A NEW OVEN RACK FOR AN OLD WOOD COOKSTOVE FROM A REPURPOSED GATE

As I have posted previously, I am now cooking on my Grandmother's old wood cookstove.  This is not one of the big, fancy stoves.  It is small and with a small oven, but it is what my grandparents could afford early in their marriage.  My Grandmother cooked many, many large meals on this little stove, for many years.  At this point, it still does a great job, except for the oven.

Heavy usage in the past, bad storage, high humidity and the ravages of time (this stove is close to 100 years old), took such a toll on the oven rack that it is practically in pieces.  Finding a new one is out of the question, as is the hope of finding one of similar size.  Consequently, I have been thinking for awhile of how to make a new or repurposed one so I can use the oven.

I had considered modifying a larger oven rack from a modern stove, and I have a couple here to choose from.  However, this project has been on the back burner (no pun intended) for most of the summer in favor of more urgent projects.  With fall approaching, a working oven becomes a higher priority for me, and I find myself thinking of making bread and other baked goodies.

Recently, while walking past the old chicken yard, as I do several times each day, the gate caught my eye.  It is made of an end piece
of heavy livestock panel with 2 inch by 4 inch spacing.  My mind instantly shifted to baking.  

With measurements in hand, and a few minutes with a good bolt cutter, I had the makings in hand.  I cut the section of panel to width and added 4 inches to the length.  The added length to be bent down to make legs.

Using fence pliers to make the bends, and a block of wood for   stability, I proceeded to make the bend, one rod at a time, little by little, first one then another, until the extra 2 inches on each end were at a 90 degree angle.  This part took a little time of working back and forth, and this stuff is not easy to bend.  
Fortunately, my hands are large and pretty strong, otherwise I would have had to resort to other tools with more leverage or possibly heating the rods with a torch.  Either of those options would have taken more time and been a bit more of a hassle, but still quite workable.

As it is, in a relatively short time, I had something resembling an oven rack that would set on a flat surface and have 2 inches elevation.  With a few minor adjustments, it slid nicely into the oven.

As you can see from the last photo, the supports for the original rack are higher than the new rack.  Not a problem.  This oven  always had a problem with cooking on the bottom.  Everything 
would be beautifully baked on top, but not quite done on the bottom.  It was something my Grandmother contended with the whole time she used it.  I deliberately lowered the new rack to try and compensate and to make more room above for taller cookware.

With the new rack in place (this was done in early morning, before work) I could hardly wait for evening to try it out.  Biscuits are always a nice test, and the anticipation practically had me drooling all day.  With evening came the test batch, the first baking in this oven in a very long time and the first ever on the new rack.  The biscuits turned out pretty well.  Pictures of the biscuits would have been nice, but they smelled so good that I forgot to take pictures.  Maybe next time.

Lowering the rack did not fix the challenge of browning on the bottom, as I suspected, but setting the pan on top of the stove for a few minutes took care of the problem.  In all fairness to the little stove, not cooking at the bottom is not a design flaw.  I had noticed when I was setting up the stove that the little lever on the side looked a little off.  A closer look showed that the piece that is supposed to shift the heat flow underneath the oven had been put on the lever backwards when the stove was originally assembled, making it impossible for it to shift the heat flow.  At some later time, when I take it apart to replace the bolts, I will try to change that, but for now, a few minutes on the stovetop to finish the cooking is not a real inconvenience.

------UPDATE------

Friday afternoon, actual bread.  Just a simple yeast bread but the first baked in this oven in a long time.  Turned out tasty.

Yes, it is a bit large.  Normally, I would have made two braded loaves with that much dough and baked them on a cookie sheet, but it seems that my cookie sheet has disappeared or been misplaced during the past couple of years.  A cake pan makes an unusual size loaf but it works.

Now, with a cook shelter and usable oven, I will be back to baking most of my bread.

A BIT OF SHELTER FOR OUTDOOR COOKING

Outdoor cooking is a wonderful thing.  The open fire (or as is now the case, my Grandmother's wood cookstove), the fresh air and smoke, it is all quite wonderful.  As I am sure you know, even the most wondrous experiences have a downside, and in this case rain falls into that category.  I can't bring myself to complain about rain, but it does present challenges.

