Chris and Stef jumped into self-sufficiency last year when they decided not to buy groceries for an entire year, including staples like salt, sugar, coffee, and flour! Instead, they’ve been growing, catching, raising, and harvesting 100% of their food supply on a small 1/2 acre homestead. They’re only a few weeks away from completing their year-long challenge and they attribute their success to hard work and to the fact that they live in the Southern Gulf Islands where they have a great growing climate and access to the ocean.
source/image(PrtSc): Exploring Alternatives
The couple’s four main sources of food have been:CATCH – they catch fish, prawns, and other seafood from the ocean.GROW – they grow loads of vegetables, fruit, herbs, and spices on their land.HARVEST – they forage for things like mushrooms, berries, nuts, and seaweed.RAISE – they raise laying hens, chickens, and turkeys for eggs and meat.
Eating only what they produce has drastically reduced the amount of money that Chris and Stef spend on groceries (they still buy hygiene products and other items that are not food and beverages) but a lot of the savings went directly towards building infrastructures like fencing and the chicken coop.
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Another advantage of living off the land and sea like this is that they have noticed a huge reduction in the amount of household waste they’re throwing out. Food from the garden doesn’t come in a package!It was inspiring to meet these two and see all the work they’ve put into learning and working towards their goal of becoming more self-sufficient with their food production. They taught us a ton and we’re looking forward to following along with them./Exploring Alternatives
