The Ultimate Guide to Self-Sufficiency
Preppers are looking a lot less “fringe” these days, now that we’re more aware than ever about the importance of regional food, doing more with less, and how fragile our global supply chains are. I’ve noticed how many people have turned to learning new skills, especially when it comes to growing and preparing their own food.
When people think of homesteading they often imagine a large piece of land. But many skills of self-sufficiency can be done in your apartment or small yard. Yes, having grazing animals and growing market size gardens require more space, but many homesteading skills are accessible to people who have no land at all. Knowing how to grow and prepare food, make things by hand, or simply how to consume less, are all ways people can empower themselves. Having useful skills leaves us feeling less vulnerable in uncertain times.
In the following resources, you will find some activities that might require more space, like raising ruminants for example, but many of the following skills can be practiced even in an apartment.
Container gardens are a great option for those living in small or urban spaces.
Right now, you can get “Growing” a chapter on how to grow your own container and garden vegetables from The Homegrown Paleo Cookbook (which is also a full homesteading guide) free by clicking here. Another excellent online resource is a website called Steader, there are tutorials, courses, and links to every imaginable homestead topic. Some resources are free, some are paid.
We’ve compiled this extensive list of resources for a variety of self-reliance topics:
Growing Food
Inspiring garden accounts to follow on Instagram for tips:
Preserving The Harvest
Using regional field guides, guides like Edible Wild Plants, and connecting with local foraging groups on social media are helpful ways to get started.
Here are two experienced foragers you can follow on Instagram, both have beautiful and informative books and both share info and recipes almost daily on their accounts. They will make you feel brave about foraging!
Raising Livestock
The Resilient Farm and Homestead is a great place to start as you begin to plan your homestead. From planning to the creation of a durable, resilient homestead, this book covers everything you need to know.
Consuming Less
Living more sustainably means making conscious and informed choices about what we purchase and consume. It also means reducing our consumption when we can.
Repairing
YouTube is an excellent resource for repairing almost anything. From toasters, to shoes, to the window button on a Honda, YouTube makes fixing things accessible to everyone.
A couple of accounts that share creative suggestions for a greener life:
Making
Helpful Pandemic Hacks
The Mother Earth News Fair is a great place to learn all kinds of skills like the ones above. Diana and Robb Wolf will be at Polyface Farm this July to talk about their new book, Sacred Cow: The Case for Better Meat. Other speakers will present about keeping chickens, spinning wool, planting a garden and more. More info here.
What have we left out? Let us know your favorite self-reliance resources in the comments!
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Roxanne Ahern is a writer, regenerative homesteader, certified permaculture designer, and holistic nutritionist. She’s a contributor to the forthcoming documentary and book project “Sacred Cow: The environmental, nutritional, and ethical case for better meat” and raises katahdin sheep, Nigerian dwarf goats, fruit, and vegetables on a 44 acre homestead in the Southeast with her family. Find her at www.happyholistichomestead.com and follow her on Instagram @happyholistichomestead.