Most of my cooking has been done outdoors for a few years now, first on a cooking ring made of car rims, and more recently on my Grandmother's old cast iron cookstove.  Last winter, I made use of a crock pot when the weather was bad, but I really prefer a real fire.  This brings us to the need for a cook shelter.

Recently, I had the opportunity to do some bartering.  Through this bartering, I acquired (among other things) a portable garage.  You know the type, the kind with a metal tubing framework covered with a heavy fabric covering, like they sell at Harbor Freight.  The covering is pretty well worn, but should hold up for a while longer, then it will be replaced with a decent tarp.  It doesn't look like much as a pile of components, but will be good once assembled.

With the framework and back end cover installed, it begins to look a bit more like a shelter.  This is only 2/3 of the frame I traded for due to the space of my cooking area as well as some terrain issues that exist near the back end of the framework that you see in the second photo.  The only real option would be to move my cook stove to a larger flat area, which would not only be quite a bit of extra work, but would also be further from my food storage and living area.  The added space would be nice, but not necessary.  The remaining components will be stored for future use after my cabin is built and I no longer need the cook shelter.


Due to circumstances beyond my control, this little project took longer than I had hoped.  My plan was to have it up before it started raining again.  That did not happen!  I found myself after work on Friday, working frantically in the rain to install the front end and the cover, thoroughly soaked in a slow steady rain.  

With the shelter up, the lack of dry wood and kindling created the next challenge.  As you can see from the smoke, the challenge was met, and I cooked the first meal under my new shelter.  I must say, it was very nice cooking in the dry while listening to the rain falling on the shelter.  With the addition of a table, it will be a pretty nice little kitchen.

With winter coming soon, the walls will also be great.  Nothing takes the fun out of outdoor cooking like a cold wind, or worse yet, a cold, windblown mix of rain and sleet.  This will be good now, with the fall rains, and even better for winter.

I hope this post gives some helpful ideas, and as always, I look forward to your questions and comments.  Now on to the next project:  making a replacement oven rack for the old stove so I can start baking again.

Sunday, January 1, 2012 (DF) MANY LEVELS OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY ------ part 6, some final thoughts

Throughout this series, I have made many statements that could be interpreted as attempts to discourage readers from trying to achieve self-sufficiency. This could not be farther from my true intent. In fact, my only purpose for posting my thoughts on this subject was to inform and to encourage people to reach the highest level of independence their capabilities and personal needs allow.

If you haven't achieved level eight, don't feel bad, neither have I. Personally, over the years, I have achieved bits and pieces of every level, never any complete level above the lower end of the scale. There are many reasons, the excuses are endless. Lack of knowledge or skill, lack of money, lack of time, lack of energy, lack of a like minded partner, and the list goes on. Not that these and others aren't valid considerations but none, or even all, of them can take the full blame.

To be self-sufficient means that you can, and do, provide for all of your own needs. The fact is that there is not enough time in the day or skills and varied ability for a lone individual to provide everything. This fact makes it necessary to include others, making self-sufficiency for the individual difficult if not impossible.

There is one, more important reason, genetics. Yes, I am going to blatantly and shamelessly play the, "it's not my fault, it's genetics," card here. As a species, we are social creatures, we need companionship and preferably of like minded people. John Donne said it nicely; "No man is an island." Humans need each other, in order to remain emotionally and psychologically healthy. The interaction between humans in terms of spiritual beliefs promotes a strong, healthy spirituality.

When considering the apparent hopelessness of individual self-sufficiency, perhaps the outlook would be brighter if we looked at the possibilities small groups or communities provide. Looking at a group of like minded individuals with varied skills, knowledge and abilities, it would be much less difficult for the group to achieve higher levels. A word of caution; if the group gets too large, it becomes a society with all the political issues we are trying to get away from.

With that said, it is my sincere hope that the opinions I have expressed have increased awareness, answered questions, or better yet raised a whole new set of questions. The act of questioning is the beginning of the learning process.

Happy self-sufficiency!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011 (DF) MANY LEVELS OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY ------part 5

No matter what type of energy you choose, no matter how much or how little energy you use, tools are most helpful items. If you have chosen to continue using lots of expensive energy, it is possible to purchase quite a variety of power tools and modern farm equipment. On the other hand, if you have chosen to use more tools powered by people and animals, it is possible to make many of your own tools.

