My goal, outside of work, is to continue driving to self-sufficiency. I grew up in a more rural area, close enough to the city for convenience, but far enough away to not be bothered too often. Unfortunately, that urban sprawl (or sub-urban in this case), has slowly encroached on the area where I grew up. Now, if I were to live there, I know that my kids would not have the same opportunity and benefits of that lifestyle. Still, I fondly remember spending many an hour with my Papa working in the garden, splitting wood in the field, and shelling walnuts and pecans in the shop. I have a part of me that yearns to get back to that: to be away from the city and have a modicum of self-sufficiency.
Have you ever watched someone from our grandparent's generation and felt ashamed by your lack of work ethic? I have. Until just recently, my mom's dad could still work circles around me. He erected an entire steel framed shop by himself in his seventies. He nearly killed himself falling through the roof when putting it on, but he did it himself none-the-less. I recently came across this video by the Northmen Guild.
My current profession wouldn't allow me to have such a full-time farm, with the need for daily milkings and the like, but there's still a part of me that wants this, or semblence thereof, more than any of the conveniences of city life.
I have been working on it, however slow the progress may be. We keep chickens, and we've previously kept goats (and may do so again). I've attempted to get an orchard up and running, though my trees seem to feed the deer more than me, and they usually end up dead. Probably half of my fruit trees have been killed by rubbing in the past year. We aim to fix that this year with some piping cut to cover the lower trunks. A lesson hard learned, but necessary I suppose.
I'm attempting to develop those self-sufficiency skills as best I can. I'm also attempting to be frugal, using scrap wood, roofing, and other building materials to build our farm structures.
The journey thus far has definitely been on of learning and growing. There's just so much left to do, and so far left to go.
Which brings me to my main point.
With the economic outlook in the world right now, it's only solidified this need to drive towards self-sufficiency. It was not but two generations back where every household was encouraged to have a Victory Garden and a couple of backyard chickens to help feed the family. Do a quick Google search and you'll be sure to find hundreds of media from the WW2 era from the government encouraging everyone to "do their part".
Now, it's unlawful to own chickens in many area, and there are HOAs and city ordinances that can get in the way of growing edible plants in your yard. Still, it hasn't stopped us from working towards our goals, and we've got several projects lined up with a timeline of about a year and a half to try to make it happen.
My top two priorities are a greenhouse and a root cellar. I have an outside garden plot, and I will be working to get it up and running again this year (after a few years of neglect). However, I also want to get the greenhouse up and running so as to have a stable place to grow some year-round crops, and to start seeds early in the year to maximize the growing season. Maximizing the season, however, will only be as good as my ability to store produce, so the cellar also needs to be a top priority.
Living on terraced land, I'm thinking about building my greenhouse as a two-parter. On the upper terrace, I would like to build a shed to house things like the lawn mower, or the trailer, and tools. Then on the lower terrace, dig in and build the green house as a lean-to style structure.
The main picture here is my inspiration. The bottom right corner is my attempt to sketch out what I'm wanting to build. My overall plan involves burying a tote to retain rainwater that I can then use to supplement the water system for the greenhouse. On the way to day-dreaming, I'd even like to consider putting solar panels across the roof of the shed portion and maybe be able to automate it. Baby steps...
Just this project alone will be a wood intensive project, to mention nothing of the root cellar project. With the current prices of lumber (and fuel for that matter), these present quite the challenge, financially. So I've started to look at purchasing a saw mill. If I do, I'm all in for my disposable and non-disposable income. This would be full-on commitment. However, this would also pay off when it comes time to try to build a barn (a late stage plan: a barn for goats and another barn to use as my shop).
The flip side of this: it's a full on commitment of all of my resources. There will be nothing left to put towards anything like firearms, or other routes of investment... This is a nerve racking situation to be in.
Stay tuned, I'll update as we go. Hopefully there are exciting times ahead. in the meantime, go check out the Northmen Guild youtube channel here, they're reviving old world skills.
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