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Is there a guide somewhere on how to start on self / community sufficiency ? I love the principles but it’s overwhelming to start and obtain results for me.
Depends a little on how and where you live
- Learning to grow some food (even just herbs on your balcony or windowsill)
You need a large enough container (bucket, bag, pot), with some holes for drainage (plants don't want to sit in water). It needs to be warm enough for the plant you want to grow, and moist enough. Getting the moisture right for seeds and plants can be tricky at first, it will get better with experience. There needs to be sufficient light, some plants need more than others. Research a few easy to grow plants and start with these. If you have little space, grow some kitchen herbs rather than vegetables, they increase the quality of your food by 99% and are expensive to buy, plus they are medicinal as well.
- Joining or creating a local sharing circle
Is there a preferred online portal where a sharing circle in your country might exist already? Facebook? Whatsapp? Telegram? A physical space somewhere? Search there first. If there's nothing, create the space yourself, as an online group, a sharing box in a public space, or an actual group of people you know.
I will add to the planting piece, there are now LED grow lights that fit into a standard lamp. That means that if you live in an apartment like mine (that has pathetic sunlight) a trip to target/IKEA for some cheap lamps and a visit to whatever store in your area carries a good range of LED bulbs will probably have you set up to turn your living room into a herb/peppers/other small vegetables grow room.
Also recycling center swap shops and Buy Nothing groups often have plenty of cool old lamps for free
Is this cost-efficient? Pretend I live somewhere with expensive power
With expensive power you’d want to look into timed switches. LEDs are pretty efficient but not enough that you’d want to leave them on all day. That said, it’s the same power usage as a standard LED bulb so if those aren’t breaking the bank switching should not be a problem.
Ha well I had starting a garden on my todo for this year. Probably in buckets this time so that I can actually eat something I grow (the last 3 attempts generally fed the local wildlife…).
I have posted several times on local groups for items available for donation but with very little results so far. After a while I donate to a local non-profit that organises reuse.
So garden it is for a first step :)
For community sufficiently, groups like Buy Nothing and Everything is Free might be a small piece but they're a great place to start. They've been a wonderful way to shuffle resources to those who need them/can use them, and to build support networks within our community. I've met a bunch of my neighbors, made friends, and leaned on specializations and career experience from people in the group on various projects. I talk about them a lot over on the zerowaste and diy communities.
I’m part of local equivalent but it never occurred to me that it would fit in this philosophy :)