it sucks

I believe in going green whether its converting to hydrogen or solar power. Recycling, and cutting down on all emmisions that harm the atmosphere. But to say your going to move to no mans land grow your own crops and hunt your own food I think only harms everybody else. The less you spend in this economy the worse itl get and the cost of fuel will only increase. Plus this isn't hunter gather times this 2008. Nobody want to hunt their own food.

ok first off I would like to state that I myself have never really encompased and have love for the city, but life is
never perfect and one always has to put up with things he or she doesn't like. But where childeren are involved practical conculsions must be made. I would point out that there are some things that one can practice wherever he lives -- things like simplicity, frugality, etc.. You can practice many of these things without moving to the country. I believe in good common sense and practical mindedness. There are some things about the idea of living self-sufficiently out in the country that I have questions about simply because as stated there are childern involved. The main one relates to health care. How are you going to deal with medical needs? Do you dare to go without it? Sooner or later we all have need for doctors and health care.Even if you live by a healthy lifestyle, seem very healthy, and then, out of the blue, suddenly have some ailment or problem, or one of your children does. I have seen enough of life to believe that it happens to essentially all of us. We are all probably genetically predisposed to some kind of ailment or another. And if it requires operations and hospitalization ? What then?? I consider this to be a very serious question and something to give thought to.I do not recommend that anyone embark on a self-sufficient lifestyle out in the country without careful and serious thought. I still dislike the system just as much as I ever have but one must be practical. right?

ok first off I would like to state that I myself have never really encompased and have love for the city, but life is
never perfect and one always has to put up with things he or she doesn't like. But where childeren are involved practical conculsions must be made. I would point out that there are some things that one can practice wherever he lives -- things like simplicity, frugality, etc.. You can practice many of these things without moving to the country. I believe in good common sense and practical mindedness. There are some things about the idea of living self-sufficiently out in the country that I have questions about simply because as stated there are childern involved. The main one relates to health care. How are you going to deal with medical needs? Do you dare to go without it? Sooner or later we all have need for doctors and health care.Even if you live by a healthy lifestyle, seem very healthy, and then, out of the blue, suddenly have some ailment or problem, or one of your children does. I have seen enough of life to believe that it happens to essentially all of us. We are all probably genetically predisposed to some kind of ailment or another. And if it requires operations and hospitalization ? What then?? I consider this to be a very serious question and something to give thought to.I do not recommend that anyone embark on a self-sufficient lifestyle out in the country without careful and serious thought. I still dislike the system just as much as I ever have but one must be practical. right?

I don't think anyone will argue on that, nor is anyone saying that he cannot utilize many things, like a hospital. I don;t think there are any areas where you do not have access to those things within an hours drive or so. It's not like he is moving away where the closest town is a 10 hour drive.

I think (and just my opinion) that he is listing these things showing that in the hard times ahead, he will at least be more prepaired than most are and less dependent on other "services".

For example, if there is a power outage here...my lights are still burning bright. If the power went out for a week, it would not phase me one bit. But the poeple around me would start to feel that hit. And I don;t live out in the middle of nowhere..actually quite the opposite.

I simply just decided to prepare myself for the upcoming crisis in America. I seen it coming years back. I just posted a long article done by Glenn Beck. Just as he said..its coming folks and there is no stopping it. The American people brought it on themselves. But at least now I won;t have to pay for thier own stupidity (Glenn Beck used the word stupidity..I think its very accurate)

So let "the ****tith hittith the fannith" (this is a pic post from another JSH) I'm ready!

Very well put, and thank you. The main reason I am moving to the middle of nowhere is I am sick to death of society and their views. I am so sick and tired of people coming up to me and telling em what I can and can not do, because I am renting somewhere, ot because there is a committee of neighbors who don;tl ike something (like having a clothesline for drying laundry in the summer months instead of using gas or electricity).

I am sick of neighbors calling protective services, because they don't like the fact that I will tell them off if they are rude or antagonistic towards me. Or because they dont like the idea of a father having sole custody of his children(I have had both happen).

What you’re suggesting here is certainly not knew. The Amish have been doing it for centuries, and there are also non-religious self-sufficient communes as well as many self-sufficient individuals.

