Is This Self Sufficiency?

Have you ever tried to define self sufficient?

If you have ever tried to answer this question in detail then you have faced a lot of tough choices. It seems to me that self sufficient is a condition defined by the individual. Here are a few points that I think are wroth discussing:

• Does self sufficiency just apply to money?
• Does it mean that you can supply all of your own needs, lock the gate and say good bye world?
• Is it a path of life somewhat between all of the conventional life styles?
• Do I grow all of my own food?
• Do I produce all of my own energy?
• Do I need my neighbors?

If you can answer all of these questions then you know what self sufficiency means. My definition of self sufficiency is that it is a path for life. On this path I will do my best to provide for my family and protect Mother Earth to the best of my ability. This means to me that I find a way to make enough money support my family. It also means that I will grow as much of my own food as possible. If I can I will produce as much of my own energy as possible. If I can’t produce my own energy then I will be energy consensus and save as much energy as possible.

My plan to self sufficiency is long and involved consisting of may steps to complete.

Good Luck with yours,

Bud

Have you stared your bedding plants for the garden yet. You should start them 6 to 8 weeks before you want to set them in your garden is you don’t have a clue as to what I mean then here is a book that I wrote to get you started. If you hurry the book is free as a Kindle book until midnight to night.

Grow Your bedding plants.

This is my gift to you this month. If you miss the free book, then buy it for less than a cheap hamburger.

Bud

I wish this was mine.

I have my garden under way for this year and am constructing new raised beds. Today we planted onions and garlic. Every so often I find a site that I like. Here is a link to a gardening site that should provide a lot of help.  http://gardenhobbies.com/vegetables/

Here is a site from Iowa State University. I have tried to copy it here for you. This great article belongs to Iowa State University. A lot of the important stuff copied but some did not so here is the link.

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/publications/pm534.pdf
“This guide will help you schedule the planting of gardens so space may be used efficiently. Designed for central Iowa, dates for southern Iowa would be about 1 week earlier, for northern Iowa about
1 week later. For more information on planting a vegetable garden, see PM 819, Planting a Home Vegetable Garden.
Radishes—Several plantings, 7 to 10 days apart, are possible. Radishes pass peak quality quickly, so several plantings are needed
to provide high quality radishes throughout the spring and early summer. Radishes become spongy and make seed heads readily
with the onset of hot weather. Several fall plantings can be made
in August and September.
Lettuce—Sow seeds in early spring. Lettuce flowers and turns
bitter with the onset of hot weather. Fall plantings can be made
in August.
Onions—Sow seeds as soon as the ground can be worked
in spring for mature (storage) onions. Plant sets and transplants
in spring.
Peas—Sow seeds in early spring as soon as the soil can be
worked. Plants stop bearing when hot weather arrives. A fall
planting may be made about August 1 to 10.
Spinach—Sow seeds in early to mid-April. Leaves develop
bitter flavor and plants make seed heads with the onset of hot weather. A fall crop may be planted about August 10.
Cabbages—Set out transplants any time from early April to
mid-June. Early-maturing types may be planted in early August
for fall crop.
Broccoli and cauliflower—Set out transplants in early
to mid-April. Both are sensitive to hot weather so need to be
encouraged to head as early as possible.
Collards and kale—Seed at the same time as lettuce and
other early spring crops. Direct-seed in early July for a fall crop.
Carrots—Seed early or any time during spring and summer.
Carrots seeded as late as August 1 may produce full sized roots
by fall.
Beets and Swiss chard—Plant any time from spring to
midsummer. Last practical planting date for fall crop is August 1.
Potatoes—Best planted in early to mid-April; a long growing season is needed to produce full-sized tubers.
Turnips—Sow seeds in April and again in August or early
September for a fall crop.
Snap beans—Plant any time after May 5. Most varieties
will keep producing if they are kept picked. Last practical date
for planting is August 1.
Lima beans—Plant from May 20 to June 30 to produce a
crop by average frost date.
Sweet corn—Plant when soil temperature reaches 60°F or
any time thereafter. Last practical date for planting an early variety
is July 1.
Tomatoes—Plant seedlings in mid-May. Last practical date
for planting tomatoes is June 20.
Peppers and eggplants—Plant seedlings in mid-May.
Last practical date for planting peppers and eggplants is June 20.
Summer squashes—Seed mid-May. If harvested every other day, plants will keep producing until frost. Last practical date for seeding is July 20.
Cucumbers—Seed mid-May. Production is continuous if kept picked. Last practical date for seeding is July 20.
Muskmelons—Seed mid-May. There are varietal differences
in the length of time from planting to harvest. Last practical date
to sow seeds of early maturing varieties is June 20.
Winter squashes and pumpkins—Seed mid-May. A full season is needed to produce mature fruit that will keep well into
the winter.
Watermelons—Seed mid-May. There are varietal differences
in the length of time from planting to harvest. Last practical date
to sow seeds of an early maturing variety is June 20.
PM 534 Revised February 2009″

HI,

Tomorrow I turn 70. That’s years not days. Last night my family and the community threw a surprise birthday party for me. We had a gym full of friends that turned out to wish me a happy birthday. In honor of what this community has done for me I am giving away the three books that I have on Kindle. Tomorrow is my 70th birthday and it is the day to get my books free. Here are the links: Sorry you missed the free books but they are still cheap and a great value.

