My 2023 Self-Reliance Challenge
Learning how to be more self-reliant one month, one skill at a time.
It all started in 2021. I decided I wanted to be more prepared. I was introduced to Fieldcraft Survival and then Slowdown Farmstead in a short amount of time. And through their content, I was hit with waves of inspiration.
Fieldcraft Survival is a US survival gear & training company.
Slowdown Farmstead is a beautiful Canadian homesteading soul who has a magic way with words.
After spending time with them, via their Instagram accounts, I birthed the idea for a self-reliance challenge in 2022. In its simplicity, I wanted to learn how to be more self-reliant. In reality, I live in Ottawa, Ontario and we were facing lockdown after lockdown and then mandates were implemented where we weren’t allowed inside buildings due to medical choice. In my mind, I kept picturing worst-case scenarios. What if I wasn’t allowed inside a grocery store? What if I couldn’t feed my family?
I wanted to learn skills that I now know are getting lost. They are no longer being passed down from generation to generation. So armed with google and youtube I started teaching myself several skills.
I no longer worry about worst-case scenarios because I know that I’m one step closer to being more self-reliant and that relieves a lot of anxiety. While my goal isn’t to become a homesteader any time soon (though that might be a far-away goal). I know the skills I am learning serve me and my family well.
So how did 2022’s self-reliance challenge go?
I mapped out a monthly challenge for myself. And different skills I thought might be useful for myself or my family.
In January, I taught myself how to make gluten-free sourdough. No more trips to the grocery store for gluten-free bread filled with not-so-great ingredients.
In February, I taught myself how to preserve and can pickles, followed by fermenting a batch of sauerkraut. I can support local farmers and preserve food for the long term. I can now grocery shop from a farm and then my pantry.
In March, I was supposed to learn meat brining/smoking but I kept going with my canning and learned how to can pureed pumpkin, pickled beets, and a faux-tomato sauce that I love. I am not able to eat nightshades so we make a sauce for pasta with beets & carrots.
In April, I started seeds from scratch for a garden. This was probably my most successful endeavor in gardening overall.
In May, we started a backyard garden. Unfortunately, due to placement it just didn’t receive enough sun and I didn’t really succeed at growing all the vegetables I had envisioned.
In June, I took a foraging course at Ottawa Fresh Farm. I learned to identify lambsquarters, gil over the ground, wood sorrel, plantain, and burdock. After getting stung by a wasp this past summer knowing how to use plantain really helped!
In July, I thought I was going to look into alternative energy sources for our house but it was summer and I just didn’t prioritize it.
In August, I wanted to volunteer on a farm. I actually ended up doing this in March & April. I volunteered on a livestock farm. I learned how to feed sheep and dairy cows. I mucked pens and carried loads of muck to the field to make ski jumps that turn into topsoil.
In September, I decided to focus on a few things that our 2-year twins could start learning from alphabet and number games to different crafts their nanny could do with them every day. This was my intro to homeschooling which may be in our future.
In October, I learned how to save seeds from several things I grew or bought from a local organic vegetable farmer.
In November, I wanted to keep hunting and learn how to field dress an animal (I haven’t been successful in catching anything yet). But after a lot of sicknesses in our house and a bow accident with my hand crank, I didn’t get out enough to be successful this year.
In December, I taught myself how to knit and have been working on a blanket! This is probably the best stress-release tool I’ve learned so far.
You can read more, and see pictures of my successes over the past year in this post on my namesake website.
So what’s in store for my 2023 resilience challenge?
I’ve got more goals to get. More self-reliance skills to learn and I’m fairly excited about it all. So here’s the monthly skills list to tackle:
January: Meat Brining, Curing & Smoking
February: Learn How To Change A Tire
March: Home Evacuation Plan & Trial (In Case of Natural Disaster or Fire, etc.)
April: Buy & Install A Generator
May: Gardening 2.0
June: Composting
August: Fire Starting Skills (Learn How To Use My Flint)
September: PACE plan for Water Storage
October: Root Veggie Storage
November: Hunting
December: Knitting 2.0
What can you expect from this substack series?
Once a week, I’ll share more about the monthly self-reliance or resilience challenge I’m pursuing for all subscribers. As I’m tackling 2 challenges this year I’ll have lots to share each month.
And once a week, I’ll put out one post for paid subscribers only that will include all the resources I’m using to teach myself. That way if any of these topics resonate with you and you’re looking to challenge yourself you can use my research instead of searching for it yourself :)
The first paid post will come out this weekend sharing all the resources I used in 2022 to teach myself the myriad of skills I acquired.