The world is volatile, global supply chain disruptions are common along with rising costs and an unknown future. You can break free from reliance and dependence on external systems by become more self-reliant and resilient. It can be powerful to reclaim your independence, and you can start to do this by learning skills that enable you to do more for yourself and your family.

You don’t have to live in isolation to be more self-sufficient, and you can achieve a lot in an urban or semi-urban setting. You can lower costs by being a producer as well as a consumer, and at the same time create a more stable and sustainable lifestyle.

Here is how to start:

Grow Your Own Vegetables 
Bypass reliance on the supermarket and at the same time eat healthy food that is picked and on the plate within minutes. Not only will you reduce plastic waste from packaging it also avoids sudden price increases.

Don’t try to do too much at once:

• Start small, grow herbs, and ‘pick and come again’ salad leaves. Most of these can thrive in pots or in the ground.

• Use the no-dig method of gardening by layering organic waste, aged manure, and compost, it is easy to set up, produces great results and is also easy on the back.

• Plant perennials like asparagus and fruit trees as well as the types of vegetables you know your family like and will eat.

• Use heritage varieties and learn to save seeds for future crops.

Start Preserving 
When you grow vegetables you inevitably end up having ‘gluts’. You can manage this excess produce by preserving and freezing it. You can also make the most of seasonal produce you purchase by waiting until it is at its cheapest and then preserving what you buy in bulk. This way you can eat well and cheaply all year round.

• Freezing is probably the easiest method you blanch the vegetables briefly then pack them to exclude most of the air, label, and freeze.

• Soft fruit can be turned into jam or frozen for smoothies. Cucumbers, cabbages, carrots, onions, and cauliflowers can be turned into pickles using vinegar or salt brine.

• Dehydrate your excess: Air-dry herbs for year-round use in an oven on low heat or a microwave oven You can dry apples for tasty snacks or finely chopped carrots, celery, and onions to add to soups and casseroles.

Produce Your Own Eggs
Two or three chickens is enough to supply a family with a dozen eggs a week and also provide some of their protein needs

You can do this in a suburban backyard with a coop and chicken run. It may cost to set up but will soon repay itself - and the fresh eggs taste so much better! The chickens will also help to improve soil fertility and eat garden pests.

Learn Some Woodworking Skills
Maintain a sustainable household by making simple repairs to your home and garden or undertake some small building small projects. Learn basic jointing and finishing techniques to make furniture repairs, raised garden beds, a chicken coop, fencing or anything else you may like to try.

This is just a start - there are many more ways to be self-reliant:

• Provide your own power (yes this is costly but does pay for itself within a few years).

• Install water tanks.

• Install heavy blinds and curtain for thermal control in the home and reduce power usage.

• Use less toxic cleaning products like bi-carbonate of soda, lemons, and vinegar.

• Buy second hand – both household goods and clothes.

• Learn to sew.

Make a start by learning more - click on these links to check out your first steps:

Produce your own eggs: https://studyacs.com/product-caring-for-chickens-and-other-poultry-short-course-6309.aspx

Preserving: https://studyacs.com/product-food-preserving-short-course-7351.aspx

Growing your own fruit and vegetables: https://studyacs.com/product-fruit-and-vegetables-short-course-6306.aspx

Stop relying on a ‘tradie’: https://studyacs.com/product-woodworking-basics-short-course-9406.aspx

Learn more about solar energy: https://www.acs.edu.au/courses/alternative-energy-151.aspx

Or try a mini course - check out our short courses site: https://studyacs.com/

Groundskeeper is a title commonly given to someone responsible for caring for the grounds on a property such as a school, hospital, public institution or even large private estate. The work might be primarily the same as a gardener, but may sometimes involve general property maintenance tasks that go beyond what a gardener normally does.  Groundskeepers tend to work alone or with an assistant, perhaps responsible directly to the manager or owner of the larger property where they work. This might be different to a gardener who may work under direction from a garden supervisor or horticultural manager.

ACS has developed a new category of course this year, adding to its already extensive stable of online training programs. Experiential learning tasks are found in ourshort online courses. Our courses have been developed with knowledge gained over 47 years of teaching people through distance education.

These courses are designed to be able to be completed in 10 hours; making them ideal for CPD or staff training. They are ideal study options for anyone who needs or wants to improve a skill but is pressed to find time for study.