Sustainable is not only about food. It is also about lifestyle.
Our house is heated by a wood stove. (We only use trees that have fallen in storms or been culled by farmers.) This means that only one area of the house is heated, the rest is just .. well .. cold.
I lay in the bath every night and you would not know there was a pale tired little body in there, the room is ALL steam. Our bed is a mound of blankets. Cats tucked into the corners. Dogs waiting for our feet.
We eat pretty much the same thing with small variations each night. The proteins are free range chicken or their eggs, lean grass fed beef, lavender lamb, or pasture raised pork. The frozen vegetables are almost all gone. The tomatoes and fruit in jars are still holding out. I also eat nuts and seeds, rice and cereals that I cannot grow out here. (Bought at the supermarket once a month – not at all sustainable.) Flour for bread, pizza bases and pasta is bought. I have used all the home grown potatoes, onions, and beans and pumpkins long ago so if it were not for frozen peas (bought from the supermarket) and my enormous stash of tomatoes in jars and my wine (there are vitamins in wine?) we would have scurvy.
The fact is that if I were a sustainably managed vegan or vegetarian (as in growing all my own food) and living out here on the prairie I would be dead. Or at the very least unwell and very thin. We eat plenty of vegetable and egg based meals. But we need to buy most of the vegetable ingredients now. Not sustainable or self sufficient at all. We have a 6 month period when the ground will grow nothing at all. A cold frame will extend the lettuce for a while. But there is very little nutrition in a lettuce. All the greens must be grown in the summer and stored. And a cabbage only lasts so long, same for the onions and the potatoes and pumpkins. So by now I am looking to the supermarket to buy my vitamins, absolutely none of which are grown within hundreds and hundreds of miles of here. Certainly not without the help of a lot of artificial heating. So thank goodness I have a freezer full of protein. Even the milk is bought from another farm until I start milking again. Not self sufficient. Flour, chick peas, legumes, split peas, kidney beans, etc, all bought from the supermarket. Not self sufficient. Flax seeds, buckwheat, rye.. all bought. 
And sustainable does not only apply to food and fires.
My hair is either ‘Just got out of bed’ Debbie Harry or ‘way out of control’ Phyllis Diller. It depends what kind of mad hair products I am making that week.
My animals are not in a heated barn.. horrors! ( gas is certainly not a renewable resource). My friend Misfit told me last night that they saw a doco about a pig farmer who was whining about the cost of propane going sky high so poor fellow had to keep his house at 64 and his pig barn at 69 (because a cold pig is a skinny pig he says) and Sheila who sleeps perfectly calmly in an unheated barn (and you know how cold it gets here) has just been told by the vet that she is indeed a Big (fat) Girl.
I am very lucky if the big room gets above 62. We will not discuss the chill of the bedrooms. But we dress for the winter. I wear winter clothes inside in the winter. Weird!
By the way – The propane shortage is attributed to the corn and soy bean farmers who had a late start in the planting season and so had to artificially dry millions of tons of GM corn/beans (that is in-edible by the way) so there was no propane left for the pig farmers who then ran into a deeply cold winter and then there was even less propane for their Houses. Poor wifey – last on the list. Shock and bloody horror.
There is a rumour around these parts that the gas companies are buying unused propane back from the farmers so they can fill the tanks of the families in the country who rely on gas for their heating. Not us thank goodness. We wear hatties inside and sit close to the fire.
Dawn is coming I must hurry. We can talk about this again another time.
But that is sustainable living. Still want to try it? I do.
Good morning. The vet told me yesterday that Sheila’s wound is deep, messy and stinky but seems to be repairing ok. She has some antibiotics that I can mix into her food anyway. But he did say very kindly that she may be too fat and too old and possibly too lonely (no boar to smell for her to cycle) to get pregnant. Now. Is that a challenge or WHAT!
I hope you have a lovely day. I tried taking her to a boar but that did not work so I am off out looking for a smelly old boar to borrow who she can parade past every day to awaken her hormones so we can proceed with the AI.
Never tell me never.
Love your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
175 responses to “Do you really want to live sustainably – self sufficiently?”