LEVEL VII: Level seven is about making tools and other items that are truly needed and usually purchased. Even for the individual with extreme skill, energy and resources, there are things that can't be readily produced, but it is possible for most items to be made at home.

With a few blacksmith tools, some coal (or charcoal if coal is unavailable), steel and a measure of skill, most metal tools can be produced and repaired on the farm. With metal tools in hand, wooden handles and other much needed items of wood can be produced. The types and variety of tools you can make are endless, including garden tools, wood working tools, cutlery and even horse drawn farm equipment.

Obviously, metal can not be produced on the average farm or by the average individual, nor can coal, thus making metal tools is not truly self-sufficient. There is, however, something very satisfying about working with tools you made with your own hands.

While on the subject of things produced with one's own hands, it bears mentioning that if you raise livestock for meat, there are also skins available for making leather and furs. The main requirements are raw materials and the necessary skills. Depending on the type of tanning and the desired end result, you may or may not need to obtain some products from others. Proper tanning is a smelly process and a lot of hard work, but the end result can be more than worth it.

With some types of animals (sheep, angora goats, alpacas and angora rabbits to name a few) you have the raw materials for making clothing. Yarn for knitting, crocheting, or weaving can be easily made from the hair of such creatures. The process is simple. The tools for making yarn can be an elaborate spinning wheel, a simple drop spindle or anything between. This can be a truly self-sufficient process from start to finish. Even knitting needles and crochet hooks can be easily made by hand.


LEVEL VIII: In level eight, we reach a point of individual self-sufficiency. This level is not for the faint of heart or feeble of body. It is basically known as stone age, and for good reason. To be truly self-sufficient requires being able to find or make everything necessary for life. For water, one only needs to find a clean spring or stream (not easy but possible) and for food, there are wild plants. Shelter, warmth and clothing are another matter. Tools and weapons for hunting and defense, as well as for producing construction material will be needed, however, and the raw materials are plentiful in many areas.

Stone tools are the most ancient known on this planet, and are simple to make. A few properly placed impacts on even a low quality piece of flint or chert can produce a cutting edge sharper than any steel. with such a crude cutting tool, wood can be cut for fire, shelter or other tools (axe handles and spear shafts come to mind). Other plant material can be cut and stripped for cordage. Animals can be skinned for meat, clothing and rawhide for use as cordage and bow strings. Better quality flint or obsidian can be processed into very fine arrow heads and knives. In short, with knowledge and physical ability, one can quickly make the tools and weapons for hunting, planting crops, providing fuel and shelter, clothing and other necessities, using sticks and stones for material. There needs to be enough land to provide wildlife and the right general type of stone is needed, but beyond that, the limits of survival and comfort soon become only those imposed by ourselves and not by resources.

I am not saying anyone should go back to the stone age but to learn and practice these skills a bit can lend a new awareness and appreciation of what is really necessary. As an added bonus, in the unfortunate event that you are stranded in a vast wilderness, you will be prepared to provide for your needs and the needs of others.

Thank you for letting me share the levels of self-sufficiency as I see them. In the next and final installment, I will attempt to pull these five sections together with some, hopefully, valid points. I hope you will join me for part six.

Saturday, December 10, 2011 (DF) MANY LEVELS OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY------ part 4

If you found part three a little discouraging, take heart. There is still hope for a greater level of self-sufficiency, though it will require leaving some of the trappings of modern life behind. Simply put, modern life, as we know it, runs on electricity and petroleum to a great extent and if we can't produce it in a self-sustaining way, perhaps we should re-examine our use of it.

LEVEL VI: In level six, there is a need for a very large shift in mind-set, and it needs to be shifted gradually so as to not be too overwhelming. Choosing to live without electricity instantly removes many things we take totally for granted, many of which we don't really have to have. It is the same with petroleum products. The things we DO require can be produced without modern energy.
Obviously, without electricity from some source, there isn't tv, movies, stereo, or video games, so entertainment becomes a little harder to get (or at least requires some thought and planning). Also, simple things like alarm clocks can no longer be taken for granted. These things are not among the basic necessities, but trust me when I tell you that you can feel pretty lost without them when they are suddenly not there. It takes a couple of weeks to come to grips with it, and yes, it is experience talking.

