How to be more self-sufficient in the suburbs?

Question

Right now we live in suburbia. In our first home, we relocated because of my hubby's job(which he loves and saw as his only choice two years ago). We can't leave the area now because of his profession and the fact that the housing market sucks and we would loose too much money if we sold. When we bought we thought it would be best for us, but we are both feeling that we are turning into people we don't want to be. We have become consumers! Agh. It happened while we weren't looking, really. We are so far from the ideals that we once had and are surrounded by others we can't connect to. Finally it hit us, like a ton of bricks that it wasn't working.

It is our goal to be as self-sufficient as possible someday. We still would like to have the internet (ha) but want to grow food, live off the grid, etc.

Finally to my question, which is this: while we are here, how do we make the best of our situation? How can we get back to those ideals while living in suburbia?

Answer 1

I have a lady friend who lives off her land of 2 acres in the burbs...Not too hard when you have fruit trees, a garden, some grape vines, bees, some mulberry bushes and an eye for canning and baking and cooking and repairing old stuff and making your own cough syrup and re-using throw-aways. She says that people in Austria would live like kings off the stuff that America throws away and she composts too. And so do I..Great for plants and makes the soil rich..And I feed the wildlife once in awhile food scraps..And used kitty litter is good under pine trees and chimney ashes are great Nitrogen for around trees/shrubs. And baana peels are excellent for rose bushes. The Nitrogen goes right into the soil--however skunks like to eat insides of banana peels-but that is OK cuz I have asthma and one skunk spray clears my lungs and nasal passages...And the list goes on..Earthworm composting is easy and a way to use up food scraps...You Go Girl...

Answer 2

plant a garden and grow some of your own veges.. have a fruit tree or two...some cities let you have chickens.. 3or4 chickens is great PLUS they will help with bug control.. you do have to keep them in a pen or they will eat your garden.. chickens lay more in the spring and summer than in the winter.

shop smart DONT buy Starbucks coffee.. dont buy knick knacks.. living cheaper means you dont need to make as much money...eat more soup and less meat (most people eat more meat than they need.. you sav $ by eating less)

shop at second hand stores - soem of the bigger ones have often get new products from stores or consumers who bought then never wore..

living cheaper is the first step to being self sufficent...AND the first step to saving money so you can move to the country like I did.

Answer 3

Grow your own food in the back yard, tell your hub to ride in a car pool to work, and yes you can go off grid right now by putting $15,000 worth of PV cells on the roof.  And quit eating at restaurants all the time.

Answer 4

Another way to save on energy costs is to add  hydrogen fuel as a supplement to your regular gas. Very easy to build yourself, or you can purchase diy kits. The advantages are many. You create the fuel from water, the exhaust is mainly water and oxygen, as opposed to toxic gases, better economy and smoother vehicle performance.

Please don't discard it as a pipe dream. There are legit companies selling these kits, and they do work!

Answer 5

Snare rabbits, collect wild watercress, grind pine nuts or acorns with rocks, dress in animal skins, and build a shelter out of brush and tree bark.  Then you will be much less of an Evil Consumer.

Answer 6

My wife and I were in the EXACT same situation as you 5 years ago, when left my job as a Boeing Engineer and left the suburbs of San Antonio Texas, purchased a small ranch in west Texas and started living 100% Self-Sufficient, Off the Grid using Alternative Green Energy at the age of 25.

However there were/are plenty of "tricks" to living a little self sufficient / eco friendly in suburbia. Here's a link to a guide I wrote that will help http://www.agua-luna.com/offgrid_guide.h...

Without rewriting my entire guide here are a few passages from it...

"We will discuss a basic cost-effective hybrid off the grid system with a focus on solar, for a moderate-sized family/home in a typical suburban area. This booklet utilizes several alternate energy components you will need to build your off grid system. I will provide a brief description of each, stating function, cost range and some sources for acquiring at the lowest costs. At the end add up the prices and calculate how many years it will take to pay for itself vs. how much you would normally spend on utilities. A normal system takes appx 6 years.”

