Documentary about man living self sufficiently - Leeds festival

[Tarrel]

Total self-sufficiency is difficult (though not impossible). We visited a bronze-age settlement in Shetland recently, with evidence of bronze tools and artifacts. The nearest known tin deposits are in Cornwall, indicating that some form of trade would have occured in order for them to live their lives.

Taking a small amount of paid employment in order to provide for the things that self-sufficiency cannot provide for is just the modern, monetised version of barter, where you trade excesses of what you have produced (or a skill you have) for stuff that you want or need.

No man is an island (although this guy happens to live on one).

Out of interest, I noticed one of the Summer Isles came up for sale a couple of years ago. IIRC, it was about £400k for 20-odd acres, complete with a house, generator room, radio mast and radio room, and a jetty. It was about 45 minutes sail from the mainland. Envy!

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Actually, it strikes me that self-sufficiency is a continuum. One can take a series of small steps towards greater self-sufficiency. Not everyone is in a position to go the whole hog.

One big step in this direction is to reduce the stuff you need. We have done this by down-sizing. When we lived down south, we were so highly geared it would make your eyes water. Both working and earning decent income (wife from public sector, me self-employed), but just p***ing it all away in expenses every month. We sold up, moved north, bought a smaller house and paid off all the debts. We've invested in renewable energy to reduce our dependency on the energy firms. The only real essentials for us are; council tax (to avoid ending up in jail) and food (to avoid going hungry) plus a small electricity bill and consumables/maintenance costs. Everything else is discretionary expense. Next steps are growing more of our own food, and further reducing dependency on grid electricity. We're warm, comfortable and eat well. We have more time,so we have been able to reach out and make friends in our new location.

I won't say it's been easy making the adjustment, and it wouldn't suit everyone, but we feel we've made the right choice. Every "mini-SHTF" episode that crops up (e.g. Hurricane Sandy) just confirms this.