Succeed: You can, Use Natural Laws

http://www.amazon.com/Succeed-You-Natural-Laws-ebook/dp/B005G69UPO/ref=sr_1_10?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1330188169&sr=1-10

Raised Bed Intensive Garden: How To Build One For Self Sufficiency

http://www.amazon.com/Raised-Bed-Intensive-Garden-ebook/dp/B0074D5DOE/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1330188169&sr=1-4

VEGETABLE GARDENING FOR FOOD PRODUCTION AND SELF SUFFICIENCY

http://www.amazon.com/VEGETABLE-GARDENING-PRODUCTION-SUFFICIENCY-ebook/dp/B007DBDCPO/ref=sr_1_17?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1330188327&sr=1-17

These Kindle Books are my gift to the world on my birthday to help the world food supply. Read them, Use them and Enjoy Them.

Thanks,

Bud

• We have had some really dry years.
• Much of the grain that we produce is being diverted to the production of ethanol for fuel.
• A lot of farm land has been taken over for housing.
• The citizen garden is a thing of the past.

What can you do to help this situation and protect your family?

• Grow a garden.
• Store at least a years supply of food if possible. You can get information on how to do this at lds.org.
• Develop a good financial plan.

Now about the garden. You say I don’t have any space for a garden. If you have a front lawn then you have space for a raised bed garden. These intensive raised bed gardens can be made beautiful. Any food that you grow lessens the load on the world food supply. We have quite a bit of acerage and this year our goal is to produce over 5o percent of our own food. These will be the methods that we will use:

• Raised bed intensive gardens.
• Raise our own chickens for eggs, meat and manure for the garden.
• Grow an open field garden for corn and potatoes.
• Develop a method to raise pigs. These animals can be feed all vegetable scraps from the household and the manure composted for the garden.

Our family will produce half of our own food for three families and 13 people with these methods consisting of raised bed gardens, regular garden and meat production.

The intent of this act is to prevent folks from stealing your intellectual property. In other words don’t steal my book or report–buy it. In theory that is a good idea but this act appears to be nothing more than a attempt to add more control to free speech in this country. The implementation of this act as written will probably eliminate many interactive web sites like Facebook or Twitter. The terms are so broad that any small infraction even unknown to the site owner could get the site banned from the internet.

A good summary of the act is published here. Do some research and read this act. It certainly could get out of hand and be used by the government to suppress those that might disagree with any arm of the government. This could be applied by both local and national governments. It is a violation of our constitutional rights. If you doubt that read the constitution.

Have you ever wondered how to get extra cash by working at home? With the economy going the way that it is many of us will probably be home because of layoffs anyway. The first lesson to learn about working from home is that it is still work and your success depends on your action. Working from home may become a necessary part of self sufficiency.

• How can we make this time productive?
• What does it take to start a home business?
• Am I good enough to run my own business?
• How much will it cost?
• Who will teach me?
• Can I trust the guru’s?
• How can I manage my time to get all of the tasks necessary to start a business done?
• Do I need a mentor?

These are just a few of the questions that you need to answer about starting your own home based business. Here are a few simplistic answers. Unless you are well versed in marketing you will probably need a mentor. This does not mean that you need to enroll in an expensive coaching program. Find someone who does business in a manner that you are comfortable with and copy their style and actions. My favorite is Dennis Becker. He wrote and ebook called 5 Bucks a day. This is a great place to start.

He offers some other great stuff also. If you have some cash to spend on learning the business of internet marketing you need to be part of his insider club.

The concept is to set up any type of marketing site that will earn you five buck a day. Anyone can do this. This is the place to start to begin a home based business.

For more information visit and Buy FUNDAMENTALS OF SUCCESS.

No matter who you are you need to have adequate finances available for health care. This can take the form of saving, (who that is trying to be self sufficient has that much saving), insurance plans or investments to be liquidated to cover medical costs. There is no other answer, you say, Well I can declare bankruptcy and clear up this issue if it get bad enough. I am sorry but the AMA lobby has been able to exempt medical expenses from the bankruptcy code. You might be in the fix that some of these folks are. Link to American Truth and Justice League.

These are honest hard working people trying to make it, however, the AMA has arranged the system for their own needs.