If you’re homesteading, you’re probably already pretty self-reliant. But if you’re not and you wish you were, there are still many ways you can become more self-reliant, no matter where you’re living. Every little thing you can do counts, and also will help you assess just how much you rely on “the system” and what you can do to change that.
Here are a few simple ideas to reduce your dependence on, say, multi-national corporations or globalized trade, and more on yourself and the resources that are available in your community. It might be called “self” reliance, but really, relying on our communities, local farmers, artisans, and small-scale production, is a huge leap towards resource independence.
Buy Food Local and Seasonal
It might some adjustments to your diet, but find out what grows in your area and shop according to what you can purchase locally and seasonally. Find local farmers markets, community gardens and local food production like bakeries or butchers that specialize in local meat.
Learn to Cook
Learning to cook as much as you can from scratch will give you a better idea of what the food you like to eat requires. It also will help you be more independent from large-scale food production and narrow the food you eat down to more local, fresh, organic ingredients.
Make Something With Your Hands
Whether it is knitting, weaving, carpentry, soap or candle making, learning to make something yourself, instead of buying it from the store, is not only fun, it will make you feel just a bit more able to survive on your own, without the support of lots of large-scale industries.
Buy Something Handmade
Obviously you probably don’t have the time or resources to make everything you use on a day-to-day basis for yourself, so shopping for handmade, local, artisan items yourself is a great way to supplement what you can’t do. Soap, food products, clothing, fabrics, furniture, purses, belts and wallets, even art or metal work are usually made by people who work hard to create unique, beautiful and high-quality items. If you can’t find much locally, Etsy is another great way to support small artists and keep money between individuals, not big companies.
If you enjoyed this you might also like:
