Why i'm proud to choose a self-sufficent lifestYle

Its an on going rate increase in Ontario that is causing the lower income families to scrape by on pennies or should I say dimes now! We live in a free country so we are told but really how free are we? The prices of gas, food and hydro are always on the rise, not to mention first time home buyers are now finding it even more difficult to get a mortgage to start their lives and families. If you are in the medium to low income family category living pay check to pay check, these increases are making it almost impossible to survive and I am sure Ontario's poverty rate is increasing. When you are forced to pay an extremely ridiculous priced Hydro bill in order to have lighting and possibly heat in your home and have to give up purchases of healthy foods in order to do so it doesn't really feel that free now does it.
I have heard so many stories of people and how they have no way to pay their hydro bills and how some have been forced to live without either because they have had to shut it off or the hydro company has disconnected their services. Sure they say they will not increase rates or shut off hydro thru November till April but what happens when April comes and how will January's delivery free rate impact these unpaid bills?
My family would be considered low income and I am sure that if I didn't have good money management skills I would be right on or below that poverty line with no home and no hydro. Fortunately we had decided four years ago to become more self-sufficient and learn live off the land, and I am super glad we did because I am dealing with $500 hydro bills a month and we don't run much more hydro then my parents who only pay $140 roughly. In all honesty I think the "Smart meters" really are not that SMART! Sure we have eleven people in our house but we keep lights off unless needed only use one tv and one computer and a phone, we are pretty low maintenance if I do say so, but we still feel that stress. The only reason we can survive is because we have taught ourselves how to can preserves, raise our own meat and grow our own vegetables, without these skills I am sure I'd be sitting in the dark with no hydro and no Internet to even write this.
I try to teach my children every day the importance of being self-sufficient and although life may seem more convenient when you can go to the store and buy items and just turn on something with a flick of a switch, working for and growing your own food and clothing not only makes you respect it more but also gives you a feeling of independence.
With all the increasing rates for staples what kind of world will our children grow up in? Well I know mine will grow up without being hungry and be able to supply themselves with their own sources of heat and hydro and this makes me feel overjoyed.