Self sufficient and self reliant what does this mean?

One of my top goals is to become and teach my family and others to become self sufficient or maybe self reliant.  I always get lost and can not choose if I want to say self sufficient or self reliant.  During a planning session today trying to figure out yields and how many plants I need I found a man who says self reliance is impossible to reach and self sufficient is also an unobtainable goal.  So with this I did some more researching thinking maybe I misunderstood what I was trying to say.

I went to http://www.merriam-webster.com to pull up some definitions.

Self sufficient 1. able to maintain oneself or itself without outside aid :  capable of providing for one's own needs <a self–sufficientfarm> 2. having an extreme confidence in one's own ability or worth:  haughty, overbearing

Self reliant confident in your own abilities and able to do things for yourself : not needing help from other people

So with those definitions I do believe a self reliant or a self sufficient life style is obtainable.  I do not necessarily believe in a dooms day scenario but I do want to learn and teach the skills that are going by the waste side because I do believe Americans need them.  Being able to grow all your own vegetables, preserve and cook food, repair and make things is what has made the world turn for thousands of years and I do not want my children to not learn these things.  And I do believe if you learn how to do these things you will be confident in your own abilities and able to do things for yourself. And if there was ever an emergency you would not need help from other people to survive.  Hmm that's the definition of self reliant and go figure they are self reliant and self sufficient are synonyms!

Who? What? Where? and Why?

So I have been meaning to write this for a while and just finally made myself do it.  Why am I blogging, and why am I sharing my stories, skills, mistakes, and successes with everyone?  Allot of bloggers YouTubers do it for the money that is not what I am in it for so you will not always see perfect grammar or perfect video editing.  I am doing it because I want to be a better person I want to share and I believe this will hold me accountable to reach my goals.

I know most people have a one track mind when they blog or YouTube but I will be honest mine will range from cooking, cleaning, organization, building, repair, gardening, prepping, and I am sure anything else I dream up.

So who am I?  I am a 31 year old husband with two children a son who is 7 and a daughter who is 3.  We live just out side of Pittsburgh in an old railroad town that is just fine for me for right now.  I was chosen in high school to be the next Bill Gates but I have not made any strides towards that but I am happy right where I am.  I always struggled though school and knew college probably was not for me.  I have always found solving problems is what I do best whether it was fixing machines, houses, or even computers.

At 16 a owner of a small company went out on a limb and hired me into their IT department, not a year later I was managing that department and working to be a certified network engineer.  I worked at this job for about 2 years and got board.  Sitting in a cubical was just not for me!  I have to admit I have spent almost my whole life job jumping and there are days I regret it but boy have I learned allot.  Through this I have learned to be a carpenter, electrician, plumber, heavy machine operator, mechanic, Realtor, manager, inspector, and so many more thing I also achieved a Michigan builders licence, Michigan real estate licence, certified pool operator, novel network engineer and many other things I am not remembering right now.

People are probably asking why haven't you stuck to one thing? Well I cant! I am not sure what it is but I need to be moving shaking hustling and creating every minute.  I will say I always tend to come back to building and construction that is where my heart lays.

So my mission now is to clean up my house and yard and show my family how you live with what you got and bring back family values.  I hope to over the next year live a healthier life style, spend more time with family, and spend less money.  Is this all possible I guess we wait and find out.

Homemade Wood Whistle

Spending quality time with my wife and children is extremely important to me.  Today my daughter and I spent some time in my work shop making some whistles.  They are very crude and basic but the work well and the kids love them!

We are all building a legacy

Why do I want to create and share my skills? Mostly for my children and the society they will have to grow up and live in.  So many skills have been lost over the years.  People no longer make their own things or even have hobbies.  I am hoping that if I spend more time creating, growing, and building my children, neighbors, and family will learn and want to have some of these skill themselves.  What do you want to be remembered for?  Your xbox skills or the fact you grow the best tomatoes, build the coolest Christmas presents, or can fix just about anything.  I know what I want to pass on to this and many generations to come!

The urban farmer is it possible?

So my life long dream was to be a farmer.  I believe what intrigues me about farming is providing for your self and the extreme self reliance.  On any given day as a farmer is a gardener, butcher, framer, excavator, blacksmith, and so many other amazing things.  The farmers of the past were connected with the land utilized all their skills and made something out of nothing.  Today most people rely on money for all their needs.  We develop one skill set to make money to purchase our needs.  What happens when that one skill set fails you?  This is why I am trying to keep my many skills I have acquired through out the years and be a urban type of farmer.  Is this possible?  Is it feasible?  I have no clue but I am willing to try!

I watch videos on YouTube and read blogs of people buying huge chunks of land and moving of to a homestead, but I can not do that.  As fun as that would be many things hold me back.  Property is extremely expensive and with out a huge savings you are going to find your self in the woods broke.  Having two children family and education is extremely important.  The school district I am in now can provide my children with great things and a bright future.  A strong family unit is also important, I believe my wife and I instill strong values in our children and teach them many thing most importantly love.  I also think the extended family is important to aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents can teach your children so many things! Living in a remote area would isolate my children from these opportunities and I am not willing to do that.

Over the last weeks I have realized your resources and supplies are only useful if they can be found.  I have drove myself nuts for years looking for things for hours so my first task as a urban farmer is to become organized.  If I am going to build and repair things I need a clean shop space where I can find my tools.  I have worked on this over the last week and it is well on its way. It is amazing what a couple hours a day of sorting can do for you.

I will continue working towards my goals to become self reliant so I can hopefully pass on as many skills as possible to my children!