Whilst I don’t have a wood stove, and the whole of my cottage is run on electric, I try to be very mindful of my use. In the winter my thermostat is never above 65, and that is only in the evenings and first thing in the morning to take the chill off the house. I tried to have it lower, but I have a real cold kitchen and hence ended up with frozen/burst pipes. Which I have had to get replaced to the tune of $900 which was not in my budget for this year! I wear lots of clothes indoors and out during the winter months. But make up with it in the summer by wearing as little as possible (my preference) and NEVER turn on the air conditioner! I am down to my last bag of frozen cabbage and a couple of peas. Potatoes are all gone, so are the onions. Carrots are frozen in the ground along with all the winter veg I planted (Cabbage, Kale, Broccoli and Brussels). Not sure if come spring they will pick up and start growing again or not. Waiting on warmer days so I can start planting in the green house. Even though insulated with plastic, still too cold in there. Need to find a cheap way of heating it (any body have ideas?)
You inspire me to try harder and I have learned so much from you Celi.
Hugs
Lyn
Go over to Maggies site, Maggie Mchaffey. She heats her tunnel house using compost. She is lovely. And lives in a very cold area.. c
Goodness. It would be so much easier for you to live in a place like the country round here (Vancouver, Washington, Oregon) where you can grow something year round. And, of course, being completely selfish, I’d love to have you closer. 🙂 Can you, in the future, contemplate some alternative energy like solar or those underground heat exchange systems? Good luck with Sheila, poor old girl. Maybe, if it works out and you get one, a new piglet would be company for her. We love that dear little biggie.
underground heat exchange: geothermy worked wonderfully well for us for 7 years, boosted by a woodburner in really cold weather. But the heat exchanger needs electricity to circulate the heat extracted from the eartgh – about half the cost and twice the efficiency of our previous oil-fired boiler.
the reason John does not like the idea of solar is that you need to have enormous batteries to store the energy, I like the really old fashioned idea of literally running the water through pipes on the roof and once it is heated ..turn the tap on. But storing power for electricity for a house takes a room full of gadgets.. bit too hi tech for me.. though i do have a perfect plan for an outdoor solar shower! c
Sally has photovoltlaic panels on the roof for heating and 2 solar panels for hot water. They certainly don’t have room for enormous batteries in their little house. I think systems have moved on since the early days of solar power. They even sell surplus electricity back to the grid, so it’s a source of income.
sounds excellent! I am still working on him! c
Terry is just like your John…we look at solar all the time…electricity is our biggest cost. But he says until the prefect the battery system we would just be changing one problem for another.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
*♥´¨) ¸.-´¸.-♥´¨) Happy Valentine’s Day¸.-♥¨) (¸.-` ♥♥´¨
I like the idea of a passive system that heats water for an outdoor shower, I deeply want an outside shower. c
Back in the old days when there were more family farms, some people still suffered from want. One of the comments mentioned greedy people ruining the world–but what about lazy people? You can find many stories about successful family farms where everyone worked together, the marriages were happy and the children were well-fed but there were also families where the corn crop went to corn whiskey, fences weren’t mended and animals were mistreated.
Some people will never be self-sufficient and really I think most people thrive when they’re trading with others. Not everyone has a talent for making shoes. Some people do it better. Even the Native Americans jumped at the idea of better tools and guns when they had the chance to get them. Living with less is a fine choice–it gives you lots more freedom in ways–but it’s not the only choice. As much as we’re inclined to hate the greedy rich, many of them have been responsible for funding masterpieces of art and culture. Many others have funded inventions that make farm life safer and easier. Not everyone loved the back breaking labor of cutting through sod without machinery. Many people went mad on the prairie with no friends or family nearby. Imagine losing your entire wheat crop to locusts!
I play at self-sufficiency because it’s fun having my own food, sewing etc. but let’s say everyone suddenly became self-sufficient tomorrow someone would begin to admire someone else’s sewing and want to trade for a new coat. That person’s coat would be admired and suddenly the craftswoman would have a profitable business and on and on until the poor and the rich were back again. Without morality things go right back to they way they’ve always been.
Very thought provoking post! Thanks~
Adrienne
and so is your comment thought-provoking. Bravo.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed.
