If you had 1 acre....

[sedalbj]

and you wanted to support your family as much as possible, where would you start?

I want vegs of all types, and also want to plant fig, blueberry, raspberry and maybe strawberry bushes and apple trees, for family and maybe an eventual u-pick opportunity. Chickens would be a must, with maybe goats and a cow or two after a few years. I am assuming an acre planned well would do all that for us and probably have some left over.

Are there any books out there that address that type of farm, or websites that address it? I am taking great classes at my CSA about farming but that is on a larger scale than I am thinking. I am rereading Animal, Veg, Mir for some inspiration...

Thanks for your help! I love MDC

[limette]

I just bought "The Backyard Homestead; Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre". It gives you examples of layouts for 1/10th acre, 1/4 acre and 1/2 acre. There is veg growing, fruit growing, grain crops, beer and wine making, canning, small animals etc. It's a nice resource.

We have 1/5th an acre in the city with the exception of my flowery front yard I'm trying to grow as much food as we can out back. This year we put in 10 blueberry bushes and 2 nanking cherries. We have a veg garden that doubling next year. We are in the process of removing some tall maples so we can replace them with fruit trees (more cherries, pears, apples and plums). If I had an acre and it was legal I'd also have chickens, pigs and goats.

[cristeen]

How to grow more vegetables by John Jeavons

There're plans in the back of the book for self-sustaining gardens by family/plot size and by season. It covers rotational planting and subsequent years as well.

Not sure what type of fig you wanted to grow - but I do know fig trees tend to be messy. Which is probably a decent trade-off considering the price of figs ($5/pint here), but something to keep in mind when you're considering placement.

Cane berries (raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries, etc.) require plenty of room and attention to prevent total overtaking of the garden.

And an acre should be plenty, if you're not looking at living on that acre. I know my grandparents had 2 acres with a house and it was more than plenty for them to have something like 20 different fruit trees, half a dozen nut trees (cash crop) and a full garden. The only thing they wound up buying in the off season was salad greens, IIRC - they canned or froze pretty much everything else.

[AngelBee]

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[Katrinaquerida]

Check out Countryside magazine, also try the Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery, it has TONS of resourses listed! More power to you!

[PaulaJoAnne]

You can certainly do quite a few chickens. 3-4 dozen layers.
But, goats need a fair amount of forage, and cows require 3 acres each.
Also, unless you live in an area that a cow can be on pasture year round, and you are able to legally sell milk, you will find it to be a money drain.
They eat a lot.
www.pathtofreedom.org is a site you will find lots of good info on.
They do have a couple of pygmy goats, but they do not get access to green forage that is needed for optimal health and good milk.
They live on 1/5th of an acre, and grow approx. 6,000 pounds of veges on half that.

[lmonter]

Yes to what they said. If you live in a colder climate you'll have to modify John Jeavon's plan (I was in awe that he had mature potatoes harvested and then planted something else in one plan - I'm lucky if blue potatoes have enough time in one season to get small-medium sized!). I got one little book off Amazon the other day which is cute, but not all that detailed. One that stands out is "The Have More Plan" or something. Not sure if that's the one I got or not - its across the house and I'm not getting up right now. (sorry)

Figure out where you want to put the animals and fruit trees, as once those are in, they're probably not going to be moving. Then where you plan to put the vegetables and semi-permanent stuff like strawberries and asparagus and so on. But you can almost wing some of that, depending on the lot.

I've managed to squish a respectable amount in the backyard of our .28 acre lot, and there's still grass (well, mowed weeds) for the kids to run around in, a shed, and there's not much in the front/side yards besides a few apple trees. You can do quite a bit with an entire acre.

[chainedangel]

nothing that i can easily get a ton of at a local u-pick (which for me is potatoes and broccoli)

Take a look at what you and your family eat alot of (I should plant an apple tree) and what you'd like to include more of in your families diet. Then see if you can grow those things in your area. (sorry, Wall-E fans. No pizza plants.)

Grow those things and try to leave some space to just sit and watch the goings on of the garden. : Maybe put up a few bird feeders to encourage our feathered friends to come in and aid in pest control. Not to mention their beauty. :

[Brisen]

I Like The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour. It is geared towards people living on at least 5 acres, but I still find it useful for me on 1/5 acre. Also, he's in a more mild climate than I am (Ireland, I think, vs. Canada, near the border with upstate NY) so his info about what do do in the winter isn't great for me.

It also has info on preserving food, what tools to use, building things like a greenhouse, animal care, etc. Nothing too in-depth, but it's a good starting point.

[Alyantavid]

Honestly, with all of what you want, an acre would be a little squished. Especially if you want to make money off of what you can raise there.

We have 4.5 acres, tons of fruit trees, a large garden, 2 cows and 3 goats. We will get chickens at some point too. This gives the cows and goats lots of room to roam and graze (and cost us less in feed). It gives my kids tons of space to play.

The one tip I have is about the fruit trees. Most of ours are in the yard and it makes a huge mess. I would plant all the fruit in one area if I were starting from scratch. Our cow loves fruit so whatever is on the ground goes to her.

I agree with lmonter too about the climate you're in. You won't be able to grow year round, or feed grass year round unless you're in a warm climate. We have long winters here and have to feed hay since there is no grass. And fresh veggies get a little scarce by the time February rolls around.

[katiemfree]

Er.. still learning how to post... I just got the Backyard Homestead book too! I was inspired by the chapter on growing grains- I'm planting some winter wheat this fall. From a plot 20x50 feet it possible to harvest 50 lbs of grain- cool!

[serenetabbie]

Hi! I am in PA too, and we lived in MontCo for a long time. You are so lucky to live in a warmer area of PA. Make sure you check with your local zoning officers before you get any live stock. A lot of places you need an acre per large animal aside from where your home, barn and garden is. Quite a few more suburban areas have restrictions on how many chickens you can have, if any. It would be a shame to go through the work only to be told you cannot have the animals!

Start small and build on it, that's what most of us have done. You don't want to get crazy right away and find you don't have the time or energy to deal with a huge harvest. I grow what we spend the most money on; tomatoes for salsa and sauce, peppers for all kinds of things, garlic, berries for jams, pies and eating out of hand. A few blueberry bushes make nice additions to landscaping, and are an easy start to fruit gardening.

Personally I would skip the bird feeders. Birds that eat seeds & such could also eat your fruits and corn (or whatever grain you grow). We have cats to control furry pests and the birds & bats that eat insects come without the feeders. Having cats outside also stops me from putting in a "bird buffet" (for the cats that is!) :P

I second the suggestion of path to freedom. The DeVrys are *amazing*!

[serenetabbie]

BTW... we have two acres and only about 600 square feet of garden. That provides us (four people) with almost all the tomato sauce and jam we need for a year, plus puts a big dent in our other veggie useage

[melanienader]

Originally Posted by limette

I just bought "The Backyard Homestead; Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre". It gives you examples of layouts for 1/10th acre, 1/4 acre and 1/2 acre. There is veg growing, fruit growing, grain crops, beer and wine making, canning, small animals etc. It's a nice resource.

I LOVE this book...so great to dream of all the things you can do. Gotta wait till my kids get a teeny bit older, there is no way to get all that I want done in the garden...