About

What is self-sufficiency?

Self-sufficiency is a journey to rely less on outside sources and more on providing for yourself. In the past, I found it extremely easy to rely on convenience. Why cook when you can run through a drive through? Why grow your own food when you can pick it up at the grocery store? Two years ago, I was working 50+ hours a week. I was short on one important resource – time. It felt as though I had to choose between spending time with my family or prioritizing my health. Needless to say, my family won out most days. 

Professionally, I was in a great place. I had just received a promotion and capped my earning potential. I worked with a group of wonderful, supportive people and believed I was helping make a difference in my community. My plans where to stay in that position until I retired. I loved my environment and I loved what I did.

It wasn’t until I had what appeared to be a medical emergency that I stopped and re-evaluated how I was living.

After a short stay in the hospital and numerous tests, I was diagnosed with Hemiplegic Migraines. While not ideal, it beat the alternative that I was experiencing a series of short strokes at the early age of thirty-two. I was extremely grateful and felt as though I had dodged a bullet. However, this didn’t change the fact that I still had health issues that needed to be dealt with.

What contributed to this diagnosis?

It turns out, it was my lifestyle. I was working in a high stress environment and juggling taking care of a one year old. I was unable to leave my work at work, my diet consisted of primarily processed foods, and, while I did exercise, I would get up at 4:30am to fit it into my already hectic schedule.

To put it simply, the life I was leading was not sustainable. 

I stayed at the job for eight more months and tried to make it work, but continued to experience similar spells where I would be unable to see or think clearly. I was put on numerous medications, cut out sugar and gluten, and focused on getting at least 7 hours of sleep. I would feel better for awhile, but, eventually, it would happen again. I searched for a lower stress job but was considered “overqualified”. After many talks with my husband, I decided to put in my resignation.

All of this, while traumatic and depressing, planted the idea that the best way to live is by creating a self-sufficient life.

Being self-sustainable means different things to everyone but, to us, it meant creating ways that we could improve our health by taking care of our own needs.

To start, we shifted our priorities. We planted a garden which would serve the purpose of saving money but would also allow us to eat organic fruits and vegetables. We bought more chickens to increase our egg production and planted a mini-orchard.

Losing an income meant also that we had to make up for that loss in other ways. We bought seeds instead of plant starts, began composting our kitchen scraps, and switched our outdoor lighting to solar. We buy our clothes second-hand and use cloth products as much as possible. By incorporating fresh food, we are able to stay away from weekly trips to the grocery store.

With the time I am saving from working a corporate job, I am able to invest in the health of our pantry. By buying simple ingredients and growing many of them, we have cut down on the amount of processed foods we eat. 

For us, self-sustainability goes hand-in-hand with self-actualization.

We will always have bills. There are certain perks (air conditioning!) that I just can’t see our family going without.

But we have made a concentrated effort to improve our lives by slowing down and living more simply.

When we bought our home, we bought it for the house and not for the fact that it was on a little over one acre. Now, we are grateful for the small acreage and the possibilities it provides. We have been given the opportunity to start our journey towards sustainability. And we have never been more ready.