Self-Reliant Living



My Tomatoes Last Month



Have you ever considered that people who are totally dependent on others (the government, the grocery store, their employer) are vulnerable?  It’s dangerous to be totally dependent on others for everything.  America began with people who were self-reliant, who did for themselves in addition to running their own businesses.  They were rugged backbones who worked hard, refused charity, and preferred to make their own way.

Self-reliance is still a dream of many people.  Myself included.  I’ve always been inclined that way (business owner, self-starter, entrepreneur), but in the last several years it has taken on a new dimension for me.  I think more and more about homestead living, growing most of my own food, lowering my dependence on others for services, minimizing my need for cash, and adopting a completely new lifestyle.

There are many reasons to live a self-reliant lifestyle today:

• Freedom and independence tops the list – independent people are a free people
• Few people know how to grow their own food, depending instead on industrial farms like Monsanto, fast-food, or imported food from Mexico
• We can’t trust what’s in our food
• We have lost basic life skills like how to do home repairs, smoke meat, canning produce, make bread, hunt and fish.  Some people don’t even know how to cook!
• We carry too much debt, (especially unsecured debt), making us servants to the lender
• Doctors are searched out for every little sniffle instead of living a preventative lifestyle that promotes health, wellness, and knowing where to turn for alternatives
• Antibiotics and the pill bottle have become the answer for everything and have also become the undoing of our natural defense systems
• The economic state of the world is troubling.  Self-reliant living is a hedge against economic failure or job loss.

We have slowly turned everything over to others.  Most of us don’t know where our food comes from, what has been put in it, or how it is grown.  We are putting ourselves and loved ones at risk by using the products from large corporations that are filled with toxins, chemicals, and carcinogens.  These companies do not care about your health and welfare – they are interested in getting richer.  Another concern is the economy, which could get much worse.  What will happen to people if fuel prices become unaffordable – say $6-7 per gallon?  What will happen if your company goes bankrupt and you lose your entire pension?

Of course, we can’t abandon our lifestyles and become self-reliant overnight.  That would be too difficult.  However we can do something.

• Learn at least one skill at a time and then make it a permanent part of your life.  Become a master at it.  Then share that knowledge with others

• Over time learn more skills that will help you to move towards independence

This is the journey I’m on.  I’ll be writing much more about this in the future as I make progress.   

Self-reliant people live differently.