The challenge is based on Sharon Astyk's book Independence Days: A Guide to Sustainable Food Storage and Preservation. I also have her book, Depletion and Abundance: Life On The New Home Front.
Both are amazingly inspirational as they offer real solutions that you can easily do at home.
There are eight Independence Days Challenges. By following these, as much or as little as we can, we will increase our food security and self-sufficiency.
1. Plant something - You should plant all week and all year, as long as you can.
2. Harvest something - Harvest something from the garden or the wild every day you can. Independence is appreciating and using the bounty that we have.
3. Preserve something - Sometimes this will be a big project, but it doesn't have to be.
4. Minimise waste - There are many ways to minimise waste. Try and action one every week.
5. Want not - Clean, mend, declutter, plan, store, learn a new skill. Independence is being ready for whatever comes.
6. Cook something new - Try a new recipe or an old one with a new ingredient. Independence is being able to eat and enjoy what is given to us.
7. Manage your reserves - Inventory your food stores and manage them well. Independence means not wasting the bounty we have.
8. Work on local food systems - Our Independence Days come when our neighbours and the people we love are food secure too.
I am hoping that following these eight steps and blogging about them will keep me on track and moving towards my plans for greater food security.
Prices of fresh food in our supermarkets just keep rising and this will be a great way to address this.
I am planning on a weekly post on Thursdays and would love to hear from you. Maybe you would like to follow these steps too?
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| Something to aim for - love the mini greenhouses! |
This is a great blog to check out - 30 Pounds of Apples: Local, DIY Food In a global, ready-made world.
There are some great recipes - I really want to try the Lemon Meringue Sunshine Cake as our lemon tree is bursting at the moment.
Another great blog is A Working Pantry. As the name implies, this blog will help you start, organise and maintain a pantry. Have a read of the pantry tips and see which ones you can apply.
There are some great recipes - I really want to try the Lemon Meringue Sunshine Cake as our lemon tree is bursting at the moment.
Another great blog is A Working Pantry. As the name implies, this blog will help you start, organise and maintain a pantry. Have a read of the pantry tips and see which ones you can apply.
I love this. I used to dream and dream of a totally sustainable off-grid type of homestead (maybe not completely but almost) but it is just not compatible with other liestyle choices we feel are more important. But I still want to do all I can and so... I can! I freeze! I plant! I harvest, weed, care for chickens and still I want to do more. So I enjoyed this post because it made me think through all I AM doing already and all I still wish to do.
ReplyDeleteI am finally coming to realise that life is a compromise and that I may never get all I dreamed of. But as you say, I am trying to look at all I can do where I am, and it is quite a lot!
DeleteI love this too! What a neat and productive challenge! We try to live like this and these types of posts always help to inspire! Thank you Jayne :)
ReplyDeleteI am hoping by putting it in writing, I will keep more on track. I tend to be a bit haphazard with my gardening so I hope to plan it a lot better and be more productive this year.
DeleteJayne, it was so nice to have you stop in at Thinking About Home and join in the book talk! I commiserate with you as you go through the second go-round of culling your collection. It is soooo hard!
ReplyDeleteYour Independence Days challenges have me coming up short! I am afraid I have a long ways to go, although I have been trying some new things with our garden strawberries lately. :)
I love your post from earlier this week about "Encouragement for Homemakers." Such wise and encouraging words!
It is always sad for me to part with any book! I will get there, eventually!
DeleteThank you for your kind words. I am hoping by challenging myself in public, so to speak, it will hold me accountable to actually organising the garden more. It has been a bit of a hit and miss affair for the last few years.
This is truly inspiring, but I wouldn't say these are all easy steps. The idea of preserving food is overwhelming to me! But maybe I'm just lazy. :)
ReplyDeleteIt will definitely be little baby steps each week. And that is what Sharon Astyk encourages. It is all about the tiny things we do that add up to a lot. So preserving may be cooking an extra meal to freeze. Doesn't have to be anything huge. I certainly won't be achieving something in every category every week!
DeleteThanks for the inspiration, Jayne! I love this idea...a little at a time, but doing SOMETHING is better than doing nothing. Sort of how we live already, but then, there is always, always room for improvement, isn't there? xo Lisa
ReplyDeleteThe idea for me is that if I am being more conscious about what I am planning and doing, then I will find new ways to do things and new things I can do. Any new addition to what we are already achieving is another little step forward. I know I have a long way to go yet!
DeleteI do this too and it gets you thinking about all the little things you CAN do. It all adds up... Nancy@LittlehomesteadinBoise
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is the little things! Thanks for visiting.
DeleteCount me in for Thursday Independence Days! What a great idea, jayne-- and you have a lot! Cheers, Kathryn
ReplyDeleteFantastic! Cannot wait to hear what you are doing!
DeleteThanks Jayne for sharing this with us at Good Morning Mondays. Blessings
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for hosting! It is a great beginning to my Mondays.
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