self suffiency, what turned your head??

[WiseBird]

I grew up in the 1970s in a 3 bed semi on a council estate in Cheltenham. Our parents both worked, meals came from the freezer shop, the Good Life was regular viewing and the garden was full of rose bushes ...except for one small area where my mother planted a dwarf apple tree. Those were the best apples ever, I can still taste them now!

As I got older I knew that food could be better and that I didn't want to spend all my time working for somebody else to get money to buy things I don't really want and certainly don't need so having found a like-minded soul to share the rest of my days with, we do as much as we can, certainly making as much as we can for ourselves - I am very proud that I make all of our bread and wouldn't have it any other way, I simply cannot eat wrapped bread anymore, it is truly revolting Hubby is great at making things too - he made me a huge dresser for the kitchen out of wood reclaimed from skips.

My parents did have a go at growing veg one year but after I dug up most of the potatoes before they were even half way ready, I think they soon gave up!

Strangly enough, my brother has turned the same way too, he wants a self-sufficient lifestyle but he has the handicap of 3 teenage daughters

[LBR]

No one specific thing. Tent camping was the way we went on a vacation when I was a child. We had enough to eat, to wear, to read, etc. growing up, and I took music lessons. There was enough for a treat now and then, but not for indulgent living in any way.

Fancy and freedom just don't go hand in hand for me. Whenever I've stayed somewhere even slightly luxurious I've found it stifling and overwhelming. I like breathing room.

Life just keeps leading me to let go of unnecessary things and thoughts.

Self-sufficiency, IMO, is a great part of self-respect.

I might come back and edit this post again, and again. Sooner or later, important questions have a really short answer.

I went thru the power clothes detour, and the glamour detour, and the I-have-to-be-like-my-grandmothers detour. Guess we have to try what doesn't fit before we find what does.

[charlie]

I think i took after my father.

He's always had a vegetable patch in the garden, and as a youngster i was always helping him out.
I remember the first beetroot that i grew on "my" veg patch.
We also had chickens when we were younger, so fresh eggs every day.
When i moved away from home it was difficult as we lived in a top floor flat.
My s-i-l got herself an allotment, so we used to go and help her, while we were on the waiting list for one closer to home.
Just got to afford to get a place with a garden so we can have the chooks again, and veggies closer to the kitchen!

[LollopyBear]

I have always been interested and concerned about the environment, but felt quite helpless as to how to meaningfully help. It wasn't until I met my DH (when I was 17) that I first heard about self-sufficiency. He then pointed me in the direction of The Good Life series, which I lapped up and just couldn't stop finding out more about. It also felt quite comforting as my family was much more self-sufficientish with my brother and sister, then myself up til I was about 8 and they became more affluent. They used to grow vegetables, make clothes, cook from scratch etc. but they have given basically all of that up now.

[DominicJ]

I think I came at it from the complete other side.

As a scientist I accept oil is running out as viable fuel source, natural gas is only a few years behind it, not that NG has ever been that viable
As a realist I accept coal will be blocked by the green lobby until 100,000's die over winter, by which point it will be far too late retrofit 15 million homes with a coal fired heating system and build 40 coal fired power stations.

I have accepted that the modern way of life is being derailed, there is going to be a disaster, growing a patch of onions and knowing when/where to pick blackberries could realisticly be the difference between life and death, or at least relative wealth and abject poverty.

Its not like water, food, fuel and electricity rationing have never happened before, our ability to produce them is shot and our ability to buy them is quickly erroding.

Having an "extra" supply of safe water plumbed in, cupboards full of food and a garden making more, a battery/turbine solar system for electricity and a wood/coal burner for heating puts you in a much better position than most.

People are going to die, I'll be damned if I'm one of em

[DominicJ]

Someone mentioned the US survivalism movement.
Although it can be a beacon for crazies preparing to wage war on the government, most of them are normal people who have simply adapted to the power going down for three weeks after a snow storm.
Most of us in the UK have probably never been more than 3 days away from open supermarkets and fully stocked shelves.