Adrienne
Adrienne this is a brilliant comment. very thoughtful, very good. i am glad so many of us have had a chance to read it. And you are right barter is paramount! and it is well used too. I pay my cow vet by taking her family photographs for instance. I have absolutely no problem with people working hard and getting rich. In fact I could not do what i am doing if I did not have the backing of John and his family and their land. I am terribly lucky. I actually don’t believe that one can be completely self sustained and healthy. What I have here is simply a simpler life. And once again, i am incredibly lucky that i can have that simple life with enough good earth that can produce enough food to feed us all for the majority of the time. I was a teacher but am unable to teach here in the US unless I take more expensive courses and pass more expensive tests, so my choice was to grow our food as my contribution to the family coffers. This is my work. great comment.. thank you.. c
I used to teach as well, but like you my husband and I decided that one of us staying home and raising food made more sense (and I love it). We are very blessed in a lot of ways, but it was a tough road of much sacrifice to get where we are–totally worth it.
I always enjoy checking in on your blog to see how things are. I appreciate how much you let us in.
Thanks,
Adrienne
You should talk to the young man that comes and bales for you. They have a shed north of their house where he burns wood that heats water that runs to their house and heats it. Something like that anyhow. I just saw him last week at our early morning coffee run. He said he sure is glad he chopped all the wood he did with the price of propane. Well worth all of the grumbling he did last summer! ha! I have more cat treats for you..she just turns up her nose. I will give your idea a try. Spending the night up here tonight. I probably wouldn’t be able to get back up here in the morning if I go home! Ugh!! Hurry Spring!!
Ah well, pity the PO is so far from the Coupe, you could overnight in style, but would still be snowed in!! c
It’s sort of hard for that Sheila to get enough evercise in the type of weather we’ve had this winter. I’m sure she doesn’t like being on a diet! Wish you lived close enough to do some trading. I’d trade some taters and firewood for, lets see. maybe some beef and wine! 😀 Have a great day, Celi!
I would trade just about anything for firewood now.. i was looking at the cow pats and wondering how long they have to be dried before I can use them as fuel! c
😀
Good cloudy, waiting for the snowflakes to fall, morning. I had wondred if Sheila had gotten too heavy and old to be easy easily bred. She is a very big girl. I look at her and wonder how tall she is at the hump in her back. I know with dairy cattle there is a point where weight and age work against conception with heifers and especially weight in older dairy cows. A resident boar might work. She may even become friendly with him if she spends lots of time around him on her turf and no outside pressure to mate.
I do not think I would want to be totally self sustainable. More work than I care to do at this stage of my life. I would like to get back to producing more of my own food, especially meat. I do not wish to do my own butchering though. More garden space to plant perennials like asparagaus, berries, fruit trees. Better, larger, sunny garden spot to grow many vegetables. And while they are not needed, space to grow flowers. Now if necessary and I didn’ live in a large city, I think we (my husband & I) have the skill set to live off the land. I have only been and urban dweller for 18 years.
You should try to make sauerkraut with your cabbages and then you can post tips on how to accomplish it. LOL I’ve tried a couple of times but have not had much success as it molds instead of fermenting. Freezer slaw is a good cabbage and carrot keeper too.
John makes a sauerkraut using whey.. very tasty, keeps for months.. I think you would do very well back on the land under your own terms.. have you thought seriously of doing it? c
You should pat yourself on the back regardless – there are loads of people out there who live on ready meals and buy out of season vegetables from thousands of miles away. You make a huge effort 😉
I saw some outdoor pigs in a BBC TV programme last week and all of them looked the same size or bigger than Sheila (as far as I can tell). Of course they were different breeds… Regardless, they all had lots of outdoor space and looked very happy. Good luck with the breeding. I’m sure that a happy, self assured Sheila will meet Mr. Right-Pig…
The Hereford is a long tall breed, bigger that i thought she would be. She has a lovely room in the barn and a good sized field .. all i need is for her to show a heat.. i will be watching carefully.. c
You know I was commenting on the fact that some pigs on TV were being well looked after, which is nice to see. Sheila lives in a special pig paradise and that goes without saying 😉
Oh yes I know what you were saying.. we agree.. It is nice to see the pigs out in the fields, it has to be better.. c
That’s interesting info about the propane shortage. Our co-op could sell us only 150 gallons around Christmas but were back to normal in the new year. We have a geo-thermal heat pump, but it can’t handle the job when it’s this cold for this long, so the propane furnace backs it up. It’s very annoying to hear that the high cost of propane is due to corn that’s pretty much garbage anyway.
