La Yacata is more than a bug-out location for our family. It’s our home. Our quest to become self-sufficient is more than a temporary fix. It’s our lifestyle.
At times, it’s irksome, inconvenient and downright agonizing. Sometimes, we want to just throw in the towel. We’ve had more than our fair share of disasters living here in Mexico, and most probably will experience even more disasters in the future.
So what enables us to continue this life which we’ve been attempting for 10 years now?
Here are some tips.
Having hobbies. Each of us has our favorite pastime. My son and I love to read. We have a pretty good library of actual books and our Kindles. My son has taken up the guitar. He’s taken some classes, but for the most part been self-taught. My husband’s main pastime involves caring for our ever changing livestock selection. Sometimes it’s chickens and rabbits, other times, goats and sheep. We’ve had horses, donkeys, turkeys, quail, ducks and even a cow for a time. We all like to watch movies on our rechargeable DVD players. We like to go on day adventures. There are so many beautiful places here to visit. I knit and sew. Having hobbies keeps us sane. (See also Finding your Passion)
Being flexible about our income sources. You name it, we’ve probably tried it. We are not yet self-sufficient and as such find it necessary to supplement our income with outside work. We’ve sharecropped, taught classes, done bricklaying, baked bread, sold fruits and vegetables, had a store, worked in a store, and even collected and sold aluminum cans and rusty metal. All of these have been learning experiences for us. And while some jobs pay better than others, we never consider ourselves too good for any work. It certainly adds variety to our daily routines. (See also Finding your Passion)
Doing it ourselves. My husband built our house from scratch. It’s still quite a work in progress. It’s nearly an organic entity, growing and changing as our needs change. We’ve had plumbers, carpenters, and metalworkers come and do the things that are beyond my husband’s skill, but the bulk of the work he has done himself. We grow some of our own food, although that too is a work in progress. We collect most of our own water. Doing it ourselves keeps us from becoming too dependent on governmental agencies. (See also Homesteading and Prepping)
Having goals. We have both short and long term goals. Getting solar panels is something we hope to be able to do in the next few years. Becoming totally self-sufficient is something that will take longer. (See also Homesteading and Prepping) My son finishes formal schooling next year. Finding an apprentice type position with a carpenter or mariachi band is his next goal. My husband’s goal is to finish the second floor of our house. My goal is to move away from teaching in the Mexican school system and do more freelancing. Having goals helps us keep our focus on the bigger picture when day-to-day challenges present themselves.
Being adaptable. The key to making this lifestyle work is the ability to be adaptable to whatever comes our way. It’s either feast or famine sometimes. It has taken some re-orientation on our part to prepare for the worst while things are going well. It’s taken some attitude adjustment to get through the times when things don’t go quite so well. Being adaptable gives us the incentive to grin and bear it in gratitude.
I’d like to say that we’ve mastered the art of survival, but that simply isn’t true. We do the best we can with what we have at the moment and so far have been lucky. As you’ve seen in this month’s posts, there are things that are impossible to prepare for. So if and when they do present themselves, we will give it our best shot and hope for the best. If we survive life in La Yacata, well, great! If not, at least we tried.
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