"Do not buy for brand names, buy for price. 50 watts is 50 watts.

Purchase small panels. 3-15w panels can cost ¼ less than one 45w.

FREE PANELS: Contact your highway dept. or dept. of motor vehicle (DMV) and ask for panels off of their retired/nonworking  ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€Âœhighway construction carts.”  These panels usually only operate at 50% efficiency or less, but in most cases are completely FREE or cost just a couple bucks. You may also want to subscribe to www.freecycle.org. All items are given away for FREE there all the time, no strings attached.

Contact your Dept of Energy and Resources, you may qualify for tax breaks and/or refunds. For more info visit www.dsireusa.org.

Use several small inverters separated by rooms--one inverter for the kitchen, etc. This way if one inverter breaks, the whole house isn't without power, just that room. (Keep a spare controller/parts).

To save your inverter from operating continuously, run some appliances on DC electricity (refrigerator, water heater, etc.) Many appliances now come in 12v DC and use far less energy then 110v. (If you’re switching over from gas, I’d suggest going straight to DC.)

When purchasing parts, supplies or system components, ask first about any “display” or “damaged” items. In most cases they are discounted up to 90% off because of a few scratches and/or dings.

Buy used. Look at www.suntrekenergy.com, www.oasismt.com, www.craigslist.org or  www.ebay.com where you may find “like new” used items, at 1/10th of their original cost.

Sell your excess energy back to the power company. Ask your power company about “net metering” or go to www.eere.energy.gov or www.serconline.org for tables and state law information.

Check out these books and magazines for more information on living off the grid: “Photovaltaics”, “Create an oasis greywater”, “Motherearthnews” and my book coming out this summer."

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions,

Dan Martin

Retired Boeing Engineer now living 100% Off-the-Grid with my family, using Alternative Energy & loving every minute.

for more info visit www.agua-luna.com

Answer 7

I applaud your desire to be more self-sufficient!

While it is difficult to become completely self-sufficient, especially in town, you can definitely be more energy efficient! You could, for example, install passive solar water heaters (heat water before going into hot water tank, reducing amount of energy required to heat the water) or photovoltaic cells on your roof (to help generate electricity).  

Depending on the space you have available, backyard gardens can yield plenty of fruits/veggies in the right season.

With regards to being off-grid, it is difficult for some to do this even when they have plenty of land and resources such as running water and the space required for windmills.  I have my doubts a house in 'suburbia' could be completely off-grid...

Answer 8

Repair, reduce, re-use and recycle..... oh yeah, you can even freecycle! There's some good comments in the posts above. For my own personal ideal related rant, let me just say "please don't use anything with palm oil".... you may as well be eating the orang utans themselves.

Answer 9

I'm sure that in the end you'll end up doing what countless others in your situation do: switch to eating organic food, put "Think Green" bumper stickers on your brand new Prius, use CFC lightbulbs and then brag to every one else about you are in the front lines of the war on global warming stopping Global Warming.  Ho hum.

EDIT:  By the way, bohemian_garnet is the ONLY participant I've ever seen in in Yahoo! Answers who can truthfully claim to live a "green lifestyle".  Everyone else just engages in silly symbolic gestures at best or at worst does nothing while preaching at everyone else what they should do.

Answer 10

Lauren,

How self sufficient do you want to be?  Also do YOU work outside the home?

If you have read any of my previous postings, you know that my husband and I live a VERY self sufficient lifestyle.

Here's a link to a question I answered, so you get an idea of the kind of life we lead:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=2...

(I don't feel like typing all that stuff this morning)

Being self sufficient generally centers on just a few things.

Feeding yourself is number one

Producing your own electric/power/heat.

Clothing yourself.

Another question is how big is your suburban yard?  Some of them are the size of postage stamps, others are quiet roomy.

If you have a decent sized yard, concider planting edible landscaping this sping.  Apple, pear, peach, trees are lovely.  Don't plant them too close the house, or a walkway where they will drop their fruit where you walk.

