Being Self Sustainable on the Big Island

[MickeyE]

Originally Posted by smarino

I don't think self sustainable is a valid way to live anywhere. We are all dependent on many, many people, whether or not we wish to see it or not. I saw this sort of thing so, many, many times when we lived on the BI. People come to Hawaii to live some sort of idealized existence w/o understanding that it takes cooperation between many, many people to live anywhere, ESPECIALLY on an island in the middle of nowhere that has very few services. I mean, there are not many doctors, the doctors that are there aren't seeing new patients (unbelievable), the hospital on the BI is limited and anyone w/ a serious medical issue has to be flown to O'ahu or the mainland, and on and on. Daniel Boone was a legendary figure, and almost certainly fictitious. Living that sort of isolated existence isn't fun, or safe. We should all just sit quietly in front of our food, our closet of clothes, our medical receipts, and think of how many people were responsible for each one. No, I'm sure there is no such thing as self sufficient, and if there is, it's an isolated, scary life I wouldn't wish on anyone.

Daniel Boone most certainly was not fictitious! Daniel Boone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has some good info on Daniel. Where did you get the idea that he was "fictitious"? Read your history books!

There are people living a sustainable lifestyle all over the world. The big problem is that people want two or three new cars, a TV in every room, Xboxes - all the "comforts" of the modern lifestyle without putting in the effort to be self sustainable.

My dad always had a big garden, we had a cow for milk, chickens, mom canned the veggies from the garden for winter, we had a well with a hand pump, an outhouse. He repaired most anything that got broken because he had a fairly decent workshop and tools - mostly hand tools. I would say we were around 70% self sustainable. On top of that, he did work outside the home so it wasn't just "garden" and do things around the house. This was on a one acre lot with about half devoted to the garden, the rest was house and yard with a couple of small "outbuildings". Mom sewed and made lots, not all but lots, of our clothing. Dad loved to hunt, too so we had rabbit, groundhog, squirrel at times.

Nowadays people don't grow "big" gardens, they don't repair anything that gets broken, most people don't have a workshop or even basic hand tools. Just throw it away and buy another. Go watch TV.

Yeah it ain't necessarily easy, but it can be done, but you gotta want to do it.

Mickey

[hotzcatz]

I dunno, Mickey, it depends on the people you hang with as to if they still do stuff or not. I was just at a birthday party where they could tell you the name of the cow who provided the cream for the ice cream. Of course, they had the birthday party sort of early since the birthday girl still had to do chores after the party.

[dmreid]

My husband and I are coming out exactly to do the same on a much smaller scale. I was just researching about how and what to grow in Hilo. I'll keep reading all that you learn on this forum so thank you for putting it out there. I've learn quite a bit from just watching his videos......Permaculture Geoff Lawton. Good luck

[hotzcatz]

Grow what you like to eat. A lot of folks get all happy about some sort of new wonderful thing they've never tried. So they plant a pile of it and then once it's ready to eat, they find out they don't like it.

Permaculture is nothing new for the islands. We have year round gardening which is sort of permaculture. Things like lima beans will last for years and years. I've got celery in the garden still producing that was started in 2009 or 2010, I forget which. The celery is not official "permaculture" but it's nothing that has to be replanted season to season. Just harvest the celery stalks from the outside and let the inside keep growing. Indeterminate tomatoes will go for a few years. Other stuff like string beans and lettuce goes for awhile and then dies off. Once you get the more or less permanent plantings set up, then you can have your replant section.

If you get heirloom or open pollinated plants, you'll be able to save seeds and replant the same thing again for the next year. That also lets you save your seed money for new and interesting varieties instead of buying the same old seed from year to year.

I was just making a list today of the spices to put into a new spice rack. We've moved to a new house, so it's a good time for new spices. More than half of the two dozen herbs and spices which I find useful for cooking are grown fresh in the yard so there weren't that many to buy at the store. We did pop into the nursery and pick up a few herb starts. Sage, rosemary, two types of basil, marjoram, a different type of celery, lavender and parsley. Plus there's a pile of other spices being transferred from the other house. Once you get a lot of stuff going you can just keep moving it to the next garden. If you give starts of it away and something happens to yours, then you can get a copy back again, too.

[pbmaise]

Like harvest the dark skies above Mauna Kea
Stop importing oil and use ample geothermal
Grow crops resistant to diseases

oopps