Lights, refrigerators, washers, driers, microwaves, mixers and a wide variety of thing we use every day, including warmth, hot water and cooking if you live in a total electric home, also cease to exist. If your water comes from a well with an electric pump, water becomes a problem very quickly.

Elimination of petroleum products obviously changes the face of transportation. Moreover, if you don't live in a total electric home, the moment of relief you may have experienced at the thought of not losing heat, hot water and cooking ability along with the electricity, just evaporated with the petroleum. Also, keep in mind that plastic is petroleum based. Look at everything you use that is plastic, and if there is a gasp of panic, you are not alone. Plastic is hard to replace at this point in time simply because so many things we use are made of plastic and nothing else, but keep in mind that many of these plastic items are not among the necessities.

Don't despair, there are other ways of providing for these needs. Light has been produced with candles made of beeswax or tallow, and lamps designed to burn animal fat or other oils, for many centuries. Food has been kept cool in springs and cellars for thousands of years and there are many preservation methods that don't require refrigeration. Clothes can be washed by hand and dried on a clothes line, water can be pumped with a hand pump or captured from rainfall and carried in buckets. There is also the fact that flush toilets require running water, so outdoor or composting toilets would be needed. Wood can be used as fuel for heating, cooking and hot water, but keep in mind that the wood will have to be cut with hand tools as chainsaws run on petroleum.

Without petroleum, transportation becomes an activity powered by people or animals. Walking is good for getting from point A to point B, but horses or mules (I personally favor mules but that is another story) can carry more than you can, and can also pull wagons and farm equipment. They can't haul the big loads a truck is capable of but they do alright. As for raising crops, draft animals are very effective though you have to produce enough grain and hay to feed them, so more land is required. Farming practices can also be entirely people powered. You can't farm as much land but you don't need to.

The information above is very simplified and I DO NOT recommend that anyone make such an abrupt change. I would, however, like to promote an awareness of all that we take for granted and encourage the gradual shift away from mindless use of modern energy. You may be surprised at how much you will gain in physical fitness, personal satisfaction and awareness (not to mention financial savings) as you lower your dependence on energy.

Monday, December 5, 2011 (DF) MANY LEVELS OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY ------part 3

LEVEL V: Energy provides a particularly tenacious set of challenges for self-sufficiency. As a society, a nation and as individuals, we are addicted to energy. Level five is about providing our own energy for heat, appliances, lighting, technology, motor fuel, etc., without dependence on others.

Lets start with electricity. Electricity is easy to produce, as any high school science student will agree. Simply stick two metal spikes of appropriate material in a potato and hook up the wires. A very small electrical charge will be produced. This process was also done in ancient times in the form of what archaeologists refer to as Baghdad Batteries, which consist of large earthenware vessels filled with wine vinegar. Electrodes were then placed through the lid into the vinegar. These apparently produced enough power to electroplate gold. However, neither of these methods efficiently produce enough electricity for practical use with most modern appliances.

Solar and wind are reasonable alternatives, and they are both free and reasonably constant. Add to that the consideration that the main equipment can be assembled by the average do-it-yourself-er in the garage and this seems to be the answer. ONLY ONE PROBLEM! I can not (nor do I know anyone who can) make all the components from scratch. So much for true self-sufficient electricity. I am still looking for a way, though I can't make appliances to run on it either.

Motor fuels are another challenge. Gasoline engines, I am told, can be adjusted to burn pure ethanol, AKA any good 190 proof grain alcohol. Before you break out the old distillation unit, consider how much of your production will have to be used for producing the plant material for ethanol production, and if you don't use a solar still, you will use yet more of your product to cook off the next batch. Also, with most modern engines, ethanol can cause problems, so use an older engine if you choose this alternative.

Bio diesel is great. It is made from cooking oil, treated with chemicals (methanol among others) to make a fuel that can be used in diesel engines. Non-petroleum, environmentally friendly, cheap to produce and can be done at home. Where is the problem with this? Production of methanol and other chemicals at home, in a sustainable way is out of reach for most of us. Also, there is the same problem as with ethanol, you have to use too much fuel to produce the cooking oil in the first place, so still not self-sustainable.

