The Importance of Self Sufficiency .

I honestly never imagined living like a farmer girl. I mean, before I met my husband and came into the truth about my people being the real Jews, Israelites if you will, I had plans to live on 5 acres, have a small vineyard, some crops, and maybe a cow and sheep or two. Never did I see myself doing it to this extent. Sitting on 80 acres of land, as a mom, with a crop farm for food and fibers. Life is funny like that.

But now that Im embedded into the natural way of doing things, I see the importance of self sufficiency.

To grow your own foods, crops, and fiber, keeps you grounded and helps you understand seasons and harvest. In many ways, it helps in my personal life as well, as I have learned to be patience. I’ve learned to plant seeds with the things in my life, to water them, and watch them grow. I’ve also learned just how important seasons are and when to pick things, and keep them or let them go.

Our Intensive Garden Area

The Intensive Garden area is where we test out our crops. We have about 6 beds of different foods growing. Outside of this we’ve actually dedicated 14 of our 80 acres, to growing mass crops. This is just the beginning.

We have about 6 of these side by side growing everything from Russet and Golden Potatoes, green beans, kale, cucumber, and cilantro, to spinach, carrots, sunflowers, and cotton for me to spin into yarn, then weave into fabric.

What Should I Keep In Mind When Growing Crops?

I asked Hanak, our resident farmer, what were the most important things to know when growing food. Here were his choices:

• Know your location, climate patterns, land, and the soil.

• Always plan ahead for crop shortages and mishaps

• Protect your crops for all kinds of situations that may come

• Record the progress, changes, or differences in your crops, year by year.

When growing crops, the first step that is super important, is to test out your soil on your land or area you’ve decided to grow your crops. If you’re growing crops on a large acre(s), it is also important to have a permaculture specialist come out to your land and scan it. With a permaculture specialist, you will know what crops can grow beside one another and their specific location to plant so that they can grow at their best.

Animals

With your animals, its super important to first, have the proper fencing. Our Sheep ran away three times. lol. So trust me, I know all about fencing and which one is needed for each animal. My husband bought the sheep an goat spur of the moment, I guess he wanted to get his feet wet. We only had chicken wire, so we attempted to use that in order to keep the sheep and goat locked in. Fail.

I think the goat and 4 sheep ran away after the 3rd day being on the land. The sheep came back, but our goat is still missing.

I sheared two of the sheep for their wool, and then we actually slaughtered them and ate them. (sorry PETA).

Having animals is an important part of self sufficiency, because it is you that build the relationship with them. Knowing how the cattle that your meat comes from, was raised and treated, plays a part in the energy being transmitted from cattle to human. You also should prepare the slaughter process a certain way to avoid the taste of fear being present in your meat, once you cook it.

With our Chickens, we were a little more prepared. The Chicken wire keeps predators out, while keeping our chickens and roosters, in. When We first got them, we had them inside. The fellas on the land created a little bed area for the chicks that had wool insulation, heating, and food.

They eventually built the chicken coop outside, with a little house, also insulated with wool, they can go inside of when they want to sleep.

Each chicken will lay about 20 eggs a day, eliminating your trips to the store for eggs, and giving you the opportunity to sell.

Starting a Mini Garden

I know everyone can’t live off the grid, but, if you have a home, you can start your journey to self sufficiency with a mini inside garden. I found this “How To” tutorial on setting up a basic indoor grow room. Its pretty basic and informative.

We’re doing everything ourselves these days, and getting back to the root of who our ancestors were, so for those of us who grow outside, I found this DIY garden bed tutorial, to get started.

I also found a place to purchase over 100 different kinds of organic seeds. A business called Eden Brothers.

I would prefer an Israelite owned company to promote, so if you have any, please drop the company names in the comment section below.

So as you see, being self sufficient saves you money, and also keeps you grounded while getting closer to The Most High.

I Hope we all can be a little more self sufficient in the future, while also being sustainable. If you have any questions feel free to drop those in the comment box as well.