Self Sufficiency - Is It An Option For You?

[GuestHouse]

Inspired by BEENTHEREDONETHAT's thread on who will survive, interest rates and exchange rates are conspiring to slash many an expat's spending power.

An option for those with land is to follow those wise words on self sufficiency - but are you up to growing your own, brewing your own beer even, or is the thought of getting your hand's dirty growing wholesome food a cut back too far?

Could you give up your car for a pushbike, switch off the aircon and leave it switched off, cook your own food from ingredients you've grown yourself?

[jdinasia]

I am not sure ... how is the farming and beer growing and bicycling in SaudiArabia?

[HS Mauberley]

This is my plan, though 100% self-sufficiency is well beyond my aims. I'm planning to get 8 to 10 rai which I figure should be just about enough to scrape through (in the hunt for land at the moment). This plan predates the current economic crisis, though I can't say I'm too upset to watch it play out.

[GuestHouse]

I am not sure ... how is the farming and beer growing and bicycling in SaudiArabia?

I've grown chili, tomatoes, basil, ginger and mint. All of which I use in the food I cook. I'v been out for about an hour's bike ride this morning and I join a bunch of the guys for a bike ride three nights a week.

Other's brew their own beer - I do not, I have no problem following the local laws - I am after all being very well compensated for such privations.

[yabaaaa]

Its not my plan but the wife's a good homespun Loei girl who will grow most of her own food the same she did before she ended up in Bangkok, Ill eat it if she puts it in front of me!!

[lifeisrandom]

this thread is worthless. why do i need to grow my own food when i have a thing called savings? you should take up sand dune buggying or something instead of spending all your time fantasizing about Thailand and posting ridiculous nonsense.

[GuestHouse]

this thread is worthless. why do i need to grow my own food when i have a thing called savings? you should take up sand dune buggying or something instead of spending all your time fantasizing about Thailand and posting ridiculous nonsense.

Perhaps you should have skipped it then and gone looking for a thread where you have something to contribute.

[AmeriThai]

I've grown chili, tomatoes, basil, ginger and mint. All of which I use in the food I cook.

Those are certainly things you don't need to buy if you grow your own, fresh too, but not exactly enough to call self-sufficiency. Still, every little bit makes a difference. It's possible by growing a wider variety of crops, you could make a noticible difference in your food budget, although you'll still likely need to buy other things. If you have some crops that are not widely available but still have good demand, you might be able to trade for other things you don't have. Depending on the scale a person wants to produce, there can still be some expenses, such as electricity for pumps to provide water to the crops, soil conditioning, and techniques to prevent local thieves from helping themselves to your produce. But there's nothing wrong with growing a few things that aren't too demanding for care.

[SoiSource]

I am not sure ... how is the farming and beer growing and bicycling in SaudiArabia?

I've grown chili, tomatoes, basil, ginger and mint. All of which I use in the food I cook. I'v been out for about an hour's bike ride this morning and I join a bunch of the guys for a bike ride three nights a week.

Other's brew their own beer - I do not, I have no problem following the local laws - I am after all being very well compensated for such privations.

Sounds to me as if the op wants to boast about a few things he's grown and how he gets paid lots of money from working in saudi.

What a pointless thread,

[GuestHouse]

So self sufficiency is pointless... mmmm we should thing about that.

[Spee]

I think it's a great idea for those who have the time and inclination. I have friends who grow somewhere around 50-100 kilos of cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, etc., and herbs every year. But it does take time and inclination. Nothing is free. There is always a cost to any activity. Growing one's own food takes time to cultivate and plant, time to tend and time to harvest. I've always found it easier and more effective use of my time to just go to the store and buy what I want. Times change and people change. Maybe things will be different in the future and I will become a small time farmer. I hardly think it is pointless.

[desi]

Could you give up your car for a pushbike, switch off the aircon and leave it switched off, cook your own food from ingredients you've grown yourself?

Interesting discussion...

In the past I've gardened, canned veg and fruit, and raised meat to feed my family. I usually don't use canned or premade (cook from scratch), so no bother there.

Years back I was interested in a survival course given in Australia. I've long since lost the contact details, but it seemed a useful knowledge to acquire.

That and following along with another great Australian who went around the world (Africa especially) teaching locals how to sustain themselves by growing produce without pesticides and ott water. Gardening was higgly piggly, but it worked as there wasn't dedicated planting (rows upon rows of the same veg), so pests didn't congregate around one type of crop. So yes, if I had to, I could eat what I've grown.

I don't own a car (but always wanted a tuk tuk...) AC is an acquired habit (one I enjoy but don't 'need')... I'm not much of a stylish shopper (don't depend on malls).

Just don't ask me to give up internet piped directly into my home...

Edit: and books... gotta have my books...

