"Sharing our day-to-day adventures on 1.5 hectares in the country and our journey to self-sufficiency..." Okay, there I've said it (in our blog description) so now we're committed.
I've always been a little fascinated by the idea of self-sufficiency, even as a child. Self-sufficiency and homeschooling often go hand-in-hand as do home-births, home-church and self-employment - we've managed (and enjoyed!) all the former so it sort of seems quite natural that we should be considering this new challenge (it doesn't make it any less terrifying though!).
Moving to the country more than 4 years ago made it an achievable dream but our economic reality has now made it a necessity. I don't want to be controlled by and prescribed to by fuel- and food prices! And I really don't want to give up this little piece of heaven that we've called "Avalon" to move back to the city (as it would save on petrol - The King of Avalon commutes 150km daily) just to be bogged down by out-of-control municipal rates (saw a newspaper article a few weeks ago where the newly elected East London municipal officers approved exorbitant increases - all in the range of 12 - 14 percent).
At least here we pay the bare minimum for our food (there is a General Dealer in town that cuts out the "middleman" & sells farm produce directly) rates and municipal water (and we could actually survive on rainwater alone as we live in a very high rainfall area). Furthermore we have lots of land that could work for us (compared to city dwellers that is); no bylaws preventing us from keeping livestock and no neighbours that could be disturbed by our little projects.
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