Self Sufficiency:Is it Real or Memorex ?

By Donna OShaughnessy  AKA The Midlife Farmwife

As always buzz words come and go. (Did you not just see that word "Memorex?") 10 years ago for example, in nursing management, we threw around the phrase "Paradigm Shift" which to me indicated your underwear might be heading south and was therefore a difficult phrase for me to take seriously. Now, it seems it is farmings time for buzz words to be flying rampantly through the fair. Terms like All Natural, Beyond Organic and now in nearly every farm business card, Self Sufficient.

Poorer but happier in a self-sufficient way

According to  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/  this means "Able to provide for oneself without the help of others;independent." That's a pretty broad definition isn't it? Note that the word farmer is no where to be seen in the definition, yet farmers have latched on to this phrase with the force of Gorilla Glue or better yet, Gorilla Duct Tape. Have you guys ever tried this stuff ? Outstanding, but I regress.

In addition to the verbiage, countless books have been published and republished in the past five years concerning self-sufficiency in relationship to the number of acres owned. Titles such as "Self-sufficiency on 10 acres" are being one-upped by "Self-Sufficiency  on 1 Acre."   Whats next,  "Self-Sufficiency in my own bedroom while living off my parents at the age of 40?"

To my husband and I, the definition of self-sufficiency meant the ability to support ourselves entirely without any off-farm income, a terrifying step in farm independence especially since it was reported by the USDA that 93% of all farms rely on off farm income. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib3/eib3.htm  For the first 17 years of our marriage we ran our small family farm, a certified organic dairy, beef and pork business, with my husband home full time while I helped as able and worked as a registered nurse. My salary nicely filled in all the gaps, especially the huge health insurance gap. If the farm needed repairs, new equipment, bull semen, organic inspection fees, whatever, I simply picked up extra shifts. Life was busy and secure but our farm was rather stagnant.

To diversify the way we wanted, selling more often to high end restaurants and niche groceries as well as expanding our own on site farm store, we knew I had to be home full time, so we took the leap into "Self-Sufficiency Land." I quit my $70,000 a year part time job after 25 years in nursing.

Ouch.

Now, a year past that date, we are busier than ever and about even financially as we were 365 days ago. Our debt load is approximately the same even though sales have increased by 30%. The difference is whatever needs the farm has...THE FARM must find a way to pay for them. Our fall back cushions are not as plump. The ease of making extra money when the unbudgeted rears its ugly double-head is not as simple as signing up to work a Holiday for time and 1/2. Instead we have had to buckle down and be more efficient while ironically working longer hours. We could easily use a full time employee or two but there is no way to afford such, not yet. We are definitely exhausted. No extra shift moolah means tasks previously done by contracted outsiders has become our sole responsibility, and extras like short vacations and attending farm conferences have been eliminated from the budget.

But with the extra stress and fatigue we can now say honestly, that in our opinion, we are self sufficient. We've paid a high price to label ourselves such, by our own definition, and it is unsure what our future holds. We have in fact recently listed our big farm for sale with the goal of buying a tiny farm with just enough animals and gardens to support only the two of us. And then hopefully "self-sufficiency" will be less painful and more joyful.