This is how we imagine our everyday home and life to look like in the future.
· Living simply in a reasonably remote setting surrounded by a lush, productive, abundant food forest
· Growing all our food from A to Z while raising animals roaming through the fields
· Backyard/forest foraging for wild edibles
· Producing our energy from agricultural wastes and natural resources
· Making everything we need from scratch
· Stacking our pantry with seasonal foods that are in every foodie’s wildest dream
· Generating some income from different side activities to cover those essential products or services we are unable to produce ourselves
· Living a credit/debt-free lifestyle
· Walking barefoot around the house, in the forest, everywhere, if possible
· Leaving behind a smaller carbon footprint
· Making a difference in the community in our way
Pretty far-fetched? Not according to so many people and families who have done it for ages, and made it work.
I do not know exactly where I got this interest in generating-everything-we-need-to-sustain-ourselves way of living. Was it because I grew up foraging for food with childhood friends? Or maybe I got bitten by my parents’ love for gardening and growing-their-own-food habits?
Whatever made me daydream for a life unfettered by dependence on modern life, sooner or later, we will have to choose the kind of daily life we want for ourselves and our children.
Between the apparent things like
· working overseas or within the country,
· an 8-5 job or living completely off our homestead or some other ways,
· giving up the consumerist way of life or living in a vacuum,
· striving for something greater than ourselves or living the same boring life every single day, or
· simply getting back in touch with more essential things like thoroughly enjoying the life we’ve been working so hard to create.
We’ve been itching to get started on this quest for self-sufficiency for a few years. We know we can’t do all these, not just yet, but we can do some things now, and try the best we can with whatever skills or resources we have.
Let me tell you some small steps we have taken to get there - so stick around because we have plenty to share - starting with growing some of our food, and making simple changes to our daily routine.
Our mini food forest in the city
We have been living in Singapore for nearly seven years, in a “tiny” place in the middle of a vast urban area. How could we possibly grow vegetables and herbs when we don’t have space for it? When I’ve never grown anything in my life?
I was determined to work our way slowly to a sustainable lifestyle, starting with the most basic needs – growing an organic food garden.
The third time we moved house, having space (even if it’s just a small balcony or a corner) for a garden was on our must-have list. We were lucky to find just the perfect place, with 50% of the day’s sun beaming over the balcony and the kitchen windowsill.
It’s kind of embarrassing to say, given that my parents are big gardeners, but I'm not particularly good at growing veggies, flowers, or plants in general. I was clueless, but that didn’t stop me from doing it.
We started our mini balcony garden two years ago with all kinds of seeds/seedlings, and food scraps I could grab my hands. I had ginger, different herbs, lemon, potato, ladyfinger, arugula, sunflower, tomato, papaya. I could go on with this list, but I think we have enough here to demonstrate how I was in a hurry to fail miserably (lol). The balcony was so crowded with pots I could barely move!
I was full of myself to ask for help or tried to learn things on my own. I failed to appreciate those important things every first-time gardener should know before jumping in, like growing conditions, soil mixes, fertilizer, watering, and sunlight needs of each plant, and so on. No surprise that I failed the first, second, and third try at the start of this gardening journey.
Well, you know what they say. There’s no way around it; that’s how we learn. That’s when the idea of joining gardening communities in Singapore and subscribing to sustainable and intentional living vloggers popped into my head. Every day, my phone would light up with daily pictures and videos of beautiful gardens, unusual plants I’d never seen or heard of, or mouth-watering dishes made from scratch.
Gardening is hands down the most fun, and being part of a group that shares your passion, values, and interests makes it even better. The group has helped me with some questions about my plants and built up a valuable knowledge base. We’ve exchanged seeds/cuttings with others and joined plant tours, and local causes initiated by the group. More importantly, we’ve made some excellent friends!
Despite my occasional missteps, I am getting better at gardening and finding more fulfillment by watching them grow and seeing how different factors contribute to a plant’s growth or demise. I still find it hard to improve some things – with those supposedly hardy herbs topping the list. I now focus on a few specific, principal crops I found I’m good at growing: leafy greens, some herbs (basil, oregano), sunflowers, cranberry hibiscus. Compared with how I started two years ago, this list is significantly shorter and far fewer.
When you have a tiny space, are growing vegetables in containers, under recurring periods of hot weather, you never except that at some point you’re going to be harvesting. You never think you could make a sumptuous dish from the things you grow.
All that hard work of growing wholesome goodness right in our balcony does pay off. Even when my harvest is just a plateful, we feel full and satisfied. I feel grounded, connected. Imagine an entire forest teeming with a variety of plant and animal life. That would be pure food heaven!
Making simple changes to our daily routines
We didn’t stop with just gardening. We realized there are more ways than one to incorporate sustainability into our daily routine, and thus make a positive impact in the environment.
Here’s the thing – making a huge change doesn’t require a superhero-like effort. We can start with a few simple, obvious, but no less essential tweaks.
For example, hubby and I have been making most of our meals from scraps, in the most wholesome, and old-fashioned way. Some things didn’t turn out as we would have liked, but those mistakes in the kitchen weren’t heartbreaking. We always look forward to the unmistakable taste of real, fresh, more nutritious food, and without those weird ingredients.
By searching online, I discovered creative ways of using herbs we grow (like oregano), and making something delicious out of it (like this super yummy Tagliatelle with fresh oregano pesto). Due to its strong smell and unique aftertaste, we rarely used oregano despite its medicinal and nutritional properties. Now we are a prominent convert!
I learned how to preserve food by fermenting (allowing natural lacto-fermentation to sour vegetables instead of vinegar). The process was quite long, but there’s a huge pay off for the effort: a jar of flavorful vegetables for both our pro-biotics and cooking needs. My first try was a success; I might have a brine solution to pass down to the next generation.
Reduce, reuse, recycle has never been so easy. We’ve slowly cut out needless buys and purged all the stuff we’ve collected over the years. We ended up with a 100-kilo+ box full of overgrown clothes, shoes, linens, bags, or old but still working kitchen appliances. It was liberating, but we also reaped some cash in exchange and helped reduce waste.
It may be tempting to toss every empty bottle and jar. With more seeds awaiting their new homes, we repurposed some everyday “trash,” and whatever else we can imagine, turned them into useful planters, root cuttings, or pot saucers.
Food scraps (rinsed rice water, eggshells, banana peels, coffee grounds, used tea leaves) have become our go-to fertilizers to nourish our plants and boost their life.
We have been shopping virtually now, buying items in bulk, and using reusable bags to preserve the freshness and the life of fruits and vegetables.
A good start, but we can do a lot more
There are many other ways to make the switch. Ours are not even close to some online guides, which list down 100+ things we can change to make it right.
But what started as our simple routine to rebuilding existing ways of doing things has led us right back to this: that sustainability doesn’t have to be an afterthought. That we can be, can do, and make better choices.
I hope we can get there faster. In the meantime, I take solace in knowing that part of that future will include waking up in the morning to a super strong scent, of the only fruit we know that hits all the right spots, wafting in through the window. Just thinking about it makes me salivate with excitement!
I hope this piece inspires you to start making your small changes. Who knows, maybe you are already doing a few of these things.
I would love to receive your comments and feedback on how you started or realised your self-sufficiency dream. I can't wait to hear from you!
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