Self-sufficiency: the definition

Our challenge is to be self-sufficient in every important way by Thanksgiving, 2010.  This begs the question of course, 'what is our definition of self-sufficiency?'.  Now, you may have your own ideas about what it takes to be self-sufficient so, by all means, let us know, but here is our definition based on our circumstances:

We based our definition on the basics of human survival ie. food, water and shelter. To these we added some kind of heat source because we live in a place that gets darn cold and energy to provide some light because we live in a place that gets darn dark and maybe some refrigeration because when its not darn cold its darn hot. 

We definitely need a new roof!

More specifically then, in our particular circumstance, this will require the following components:

• A raised garden.  The only place on our property with a large enough clearing among the trees for a garden is also the place with the thinnest amount of topsoil. You know how balding men grow their hair long on the sides and then comb it over the bald spot?  That's kind of the way our thin little wisp of topsoil forms over the head of rock we live on. If you dig a hole in one place you will hit rock about 8 inches down and then if you go 20 yards away and dig another hole you will hit rock again 8 inches down and it will be the same rock.  We tried growing a garden in this place last summer and got six carrots, eleven radishes and six potatoes.  So, we'll have to bring in some real soil and build raised gardens to be self-sufficient in food.  I should add we are not hunters so, although there is plenty of game around here we won't be eating any of it, however, we have a small lake full of bass that will round out our diet nicely.
• A rainwater collection system and a greywater rehabilitation system.  We had a well drilled last summer and you can read about that experience in my blog on well-from-hell so I won't go into the details here but suffice it to say we do have some drinking water, about 100 gallons a day. So we can say we are self-sufficient in drinking water but perhaps not for things like garden watering so we plan to add a rainwater collection system in case we need it.  Because we live on a rock a septic system is not an option so we must have a way of processing greywater although I'm not sure this is a requirement to be self-sufficient.
• A root cellar.  We will need a place to store the produce from our garden over the winter so a root cellar is a necessity. Once again, because we live on a rock this will be a particular challenge.  Our plan is to build our root cellar structure into the side of a hill.
• A new roof.  The roof of our hunt camp home caved in last winter due to snow load so will have to be replaced.  We have decided to replace it using a timberframe construction milled from out own logs from our own bush.  I began the process of hauling logs last summer and have about 14 logs lined up on the front yard as we speak. 
• Ten cord of firewood cut and split.  This is my estimate of the amount of wood needed to keep us warm for a winter.
• Refrigeration.  We installed a small solar system last summer that provides enough power to charge batteries and keep the computer working but not enough to run a conventional fridge but I came across plans for a solar powered freezer refrigerator so we are going to try building one if we can do with found parts.

So, that's what it will take to make us self-sufficient.  If I missed anything, let me know, and if you have any ideas about how to do any of these things, I'm all ears.