Self-Sufficiency

Part of the reason Nora and I moved to the North Country was to restore our quality of life. Our respective careers had become too consuming, and we had little time or energy for anything other than work (or the mindless flop on the sofa in front of the TV). We wanted a slower pace with time to appreciate each other, our animals, our friends and family, and to enjoy our hobbies. We also wanted to move to an area where the focus was less on accruing goods and more on enjoying what you have; less on building a fortress to protect yourself from the world and more on being part of an inclusive community. I’m happy to report that we have found all of that in the North Country. 

But another factor in our reasoning was this illusive and loaded concept of living more sustainably. I don’t even like using the term anymore; it has become so twisted and manipulated by politicians and corporate America alike. Regardless, our trek down this path was largely due to my career as an energy attorney and my focus on renewable energy. Over the course of a 4-5 year period I read rather widely in the area of renewable energy, climate change, food politics, and sustainability. The more I read, and the more I discussed with Nora and with my students (I was an adjunct and prior to leaving Connecticut, an assistant professor, at UConn Law), the more convinced I became that I needed to make changes in my life. Any changes I made were unlikely to have any widespread impact, but the changes would allow me to live with myself and feel better about what I was consuming. 

We made little changes while in Connecticut --tried to use less power, added more organic foods to our diet and ate a lot less meat, recycled everything we could, etc. But it was our hope that the move up here would allow us to become more self-sufficient and bring us closer to our food sources. My brother, who lived in and maintained our house and property for the 3 years we owned it prior to moving up here, had already - per our orders - begun to grow organic vegetables and berries, and had planted a young orchard.  

When we relocated, we continued the garden, added 7 more fruit trees and multiple berry bushes, and added a small group of laying hens to our "farm." We also buy our chicken locally (organic, free range and humanely raised and slaughtered) from Smith Farm Chicken, Massena, NY and grass-fed beef locally from Burley-Rogers Farm.  I can, freeze and store (in our dirt basement that passes as a root cellar) much of our produce, bake most of our bread, and we supply our own eggs. We've also made the concious decisions this winter to heat more with wood (we have 1 woodstove in the house that is capable of heating most of the downstairs) and 120+ acres of woods) and use less oil. 

It's a start. There are many more changes I would like to make and we're a far cry from self-sufficient, but our diet is definitely healthier and more under our control. We eat far less (and I hope to eventually eliminate) processed foods. I would, within the next 1-2 years, like to add our own dairy supply as well in the form of several milk goats.

We're getting to a place I can feel good about - bit by bit.