2007-02-06 04:50:35 · 6 answers · asked by erik z 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Garden & Landscape
If you plan carefully and have plenty of fertilizer, you can supply the vegetable needs for a family of four on one acre. Storage is important for this as well. Do you plan to can, freeze, dry store?
You will also have to supplement non-vegetable food items: eggs, milk, etc.
A goat can supply milk for 4 easily and uses little space. 4-6 chickens will give you enough fresh eggs.
2007-02-06 05:02:19 · answer #1 · answered by flywho 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Depends on what you want to grow. I have a 1/2 acre garden with tomatoes, green beans, green peppers, carrots, beets, asparagus that feed about 20 ppl thru out the growing season. I don't can/freeze any thou. Thinking of adding a few more different veges this spring. I also have 6 hazelnuts along the side of the property.Zone 5, IL
2007-02-07 01:36:31 · answer #2 · answered by blackbriar2006 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't know what you eat, but I fed a family of four with 16 goats, sheep, ducks, pigs, steers, rabbits and a 100x50' garden on 2 1/2 acres.
2007-02-06 06:02:12 · answer #3 · answered by saaanen 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on what you want to grow. I assume you're freezing and canning for year round consumption? I used to have neighbors from Viet Nam on one side, Thailand on the other. Their gardens were ingenious for a city setting. They strung up wires, ropes, netting, wooden poles, whatever would hold vines, and they had vegetables they needed ladders to get to. If you put up pickles, this technique is great for cukes. Also squash, vine tomatoes, beans, peppers, peas, some eggplants and even melons and pumpkins if well-supported (my neighbors used panty hose). Read the seed packets to see which ones will climb. Carrots, radishes, beets, garlic, leeks, shallots, onions, celery, parsnips, brussels sprouts don't require anywhere near as much room as cauliflower and cabbage. Patches of anything: asparagus, rhubarb, raspberries are as large as you want them to be. Corn and potatoes need quite a bit of space. You can buy 50 lbs. of potatoes for less than 10 dollars at a public market, so why bother? If you want fruit trees, plan on a large area, even for dwarf trees. So the answer, I guess, is that it depends on what you'd like to plant.
2007-02-06 05:19:44 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I would say at least 160 acres. You have to allow for disasters-rotations-and start up expense.
2007-02-06 04:59:43 · answer #5 · answered by Extra Blue Note 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Too many variables. Climate, soil, sun, water, and crop selection all play a factor in this.
2007-02-06 04:53:44 · answer #6 · answered by crossbones668 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