Plant what you enjoy eating. Learn about your planting zone, and what will grow there.  I use to live at a house with a giant fig tree.  There are nut trees, citrus trees (warm places only), and of course all the really lovely berry bushes.

There are other perminant plantings like asparagus, artichokes, many herbs, rubarb, ect.  

Right now (this point in your life) is the time to invest in QUALITY garden tool, garden books (hit the used bookstores), any classes you can take, and a bit of hands on practical knowledge.

If you really "get into" self sufficency in suburbia, I know people who raise their own chickens (hens only) in backyard coops, both for eggs and meat.  You could also raise ALL of your meat via rabbits in a suburban setting.  But that requires being willing to butcher your own animals.  Word of warning though...never, ever tell your suburban neighbors you are raising the rabbits to eat.  Trust me, they will freak out.  As long as they thing they are pets, they will not care.  The moment they find out those cute widdle bunny wabbits are for food, they will call and complain about your "stinking rabbit house".

You can also research aquaculture if you enjoy eating fish.  If interested, email me, I have a good link, just have to dig it up.

Aquaculture is the raising of fish, and using the water from the fish, with their waste products, to water vegtables that are usually just grown in gravel.  It can be done in a very small area, usually at very low cost.

Self sufficency is all about the food, and therefor centers much of your attention in the kitchen area.  Right now, while there is a good income, is the time to invest in QUALITY kitchen items.  A good freezer (large) is one of those items.  As you process your harvest, you will want a way to perserve it.  Again, invest in books also.  I highly reccomend, "Stocking Up III."  For a newbe it will give really good, really clear, and very safe information about how to do things.

You can invest in a dehydrator right now.  Then learn to hit stores (Cash & Carry is the best) that are resteraunt supply stores.  If you like mushrooms, I highly reccomend those as your first dehydrating project.  They are VERY easy, and dehydrate really well.  You can do them whole, or sliced.  They are simply wonderful in soups, gravies, and other dishes.

Learn to bake bread right now.  You can buy wheat in bulk 25-50 pound sacks, grind your own wheat and learn to make really healthy, really tastey bread.  I sugest again investing in a QUALITY electric wheat grinder.  Magic Mill is one of the best brands.  It will not be cheap, $300-$500.  I found mine at a thrift/junk store.  They had zero idea what the machine even was,  got mine for $40!!

Why am I telling you to grind your own wheat, when you will find (at reseraunt supply stores) that you can buy a 50 pound sack of whole wheat flour for really cheap?  Because whole wheat only retains it's food value for a matter of DAYS.  Because the wheat germ (very healthy for you) is also ground up in the wheat it goes rancid FAST.  White flour will store for a really long time under proper conditions (several years), but not healthy whole wheat.

I'd also invest in a bread machine if you do not alread have one.  They save time and effort on your part.  Right now you have time to do everything by hand, the more self sufficient you become, the less time you will have for everything.  I adore my bread machine.

Buy yeast in bulk packages, usually one pound.  You can find them at Sam's Club & Costco.  It is so much cheaper!!  I keep my yeast stored in my fridge, in the butter tray on the door.

Now is the time for you and your husband to sit down, and really talk about what you are interested in doing self suffiency wise.  Examples, butchering, raising a meat calf, owning a dairy cow or goat (I reccomend the goat), keeping bees for honey and wax, raising a pig, or do you just want to concentrate on fruit and vegtable crops.

If you plan to live off grid, have you explored, and learned about the different types of power/heat/electric?  Are you willing to buck wood, cut it down, and split it, for a wood stove, or Central Boiler?  Know the difference between passive and active solar?  

By the way, a HUGE skill set to have if becoming self sufficient is to be very mechanically inclined.  It will help you with everything from hanging a proper fence gate, to getting the tractor started on cold mornings, to building a bunny hutch.  Once again, now is the time to invest in quality tools.

Even though you are in suburbia right now, there is SO MUCH you can do, to invest in your future life as being self sufficient folks.

