It began with a small vegetable garden at the backyard, sowing seeds of tomatoes, ball pepper, cucumber, curry, scent leaves and every other seed that was edible. Grandma taught me how important it was to plant and nurture them, weeding and watering in-between and also how to compost manure from organic wastes. For me then, it was fun at first, then boring until I would start complaining of the stress involved and how I didn't want to be a part of all these hard labour. I was seven years then and so ignorant and naive.
If there was one thing I learnt from living in a rural area and with a very resourceful Grandma, it was the art of Self-sufficiency( and believe me when I say that I learnt so many things from her for the five years we were together).
She had livestocks like goat, chicken, local turkey etc which she sold for money or traded by batter with other villagers.
Then our compound was more like a little forest with all kinds of food trees, pear, coconut, plantain, banana, palm, orange, tangerine, cherry and so many others.
Having all these, she had almost all she needed or could get whatever she needed by trading what she had.
When I look back, I'm grateful for those invaluable lessons in Self-sufficiency that she imparted upon me, even if I didn't appreciate it at that time.
Then fast forward to a few years ago;
Living in the city for many years, I had disconnected from my roots and gone very far away from this rewarding art. Firstly for lack of access to Land resources and secondly for time constraints, being very busy with my white collar jobs.
Then there was a downturn in the economy, times became more challenging. That was when I decided to reconnect with my roots again.
Now there are positive changes because I didn't have to heavily rely on just my salary, but I have extra coming in through the sales of Coconuts
This is Yellow Malayan Kerala Dwarf Coconut Tree which begins to yield between 3-4 years after planting. Each tree has the ability to produce 300 Coconuts every year, of course at different times. It needs no maintenance at all. I had planted twenty of these Coconut trees in my portion of land, and had been consistently making between a thousand and a thousand, two hundred dollars yearly (1000$-1200$), just from selling them. It had paid school fees, it had bought foodstuffs, it had paid medical bills and even much more.
Achieving complete self-sufficiency might not be tenable for some people, but we can take some steps to increase our level of Self-reliance and reduce our dependences on white collar jobs. This will help in stamping out poverty, especially from the third world countries
My only regret is not starting this venture earlier.
The photos are all mine.
Thank you for stopping by my neighbourhood.