Chris and Stef jumped into self-sufficiency last year when they decided not to buy groceries for an entire year, including staples like salt, sugar, coffee, and flour! Instead, they've been growing, catching, raising, and harvesting 100% of their food supply on a small 1/2 acre homestead. They're only a few weeks away from completing their year-long homestead challenge and they attribute their success to hard work and to the fact that they live in the Southern Gulf Islands where they have a great growing climate and access to the ocean.

Be sure to follow their@LovinofftheLand homesteading adventures – they're going to continue producing most of their own food even after the challenge is done, and may even announce a brand new challenge later this year!
   / lovinofftheland  
  / lovinofftheland  
  / lovinofftheland  

The couple's four main sources of food have been:
CATCH - they catch fish, prawns, and other seafood from the ocean
GROW - they grow loads of vegetables, fruit, herbs, and spices on their land
HARVEST - they forage for things like mushrooms, berries, nuts, and seaweed
RAISE - they raise laying hens, chickens, and turkeys for eggs and meat

Eating only what they produce has drastically reduced the amount of money that Chris and Stef spend on groceries (they still buy hygiene products and other items that are not food and beverages) but a lot of the savings went directly towards building infrastructures like fencing and the chicken coop.

Another advantage of living off the land and sea like this is that they have noticed a huge reduction in the amount of household waste they're throwing out. Food from the garden doesn't come in a package!

It was inspiring to meet these two and see all the work they've put into learning and working towards their goal of becoming more self-sufficient with their food production. They taught us a ton and we're looking forward to following along with them. Be sure to check out their YouTube channel which is called Lovin Off The Land:
   / lovinofftheland  

Thanks for watching!

Mat & Danielle

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Blog: www.exploringalternatives.ca
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CREDITS
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Music & Song Credits:
All music in this video was composed, performed, and recorded by Mat of Exploring Alternatives.

Editing Credits:
Mat and Danielle of Exploring Alternatives

Filming Credits:
Mat of Exploring Alternatives

Additional Photos from the start of the challenge provided by:
Chris and Stef from Lovin Off The Land

#homestead #selfsufficient #livingofftheland