Logistics of Sustainability

Here is the complete list of necessary skills for a self-sufficient lifestyle with a high standard of living:

FOOD:

Agriculture, Permaculture, Aquaponics, Seed saving, Compost, Mushrooms, Foraging, Greenhouse, Irrigation, Soil fertility, Mulching
Animals, Bee Keeping, Fowl, Fish, Hunting, Game management
Storage, Fat, Cheese, Milking, Eggs (candling), Smoking, Salt curing, Drying, Butchery, Oil, Threshing, Hulling, Grinding, Storing, Cellars, Canning, Drying, Brewing
Food Preparation, Fire stove

WATER:

Charcoal filter, Irrigation, Plumbing

SHELTER:

Heat, Structure, Storage, Work Space, Forestry, Water, Terra-forming

TOOLS:

Forging, Sharpen, Quenching/carbon control, Chain/Gear, Tools
Plumbing, Making pipe, Heated water, Fittings, Pressure/pumps
Glass-work, Clay-work, Stonework, Woodwork, Storage
Home-crafts, Soap, Sewing/Knit/Quilt/Leather-work, Predict weather, Bike

COMMUNITY:

Making Money, Taxes, Teaching, Interns, Community events

If I can master these, I think I'm set. I've highlighted the ones I fell I've mastered in yellow, and the ones I feel well acquainted with in green. I think I'm at least passingly familiar with all of them except butchery. Any additional suggestions welcome.

What are the logistics of sustainability?

I wanted to know the answer to this question, but could not find most of my answers, and those I could find were all here and there. I want to be sustainable, so I started collecting them and now I am storing and presenting that information.  

This weblog is designed to be a central location for all information I might need to live completely sustainably. It includes a list of topics ranging from pre-sustainable life preparation to practical day-to-day considerations. 

I believe that I can buy a property and within five years convert it into a homestead which can provide all of my families material needs. All food, clothing, housing, entertainment, money, tools etc.. I think I can provide everything we could use, such that we never have to buy anything again. In this blog, I will hopefully make that transition from my current job as a production manager at a small farm to a self-reliant homesteader.

I sometimes let my fear that it is impossible to make enough money for taxes and expenses from my land drift, and I fear that it is impossible to get all of ones resources (food, home, tools etc.) from the land. Then I remember that that was what everyone did up until very recently. It was just a lot of work. And in the past self-sufficiency usually worked more like small community-sufficiency, with labor shared during harvest and in specialized skills like smithing. Communal sufficiency is more ideal, and I would like to be a part of such a community, but I doubt there are sufficient people similar to myself to make such a community work. and so I will plan for the more difficult solitary scenario. 

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below.

How much land do I need dedicated to growing food to completely feed all the members of my household?

This is related to a similar question: What is the minimum land requirement for food per person?

I answered the second question through calculations, and used the energy provided by sunlight as my limiting factor. I concluded that for an average American diet, 1/2 acre per person is the absolute theoretical minimum required to sustainably produce food with no external inputs. The practical minimum is of course higher than the theoretical minimum, as it is rare that all the factors involve should be aligned to provide for perfect production.

Due to the the inefficiency of the real world, I answered the first question by concluding that I wanted at least 1 acre per person for sustainable food production on my land.