food.
Basic Self-Sufficiency Includes Energy Supply
With the current cost of energy such as electricity, gas and even oil, we could all help ourselves by reducing how much we use or need. Solar energy panels are cheaper than they have ever been. And you can get help with the cost depending on where you live. You can also use wood to fire your heating in winter and for cooking with an older wood-burning stove. Additionally, you can collect and use rainwater if you live somewhere with a variable and favourable climate.
Use What’s Available
A good trick to being more efficient in how you live is to live smaller and want less. It can take a long time to get used to this. But your life will invariably improve. It requires what you will initially perceive as a sacrifice, but all you are doing is removing your dependency from a system, much like a drug. And the more you do it, the easier it gets. You can start off with what’s available such as composting kitchen waste, learning to reuse seeds, and even learning to cook better.
Making More Money
Of course, being more dependent on yourself relates to more than just food and water. Being sufficient is also knowing how to generate and use the money to become financially independent. When you are growing your own food, collecting water and even keeping bees, there will be excess. And you can make money from this by selling honey. Or you can turn it into a business. If you have the land, you can use around 300 beehives to make a decent income.
Summary
It can be hard to start even basic self-sufficiency methods. But if you have land, you can begin growing your own food, creating energy via solar and wind, and making money from excess.