I did basically what you are talking about myself, in the 1970’s. I quite my high-paying job in the city to move to the country and live off the land. I didn’t bother with fishing and hunting in the wild so much, instead I raised chickens for eggs and meat, bees for honey, and grew large gardens. I became mostly a vegetarian with an occasional chicken dinner. And of course, I had eggs pretty much everyday.

I grew all the food for the chicken, my horses (which I used for farming) and even my dogs! Dog’s can actually be made to become vegetarians. They love zucchini! At least mine did. And they ate a lot of chicken eggs too since I had more than I could eat myself.

But you’re right, the neighbor’s thought I was being ‘backward’. And living like that is a full-time job in and of itself, so trying to work for income and keep up a self-sufficient homestead is not easy. I did work part-time here and there because money was an absolute necessity if for no other reason than to pay property taxes, etc.

I lived like that for about 5 years. It was a nice lifestyle, but I was also all alone and women weren’t too anxious about becoming involved with a many who only has an occasional part-time job. They viewed the lifestyle as being ‘financially insecure’, which is absurd. Because most people who have full-time jobs are in debt so far that if they lost their job tomorrow they’d be up a creek without a paddle or a boat! Their financial ‘security’ is an empty façade that only appears to have substance when it fact it does not.

Anyway, I finally ‘gave in’ to the pressures of society. Part of that was because I broke my leg and couldn’t work the farm very well anyway and so I took the opportunity to go to college on a grant.

So I ended up back in the rat-race. Eating at fast-food joints, driving a costly automobile, etc, etc, etc.

It really is a trap because by the time you keep up a car, and buy all the necessary wardrobe to participate in society, pulsing buying all your food at grocery stores, you’re financially bankrupt enough that it forces you to work just to make the money to be able to pay to stay in that predicament.

I much prefer the back-to-basics lifestyle. It’s closer to nature and far more rewarding. This is the way all of civilization should live. I’m currently retired and trying to get back into a more self-sufficient lifestyle again. But now I’m having physical health problems that are making it not so easy.

For it to really work well, it needs to be done on a family level (like the Waltons), and it’s even much better if the whole community lives like that, then neighbor can help neighbor and it makes it easer to barter things.

But don’t let my story discourage you. Many people have succeeded in making a self-sufficient lifestyle pan out in the long haul. Maybe I didn’t move far enough into the boonies. Also, if you can find a like-minded partner that would be a huge plus, because where there’s love anything is possible.

I did really enjoy the 5 years I lived like that, even though I was "alone", I didn't feel alone with all my animals. But I did feel alienated from society to a large degree.

good luck grizzly adams...you're going to need it, especially if you've never lived like that before...

I met a few "get away from it all/self-sufficiency" types one summer when I was in alaska.. lasted about 3 weeks..hope you fare better.

for all of those who keep complaining about the rise of cost concerning fuel and other inports, I suggest you start thinking hard about wether or not to go to self sufficiency. By this I mean take a look at what I am doing, little by little.

1. I am moving up to no-mans land, so to speak, where I can get some decent acreage for a low cost next year. Then I am going to move a mobile home (yes a mobile home), onto a slab of concrete there. Once that is all hooked up, I am going to install either windmills or solar panels (or both) and start producing my own electricity, and convert the enitre house over to electrical.

I am also going to be growing my own vegetable garden, which I already do, and I will have an orchard with a couple different fruit trees, and maybe nut trees as well.

I am going to get my hunting licnse, and my "pest control" license (or whatever it is called) and I am going to hunt for the majority of my meat. I am also going to start fishing on an almost daily tiemframe, and thus add fish to my diet.

No, it is not all going to happen at once. I am hoping to be completely one hundred percent self sufficient within ten years though, and once I am, I am staying that way.

It is not as hard a lifestyle as most people would think it would be, its just that it is not compatable with city-life, or with holding a normal job.

not poor (poor is an attitude)

thats broke (broke is a condition)

I already have the moblie home & am looking for land. This has been my dream for decades, & the bursting real estate bubble is the oppourtunit:y I have been waiting for.