Books (buy used!), classes, quality tools, and some hands on knowledge.  

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 11

Hi, great question and thoughts.  I live in a downtown area, not quite suburbia but within walking distance to stores, work, people, etc.  We own a small piece of property which I use to the fullest.  I made myself a small composting box which I put ALL my food scraps and garden waste in even during the winter months.  I have a manageable garden which allows us to eat fresh during the summer and do some canning for the winter.  Our property is lined by trees which keeps our backyard and house very cool during the summer months, we rarely put our air conditioner on.  If you can, install some ceiling fans, cuts down the heat and electricity. The leaves from our tree are used for all my landscaping beds.  I use the leaves to cover my beds for the winter which keeps them warmer and also adds extra nutrients.

We recently added a wood stove to our home.  I am able to get fire wood from a friend who lives nearby but I gather it and split it all by myself and totally enjoy heating my home for free (plus wood heat feels so much warmer than traditional sources of heat).

I am also trying to be as completely green as I can.  I recycle every bit of waste in my home that I can.  Junk mail is my latest attempt as I rip out the plastic windows and use the remaining paper in my wood stove as starter.  My biggest accomplishment lately is never having my groceries in a plastic bag again.  We bought the cloth bags and use them everywhere.  For those of you who think it's hard to remember them, just keep a couple in your car for those days you leave the house without them.  

We've done all the other things too...replaced traditional light bulbs with the new energy savers, run the washer only on cold,  we are not consumers and only buy items that we really need, we shop at thrift stores for clothing and other items that we don't need to be spending a ton of money on, we only run the dishwasher when it's completely full, short showers, etc., etc,etc.  I also make homemade soap (which I love and is relatively easy).  I recycle my yogurt cups to be the molds for the soap.  I also just recently learned that I might be able to use my wood stove ashes to make soap (but I need to do much more research).

This summer I'm going to get serious about only buying local.  There are sustainable farms and local farm markets where the food is fresh and mostly free of chemicals.  Right now I'm researching how to install and use a rain barrel to capture rain water and use for mostly outdoor watering instead of using the city water.  I've met many people who use captured rain water as their only source of water in their home, my hat is off to them.

Also, try to Freecycle your unwanted items or donate to a charity or thrift store.  The less garbage we accumulate, the better.  Check out Freecycle.org for a local chapter.  It's a great way to get rid of things you don't want anymore and get some things you might need.

There is so much you can do while living in suburbia.  If you don't have a yard, you can container garden or make a place in your home to plant tomatoes or herbs.  Start simple and enjoy every little thing that you do.  Just by consuming less...less food, less waste, less driving, less electricity...we can all make a difference and it feels fantastic.

If you feel like you can't relate to the world of glutinous consumers near you, keep up with people in this group.  I've learned quite a bit from asking questions and reading others thoughts and ideas.  It's good to stick together.

Answer 12

I too was in your situation. I moved. Now I live in a small rural community. I milk cows and goats every day, make cheese, have a big garden, I have chickens and ducks, rabbits, beef cows out on rented pastures, hogs.... I do can vegetables and preserve fruit and other foods, make sausages, I collect eggs...and I trade surplus with my neighbors. It is a lot of work, I could not do it with out skills...  And I did hone my skills before I moved. One way I practiced was by container gardening. I highly recommend using half barrels. Even, now, though I have two really big gardens in the ground, I still use half barrels for some things. It is amazing how much you can grow in one, even small fruit trees, apples, peaches, plums, grape vines, blue berries. If you move, they can go with you.

Another thing I did was find other people like me and joined together with them to experiment with preserving food. We bought  lug boxes of fruits and vegetables directly from farmers markets. Got together with friends and processed green beans, tomatoes, made apple sauce, strawberry jam. Made Pickled eggs.... and more. Connect with older people who can teach you forgotten skills.

The most important thing though, is.... starting. Start small, start close, start anywhere but start. Put a shovel in the ground, buy a pack of seeds..... It is the garden that is never planted that takes the longest to harvest. You go for it!!!