The road to self sufficiency

The water tanks are in (first one 5000 litres, the 2nd approx 24,000 litres), and the grey water is being used for the fruit trees, the vegie patch is chugging along, and we have a goat producing lots of lovely milk to make cheese with. The chickens and ducks are giving us lots of eggs (and eventually meat), and raising lambs is on the agenda. Although we are still awaiting the insulation (as part of the govt scheme) to help keep our house more warm in winter and cooler in summer, the biggest challenge we now face is how to reduce our energy bills - which are sitting around $500 per quarter. Our challenge is to reduce our grocery bills to $100 per f/night and somehow reduce our utilities as well. But how?

Solar panels are expensive and not within our price range, and we have taken steps such as fitting energy saving lightbulbs, etc . As we start our adventure as from January 2010 to live more "efficiently", there are still problems to be solved, but I feel we are definitely making progress.

And the road to self sufficiency is not for the faint hearted. In my learning curve over the past 12 months, I have come to realise that its damm hard work. Its not about just collecting the eggs in the morning and letting the ladies out to go on bug patrol, there is also the cleaning of the chook house (and anywhere else they decide to poop, at the moment the verandah is a favourite spot), checking (and treating) for lice, de-worming,.......... the list goes on. And then there is the planning involved to ensure your flock are productive. Chickens usually dont lay for the first 20 weeks post hatching, and then their productivity drops off when they are abou 2 years of age. So there is incubation of eggs, raising of the young chicks - and of course despatching the old and the sick chooks.

And this is only one aspect, there is also the work involved in the vegie patch, tending to fruit trees, landcare, animal husbandry - how there is time to raise kids and factor in paid employement, well its a challenge. But when you see your youngest child carrying his chook bucket tottering off to feed the girls, when you cook something for your family that you grew in your backyard, and watching the birth of another goat - well its all worth it.