"The Cost of Compromise" would have been a better title...

My New Year resolution for 2013?

To become as self-sufficient as I can possibly be by the end of 2013.

I want to find the way, means and manner by which we can live on this 1.5 acre piece of God's creation in NEPA and rely as little as possible on the "machine" of modern society.

Just over 100 years ago, the home I am sitting in was built on this same piece of land, and a family (named the Bakers) happily and productively lived here for the better part of 70 years.  They built the house without electricity, running water, sewage utilities, government assistance, or special guaranteed loans and grants.  They farmed, produced and managed all the surrounding land.  Of that original homestead, we now own only 1.5 acres... but with the means at our disposal, there is no reason why we can work to meet a goal of 75% complete self-sufficiency within a few short years.

By year's end, I resolve to find the means to reduce our fuel consumption (mainly heating oil) by more than 60%, and our costs by more than 50% for winter heating.  This 100-year-old house will be better insulated, it will have a secondary source of heat for winter, it will have a secondary source of water, and it will have a secondary source of sanitation by next winter.  We will improve our gardening skills (already rather successful in our first few attempts) to allow us to "produce" a much larger proportion of our consumable needs every season.  We will find the means to stop "patching" the problems with this old house, and we will learn how to "fix" them ourselves.  We will find the means to supplement or reduce our electrical needs.

In short, I want to make my "goal" the ability to require only gasoline (which I cannot produce), electricity (which I cannot produce enough of), communication (internet, phone, etc) and such minimum amounts of supplies as required to live healthy, happy and productive lives.  I want to manage this house as a "homestead" that can and does produce as much as it needs, as often as it can, with only what we have on hand to do it.

It worked for my grandparents and great-grandparents during the Great Depression.  It worked for the people that built this house and successfully worked the land here for 70 years (until the Carter Depression, in fact, when it was parceled- out and sold).  By God, it's going to work for us too... or I'm going to go broke.  I simply DO NOT see how I am going to pay for two college educations, a young son, and all the bills and costs associated with today's spend-spend-spend society.