Edited October 24, 2008 by desi

[Misplaced]

this thread is worthless. why do i need to grow my own food when i have a thing called savings? you should take up sand dune buggying or something instead of spending all your time fantasizing about Thailand and posting ridiculous nonsense.

Perhaps you should have skipped it then and gone looking for a thread where you have something to contribute.

Guesthouse you are asking a lot from him.

Since my wife and I are not big meat eaters, we've grown basils, tomatos, lemon grass, water melon, Thai chilies, green peppers, green onion, garlic and various other vegetables the last couple of years, and find it to be very rewarding. To us it's well worth the initial investment since we can enjoy all the vegetables through out the spring, summer and fall months. LOVE IT.

[Buzby]

Growing any amount of food, however small, is very rewarding. Aside from the fact it saves money, the food tastes just that bit better.

If money saving is the prime objective and time or space is limited, try to grow fruit/vegetables that are expensive to buy from the shops (decent tomatoes spring to mind).

[Misplaced]

Growing any amount of food, however small, is very rewarding. Aside from the fact it saves money, the food tastes just that bit better.

If money saving is the prime objective and time or space is limited, try to grow fruit/vegetables that are expensive to buy from the shops (decent tomatoes spring to mind).

Can't beat walking in your own garden and harvest fresh bowls of vegetables for salad and stir fry every single day.

[AmeriThai]

Growing any amount of food, however small, is very rewarding. Aside from the fact it saves money, the food tastes just that bit better.

If money saving is the prime objective and time or space is limited, try to grow fruit/vegetables that are expensive to buy from the shops (decent tomatoes spring to mind).

Can't beat walking in your own garden and harvest fresh bowls of vegetables for salad and stir fry every single day.

That's true, although it might be limited for many city dwellers. Regardless, there can still be options, such as raising a few herbs and veggies in containers. While it might not be a bountiful harvest, it's still rewarding to be able to sit down and eat something you grew yourself.

[PoorSucker]

This thread should be in Farming section

[GuestHouse]

This thread is about self sufficiency it is not about farming - The question I have asked is clearly not aimed at people who are already farmers.

[Buzby]

Growing any amount of food, however small, is very rewarding. Aside from the fact it saves money, the food tastes just that bit better.

If money saving is the prime objective and time or space is limited, try to grow fruit/vegetables that are expensive to buy from the shops (decent tomatoes spring to mind).

Can't beat walking in your own garden and harvest fresh bowls of vegetables for salad and stir fry every single day.

That's true, although it might be limited for many city dwellers. Regardless, there can still be options, such as raising a few herbs and veggies in containers. While it might not be a bountiful harvest, it's still rewarding to be able to sit down and eat something you grew yourself.

If its possible to rig up a window box approximately 1 meter long this can provide loads of salad and herbs (or whatever tickles your tastebuds). Use a 'cut and come again' variety of mixed salad leaves and hey presto, a regular supply of fresh delicious salad with very little effort.

[Mossfinn]

Perhaps you should have skipped it then and gone looking for a thread where you have something to contribute.

how he gets paid lots of money from working in saudi.

What a pointless thread,

A potless dig I agree, but not a pointless thread, I would suggest.

Good Luck

Moss

[desi]

If its possible to rig up a window box approximately 1 meter long this can provide loads of salad and herbs (or whatever tickles your tastebuds). Use a 'cut and come again' variety of mixed salad leaves and hey presto, a regular supply of fresh delicious salad with very little effort.

I have a deep balcony wrapping my condo, but after a year, I don't get enough sun for a potted lotus to flower (or maybe it needs more time?). I know lotus should be in a lot of sun, but I see them flowering all the time around BKK under eaves, so...

I'd be interested in giving a window box a try, especially if I could get decent tomatoes to grow (if you go to Villa and find a package of tomatoes with a hole in the plastic, that's most likely me doing the smell test).

I was able to grow tomatoes in Borneo by training them up through loose hedges (protects from the sun). Jalapeños were a cinch once the water was figured out. I'd go for salads in a window box as they are outrageously priced out here. But herbs are cheap most places (and I go through handfuls of the stuff), so I'd pass.

So tomatoes and dark lettuce leaves would be it... any herbs or flowers like marigolds that keep off bugs, a bonus.

There is a tropical tomato available (beefy) but I've only grown the cherry type so I'm not sure how they'd taste.

[Mossfinn]

This thread should be in Farming section

Pray tell why?

There have been several good green shoots of information up to now, none to do with farming, but again we have to plough through the seedless loam that irrigates this forum and contributes to the poor crop that could be harvested.

Good Luck

Moss

[torrenova]

I could never be self sufficient nor would I want to be but if I was finished with work and wanted something to do, planning a smallholding and maintaining it would be a rewarding venture from a number of angles. I attest that the best food is that which you have grown or produced yourself. In latter years, that would likely be motivation enough.

Whether I can actually forsake the city for the countryside is a greater conundrum.

