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.
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.