Well that was the news media, i am sure it is only partly due to the farmers drying their corn in the bins, this cold has taken its toll i am sure.. but it seems to me that there are huge bins for drying and storing corn going up everywhere.. HUGE.. must take a lot of energy to run.. c
Loved the post, as usual. And found it bracing. Our life is not nearly as sustainable as it should be, though we are very aware of buying produce that comes from Italy, preferably close to Milan, as opposed to elsewhere. And the meat we eat, as we buy from local butchers, comes from close by. We’ve eliminated a car. Walk almost everywhere (a benefit of city living), avidly use mass transit (the Milanese trams make me happy so tramming it kills two birds with one stone). Still, like many of your readers I feel incredibly inspired and somewhat in awe. Mindfulness, yes…that is the key to making improvements. And we can all do that, no matter where or how we live.
Not driving a car every day puts you HIGH on the list of fuel saving.. HIGH.. are there trams from the airport to your house?.. c
Yes! Trains actually. Super convenient. I’ve grown to love mass transit. Funny how that happens.
when i lived in london I was an underground girl and every time I get back there, down i go sniffing the fetid air with delight!
I just posted and the post disappeared into the ‘parallel’ universe. I hate it when that happens! Just to recap though, when we did A.I. on our two sows, they were a year old, so I can’t imagine Sheila is too old already! The three vials each for each pig arrived with three vials of boar urine that we were instructed to sprinkle over there noses. That would make them more amorous and ready. As you know it only one got pregnant, so we had 50/50 success. Bringing a boar in to put Sheila in the mood sounds like a good idea. And then, if he is there, she just might being to have some ‘feelings’ so to speak, for him and want something more. That would be great! 🙂
mine did the same thing………..pfft…and it was gone
I think may try the sack method first, giving a boar up the road a sack to sleep with then giving it to Sheila twice a day.. it is an old idea i came across and i can’t see why it will not work.. The AI etc is not a problem for me, i have a lovely very skilled lady to help with that, it is working out when she is in heat.. that is the tricky one with her.. c
i keep my heat set at 52 all winter long. my kids hate me. i tell them i won’t heat the house so they can sit around in t-shirts in winter. i wear a scarf all day long. our beds are piled with covers of all sorts. plus, i cook all day and my kitchen gets warm. i lose my energy when it is hot. teddy and i do just fine on winter. when my kids pay their own heat bills maybe they will come over to my side!
52.. wow that is very cool. we seldom get above 62 with a fire but you are so right, the kitchen is the best place to be, oven on, hattie on!! c
Not only is every single photo today a stunner, so is the essay. As a big city dweller all my life I feel spoiled and selfish. We do recycle everything possible but we buy out of season fruits and vegetables. I buy quality clothes and wear them a long time. For instance, my “Gortex” jacket is at least twenty years old and so is my mohair good coat. We installed the storm windows on this house 38 years ago, but they need to be replaced because they are no longer efficient. We are wasting precious energy heating the outdoors!
For Sheila, I hope you find a nice young fellow to titillate her. She can’t be so old that she’s a cougar, can she? a cougar at only two?
Ha ha ha, that is awesome.. a cougar pig! This is why i need you, you come up with the best lines! c
Miss C, I do wish you were closer! I would take some of that lovely beef off your hands in exchange for some delicious rabbit and some kale… The kale I grow is a Russian variety (heirloom organic of course!) and has stayed green right through the winter under 2 feet of snow and -40 windchills! Imagine putting that under a hoop house… It would just keep on growing!
I am a HUGE fan of kale, I would eat it every single day if i could, as soon as the temps pop up even a little i am sowing some in my cold frame, that russian kale is wonderful.. c
But you’re not going to beat yourself up about what you’re not doing, you’re going to join us in celebrating all the wonderfulness (is that a word?) of what you ARE doing missy!
Wise wise girl you are.. absolutely yes.. c
For us here in Texas, I have these sorts of thoughts in the high heat of our summers when everything dies. I think, if we didn’t have a grocery store, we would die. However, we do have two growing seasons and as I am learning to preserve the outlook is better. It is hard sustaining your self- but a worthy goal and lifestyle.
May you get some warm sunshine soon.
Every little bit helps us live a lifestyle that we can sustain without heaps of outside help.. texas must be hard on the summers.. c