Fuel for cooking and heating is simple enough. Options include nice, clean burning methane, and of course, wood. Though methane is naturally produced by the bacterial breakdown of organic matter, it is difficult to safely produce in sufficient quantities for reliable, continuous use by individuals in a self-sustained way. Not that it can't, or shouldn't be produced. It is a good alternative, but without equipment components manufactured to reasonable standards, safety is a serious issue. Please don't be discouraged if this is something you want to do, just do the research and get good equipment.

That brings us to plain, old fashioned firewood. Certainly one of the oldest (if not the oldest) fuels used by humans on this planet. What could be more simple or sustainable than wood? This is probably the most natural and reasonable of all possible choices of fuel for self-sustained living. There is a problem however, and that is the harvesting of this wonderful fuel. Unless you have a readily available supply of wood that is small enough to be manually broken into short enough lengths for your facilities, or you are prepared to cut it with stone tools you have made, (possible but difficult) you will have to rely on some type of saw. This will at best have been produced in a factory somewhere, and if it is a chainsaw we are back to the question of motor fuel.

Peat, in areas where it is readily available, is a good source of fuel for heat and cooking, as it can be harvested by hand with simple tools in sufficient quantity. Those of us who live too far from the nearest peat bog simply have to make do with less simple fuels.

I almost forgot to mention coal. It is an excellent fuel for heating, cooking, and my favorite, forging metal in the blacksmith shop. It is, unfortunately, not readily available in many areas, though where it can be found naturally without mining, it does lend itself to self-sufficiency.

Please don't get discouraged. I am not saying that any or all of these (and many other) options won't work or shouldn't be pursued. Each has its own merit and validity. I am simply pointing out that none of them are readily adaptable to a self-sustained lifestyle, especially for individuals or very small groups.
I look forward to your input, and hope you will bear with me a bit. Hopefully, level six will be a bit more encouraging.

Saturday, December 3, 2011 (DF) MANY LEVELS OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY ------part 2

Before I begin, I would like to thank all of you who viewed and commented on part one of this post. I would also like to mention that these levels of self-sufficiency are not intended to be, nor can they be, rigid. The levels mentioned in all parts of this post are intended as a tool to promote awareness of levels beyond where we are, on the path to self-sufficiency. Once on such a path, it is hard (if not impossible) not to prepare and work toward aspects of various levels at once.

LEVEL IV: Level four is where the skills and hard work come into play. Yes, I did say hard work. Lets face it, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Level four basics include shelter and many things associated with that shelter, such as the cleaning and decoration of that shelter and anything else that makes that shelter a home. Actively providing for such basic needs is the essence of this level of self-sufficiency. By "actively", I mean physically doing the work (construction, maintenance, upgrades, etc.) to provide shelter for yourself, your family and your animals.

Obviously, not all of us are physically able to build houses, barns and fences, or dig cellars to shelter and store our produce. Even for those who are able (and for the less physically demanding aspects) it takes some degree of knowledge and skill, an appropriate mind set and a good measure of awareness.

If you don't have the ability and/or skills, what do you do? Have you thought of barter? Barter is, in my opinion, a form of alchemy. WAIT!!! Before you start envisioning Pagan rituals and evil spells for turning other metals to gold for the sake of greed, here is Webster's second definition of alchemy. "A method or power of transmutation: esp., the seemingly miraculous change of a thing into something better." Turning surplus vegetables, jelly, soap or products from the blacksmith shop into materials and/or labor for fixing the hole in the roof (or vise versa) sounds like pretty much the same thing to me. Granted, getting the roof fixed in exchange for things you CAN do, instead of doing it yourself, is not truly self-sufficient, but it does get the job done and provides a higher degree of personal satisfaction than mindlessly paying whatever price is asked, in the form of cash, card or check. As an added bonus, you get interaction with others which, by the way, is one of the basics of psychological health. Not a bad swap, huh?

I hope to see you here for the next post, where things start to get more difficult, and if anything, less self-sufficient. At least temporarily.

Thursday, December 1, 2011 (DF) MANY LEVELS OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY ------ part 1

Input from others with different perspectives often encourages me to look more closely at my own views. A comment to my recent post, "THE NECESSITY OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN A SELF-SUSTAINING LIFESTYLE" did just that. In examining my own views on life and goals of self-sufficiency, I realized two very important considerations: That TRUE self-sufficiency, at least for the individual, is near impossible; and there are many levels of self-sufficiency along the way toward that near impossible end. Some of these levels, I have lived at some point in my life, others I have studied and worked toward, and most (if not all) levels are among my goals for the future. Obviously, we would all like to be as independent as possible, so with your indulgence, I would like to share some thoughts and experiences on those many levels.

