Self Sustainability University

I am here, and thus a writer in my heart. I have been my whole life and I like to think that I am a writer above all else. But most of us, as humans, are not single-faceted, and hold in our hearts many passions. Mine collide, right here and right now.

Many years ago, my husband and I came together to realize our shared dreams and desires for self sustainability, in a very real and accessible way. We dove in whole-heartedly, probably too fast and with zero experience. We have learned on the fly, researching deeply and pivoting when necessary, not afraid to admit failure and try again. We have never had all the ideal equipment or tools, often hobbling together solutions and answers. It became, and is, my life passion: to live in a truly sustainable way within my means, providing my family health and joy while ensuring we leave only good marks on the world around us.

Money tight, there were no classes taken on how to do anything and we spent long evenings combing through often unhelpful blogs written by people just as clueless as we were. The few and far between snippets of real knowledge were priceless and bookmarked, saved and analyzed. So much of the knowledge of how to live like this, cooking from scratch and living off our land, has died with generations before us. We are often having to start over, building our personal knowledge with these scattered and hard-to-find resources.

And once we gained basic know how on things like what ducks need and where the brisket is on a cow, we leveled up. Taking the wide variety of experiences my husband and I both have outside of homesteading, we were able to expand upon everything we gleaned. I took incredibly basic butchering how-tos and developed ways of processing and packaging that work even better for us. My husband, bless him, designed innovative chicken coops, rabbit tractors, and duck palaces that are easy to build, sleek, and make animal raising a breeze. In everything we do, we seek to build upon and perfect information already hard to find in books, blogs, and forums.

I want to bring this knowledge together, condensed and organized into one central place. An overarching idea that homesteading, at it's core, is accessible to everyone. It's about working with what you have, practicing frugality, and learning what is worth spending your precious money on. Could you find used extra fencing materials at your local livestock auction or Facebook Marketplace and save money to put towards a really solid brand new wheelbarrow? If your land isn't perfectly flat, or has oddly spaced trees, can you design a chicken run and garden beds to work with instead of against these things? It takes time and experience to be able to see the ways to balance money, time, and space. Being able to kick start people into this knowledge base, with piles of information and experience from people who have been there is incredibly valuable.

So many people want to know how to do this: either the full meal deal of homesteading, from starting seeds to cooking with meat they've raised OR they might have deep knowledge of gardening but are just starting out with raising chickens. I have looked at a multitude of memberships or subscriptions from people I follow on creator platforms, and while I would love to support them, only some parts of their plans are interesting or beneficial to me.

So, I want to create an a la carte membership system where the member can choose one, three, or all of the base subject matters they are interested in. In my mind, no one should be paying for knowledge they neither need nor want. With this system, each person gains access to exactly the subject matter they are most interested in.

And what I do not have expertise in, I want to bring in those who do. People to speak on subjects they are especially passionate in: milk cows, honey bees, raising sheep, large-crop management, and anything else my audience is interested in.

Something you want to know about? Let me know, I'll share it or find someone who can. I see this as something that isn't static, it's always changing, growing, adapting. Homesteading is like that: there are always new ways to do something, different challenges that arise around us. In a perfect world, I want this to be a resource for everyone from beginners to seasoned farmers. You may be single living in an apartment and have a patio with 5 pots of herbs and you would benefit from this membership just as much as the family of six on 10 acres in the country. I promise.

Because we all learn and consume content differently, there will be a variety of media in each section: videos, written lessons, and short podcast style content. There will be nothing boring or lecture-like about this. I will include stories, recipes, meal plan templates, info-graphics, links to tools and products, planting guides, blueprints, and anything else you need to succeed.

An important aspect of this subscription is the monthly newsletter sent to each and every member, which will include:

- Seasonal reminders (Have you bought your seed potatoes yet? Did you know the best time to prune fruit trees is in January? Don't forget to plan dill now so it's ready for your cucumber harvest!)

- A timely recipe, something simple and accessible to use the bounty of the season.

- Homesteading related news, nationally or globally

- A personal story from my own life adventures, deep in the self sufficiency lifestyle

- Success stories - throughout the month members can send me photos, with captions, of their successes. I will feature select photos in the next newsletter to celebrate and motivate each other.

While the newsletter is sent to everyone, the rest of the subjects, or courses, will be a la carte:

Cooking

- Eating like your (great)grandparents – the nutrition behind whole, unprocessed foods and why it's important

- Dietary specific recipes – gluten free, dairy/cow-dairy free, soy free. All whole foods based with options that make recipes possible for everyone

- Lessons ranging from basic knife skills to roasting incredible potatoes all the way to time managing a stellar Thanksgiving feast.

- Meal planning techniques and guides that really work for real people

- Using what you grow and preserve

- Sources for ingredients

- How to buy in bulk and not go broke

Gardening

- Designing your garden to work with the sun, soil, space, and land

- Common pest and disease management

- What to grow and how much for your family, deciding what you'll really eat

- Enjoying the beauty – flowers and herbs for your homestead

- When to plant and what a Zone means

- When to harvest which crops

- How to save seeds for tomorrow

Butchering

- Everyone starts somewhere: an overview

- How to decide the cuts you want

- Packaging – paper or plastic

- Small animal processing: rabbits, chickens, ducks

- Large animal processing: sheep, pigs, cows

- Hunting and processing game – how it's different and how it's the same

- Using every part of the animal

Animal Husbandry

- What animals might be right for you and what you've never considered before

- Blueprints for easy to build, low maintenance animal structures

- How to maintain a self-sustaining animal cycle within your homestead

- Common concerns and illnesses and how to manage them

- Managing emotions behind raising animals

Preservation

- Options for preserving: canning, dehydrating, freeze drying, freezing, dry storage

- Canning tips, tricks, and how not to be scared of the process

- Resources for safe canning

- How to store your bounty properly

- Curing your harvest correctly for long term storage

- Making the most of the crop that grew too well

Have you ever tasted a wood smoked pork denver, possibly the best cut of pork you've never had? What about learn to tan a rabbit hide? Do you dream of warm, sweet tomatoes straight from the plant, but have no idea where to start? What about gluten and dairy free brownies that are so decadent you'll hide them away for yourself?

There is no end to the amazing things you can learn, the community you can be a part of, the mark you can leave on the earth, when passion meets knowledge.