My family plus I are certainly self reliant, which is important because the nearest population center is 2 fifths away. We live in a certainly remote section of the valley, perfect for people who want to live off the land. If there is a medical emergency, or the people I was with and I need to purchase the kind of supplies the people I was with and I can’t make ourselves, then I go to town, then but a trip to neighborhood only happens a few times a year, otherwise the people I was with and I are on our own. The “golden triangle” of necessities for the family is certainly straight-forward, plus includes food, water, plus heating. We have multiple sources of heating, plus you won’t be surprised to hear that the people I was with and I don’t have an air conditioner at all. There are only a handful of days every year where it gets boiling enough for an A/C unit, plus after months of frozen tundra cooling is the last thing the people I was with and I want! Our main heating method is a natural gas gas furnace, so the people I was with and I have a 2 hundred gallon tank of natural gas in the yard. We also have a fireplace in the living room, which is appealing but takes a lot of work to chop the wood for it. As section of learning self reliance, the kids all get to chop wood for the fireplace, because I always like to have a many or many month supply on hand. The beauty of the natural gas gas furnace is that it is so straight-forward, so there are certainly few parts that can chop or erode. It is a certainly straight-forward heating method to install plus maintain yourself.