LEVEL I: Level one, in my opinion, has to start with a mind set. As infants, unable to do anything for ourselves, we learn to expect others to give us what we need to survive, grow, and be comfortable. As we grow, the desire to move freely and do for ourselves also grows, driving us to walk, communicate and reach for what we need. This develops the mind set of "I can do it myself", which is the point at which, as a parent, I had my first twinge of having to let go a bit. And that twinge just got worse from there, but that is another story for another time.

As teenagers or young adults, having developed the mind set and entering the work force, we reach level two.


LEVEL II: Level two is what our society has come to expect and strive for to a great extent. As teenagers, we are expected to at least finish high school (and a college degree is preferred) and then to get a good job (or preferably, a career), thus being able to make enough money to pay the bills, buy a home, raise a family etc. This in itself is truly a tangible level of self-sufficiency, as compared to those who choose to rely on others (family, friends, church, government assistance, etc.), for their needs. Please do not consider that I am passing judgement on anyone for their choices, and it is important to note that many people, through no choice of their own, require assistance for their survival and we should all do our best to help.

With that said, this level of self-sufficiency can provide all the requirements of survival and comfort. It does not, however, give the individual any control over many aspects of life. For example, you have no control of the price, quality or availability of food, fuel, utilities, building materials, services or anything that has to be purchased. More money can get better quality, but only if the product is available in the first place. In short, though we work hard for the money to provide what is needed for ourselves, we still depend on, and are at the mercy of, others.


LEVEL III: Level three is about the point where people start talking about "back to basics". I am very happy with that concept but not so much with the wording. The basics haven't changed, so going back to basics is essentially the same as staying here with the basics. In fact, the basic NEEDS of humanity are still simply water, food, clothing, shelter, warmth, tools, weapons for hunting and defense, and for spiritual and/or psychological well being, interaction with others. What HAS changed is how we fulfill those basics. In my opinion, (and remember, it is just my opinion), it is a matter of resources and how they are used. From this point forward, these basic needs and how they are, and can be, used will be incorporated into the levels as appropriate, so bear with me.

The level three basics include food and water. Chances are, you, (like so many others), do not live in walking distance of your water source. If you are fortunate enough to have a well or spring on your property, that is a good head start, and if it is a well or spring with a hand pump or other people powered means of getting the water, so much the better. Far too many people are using water that is pumped in from such a distance that they don't even know where it really came from or what chemicals it has been treated with. A resource to consider is rain water, which can be captured with guttering from roofs of houses and other buildings and used for watering plants and animals, washing or filtered for drinking. The amount of water that can be captured from an inch of rain falling on the roof of an average sized building is surprising. At just over a half gallon, (.623 gal. per sq. ft. per inch of rain, to be more precise), a building the size of my chicken house and tool shed combo will capture about 94 gallons of water from an inch of rain. The calculations are simple, just multiply the number of square feet of roof surface by .623 to find out how many gallons of water you will have from your roof with one inch of rain.

Food is another necessity that many take for granted. It is convenient to just go to the grocery store and buy what you need. With prices rising, quality declining and the now constant threat of various contamination related illnesses, it doesn't seem so convenient as it once did. Growing your own food is becoming more popular and this is a good step toward this level of self-sufficiency. No, not everyone can plant a huge garden, a field of wheat or corn for bread, and raise livestock for all their meat, milk and eggs, (though that would be REALLY NICE). There are ways (even in an apartment in the city) to raise at least some of your own vegetables, and with a back yard or small acreage, there are endless possibilities.

Though being able to produce all of the food on the table would be ideal, anything you can produce for yourself lowers the levels of dependence on others and is a good step toward self-sufficiency. Remember, it all starts with the mind set, the questioning of where your basic needs come from and how to change that source.

I will post other levels soon, as well as related posts involving more information on specifics, as there just isn't room in a single post for all the information. I will also be considering your input to help me give you the information you need to follow your own path toward self-sufficiency, so please use the comments to let me know where you are in the journey and any questions you may have.