[simon43]

At the hotel where I stay in Phuket, (or should I say - at my ex-wife's hotel!), the cook grows most of the vegetables and herbs that she uses. Not only does it mean 100% fresh food, but we save on the shopping bills.

Simon

[yabaaaa]

The main reason you may have overlooked is that YOU can control to a fair degree what the crop grows in, is or isnt sprayed with, for my wife she doesnt want crops covered in as many pesticides etc as the farmer can throw at them, which seems fairly normal here and with a 3rd world lack of control whos knows whats used!

[dingdongrb]

this thread is worthless. why do i need to grow my own food when i have a thing called savings? you should take up sand dune buggying or something instead of spending all your time fantasizing about Thailand and posting ridiculous nonsense.

Perhaps you should have skipped it then and gone looking for a thread where you have something to contribute.

Haha...I couldn't agree more, perhaps there is a thread entitled, 'Useless twits come inside' he could go off to....

As for being self-sufficient, that is my goal when I retire here in 5 more years. Already have about 10-11 rai... The plan is to obtain some more land as well and have a small farm with enough veggies and fruits for my family's consumption. Also some hogs, cattle, chicken, ducks, and rabbits... I will use solar power and will probably brew some of my own brewski as many old friends back in Colorado currently brew their own and have some delicious recipes........

.......a simple but modest life... My $$ will be used for my family and I to travel where and when we want.

......now if only I can survive the next 5 years of driving in LOS....

[Gary A]

Life here in the boonies remains mostly unchanged. The small village we live in has an active bartering system. In the past four years we have bought a bit more than 20 rai of land. Most of that land is now planted in rice. Rice is easily bartered for fruit and vegetables. We will easily survive. Life out in the boonies is good.

[cathyy]

I don't have enough room to do much real gardening, nor can I tolerate the sun exposure taking care of a garden would need. But we do a few things toward self-sufficiency. I have a few herbs, and some chilis. I plan a few more. We planted a mango tree a few years ago. My husband and I make our own pickles with small cucumbers and dill from the local market. I have lately been enjoying good success with making my own yogurt. I make taco sauce and Bisquick to avoid paying the imported product price -on the infrequent occasions when they are available. My husband makes chip dip. Anything we think we need that is not available cheap and locally is something we would consider producing ourselves. For example, I have read up on how to make cottage cheese. I know I can easily do it. But it requires skim milk never homogenized, so regular skim milk from the store won't work. It can be made with powdered skim milk, but I'm wary of all powdered milk right now. Otherwise I'd be making it already!

We would be very unhappy without our a/c and our Internet. No Internet would be reason to return to farangland, I suspect.

[Samuian]

I wish to add that it's fun to have your own veggies, fruits, garden & forest products, on your/families table, fun to see it germ, bloom, grow...

It's not necessarily about 'self-sufficiency', it's a big part of living a life close to "mother nature".

If one takes the time to bother, in our today's consumerist "have no time" society, this is may be frowned at, as "ban nork, ban nork"....and "backwards" but hey, the benefits..well it's not a computer game, neither a TV Show..

I had the fun of making my own bread, preserves, dried herbs, herbal teas, wine, name it... never had to buy any agricultural produce accept grain and never missed a thing!

And after some time there was enough, I could pass things on to friends and visitors... for free, because there was everything in abundance!

And, not only people in the "3rd world" because they "have to", many, many still have and tend their veggie garden, may that be inthe US, in the UK or any where else, may that be out of necessity or just for fun!

Hey, after all it's not that far fetched, can eat the strawberries right from the bush, there was a large walnut tree right in front of the house, apple, pear, cherry, Plum trees around the house; down the meadows a bit, which provided herbs, for salads and teas, a large hazelnut thicket... besides not to worry about any fungicide, herbicide, pesticides residue...

Neighbors did homemade smoked ham, salami, sausages, name it, the other was a small scale farmer who sold or traded (for work or other goods) eggs from happy chicken and milk from happy cows!

it's such a boon....besides, I had plenty of time to play music, read, chop wood, care for the house and garden and make the money I needed to pay the bills, coming in unavoidably from "the real world"...

Edited October 25, 2008 by Samuian

[MetroGirl]

Self sufficiency will comes over time, not the overnight phenomenon tho.

One becomes more and more sufficient by degrees, through experience of doing bit by bit over time, and through trial and error, me think.

To answer your question, if we all must do to survive, I'm sure we all will adjust to this new way of life, no matter how difficult and strange at first to let go those conveniences you used to enjoy.

I think being self-sufficient will not work well, if you are not part of the big social group. Being part of bigger social network allows you to trade your surplus- whether be foods, skills in exchange, or whatever with other producers in area, to get more variations on other things you may need.

Yes I can do it, if I must - no BIG deal!!!

However I will not trade my computer with the village's gossips tho, for the evening entertainment!