How to be self sustainable

Today has been a lovely warm day of around sixteen degrees (warm for winter in the Southern Highlands!). The three little pigs are finally settling in, taking food from our hands and letting us pat them briefly while they are eating. They have quite sharp, strong teeth. I think they sometimes mistake fingers for bread! Some beautiful friends came to visit us today. They met the piglets and were privileged to see them shoving and pushing each other like playful puppies. They truly are a joy to be around.

Whilst walking around outside today with our friends I was reminded of the way I, and my family, have chosen to live. This way is one of trying to generate our own food sources so as not to rely on food that has to travel a long way to get here, or food that has not had a happy life. Choosing to embark on a journey towards self-sustainability is exciting and challenging. Our piglets are the latest addition to our farm and all the other wonderful measures we have in place to ensure that we are living as sustainably as possible.

We have sheep that we breed for meat. Our sheep shed their coats, which are a mixture of wool and hair. They are very low maintenance as we do not have to shear them. The breed we have comes from South Africa and they were bred to be hardy. They certainly cope well with our Southern Highlands weather which can be pretty rough. They survive primarily on grass. Sometimes we give them some hay. At the moment we have six lambs that are all growing well.

Also, we have chickens, ducks and a goose. From these animals we receive eggs for which we are very grateful! I actually say "thank you" to them each time I collect an egg. We feed them our kitchen scraps and chicken pellets which we buy from a pet produce shop. The ducks also love snails.

Our electricity is powered by the sun. Our water comes from the sky and is collected in our rainwater tank. Our sewerage system is independent and what goes into it is broken down and comes out as clean grey water.

Another project just started is our big vegetable garden. We have garlic and potatoes as well as beans, silver beet and Asian greens. Trial and error will be our guide as to what will grow well and what will produce the best harvest. Our fruit trees gave us many apples this last summer, this meant lots of apple crumble! The blackberries and raspberries provided us with lovely jam.

"How do I become self sustainable?" I hear you ask. There is no one way to become self sustainable. There are many things that we would like to achieve here on our farm, and many things that anyone with similar ambitions could achieve. Enjoying the journey and learning along the way is rewarding!