The Myth of Self-Sustainability: What I’m Growing to Cut My Grocery Costs

I have been living on my little Finca for ten months.

Taking care of my porch garden, photo by author

My main objective since moving onto the land has been to achieve self-sustainability. Yes, I bought into that lie, many do, and some of us realize the lie, and others don´t, as with many things in life.

However, I no longer have that goal, as I have realized self-sufficiency is a lie, one that we are fed through social media and only promotes self-isolation, and quite frankly, it's wrong.

Additionally, most people who claim to be self-sufficient have access to the internet these days. Wow, you made the internet, so impressive.

As well as many other things, you have to start somewhere, buy seeds from someone, or someone else planted the seed. Chickens, pigs, and goats all came from someone, or somewhere, most likely the community you live in.

This, in turn, leads to self-sustainability as something that is fed to us through an external source, and is a lie; it is not something we should aim for as farmers and caretakers of the earth.