How many hours a week would it take you to grow all your own food?

Question

Assuming you had enough land on which to grow them, living where you are now, with the financial resources available to you now for the purpose of buying tools, seeds and so forth.

How long do you think it would take you to get up and producing everything that you need?

Do you think it would be time well spent?

What would be the benefits?

Answer as much or as little as you like. Guesses welcome!

Answer 1

It depends on where you live and what you eat.
Where I grew up I think we probably spent 10 hours/week. We were not in a climate where you had to irrigate and we traded vegitables with neighbors (i.e. my surplus of cherry tomatos for your surplus of cucumbers). Raspberries and blackberries take for ever to harvest and are pretty prickly. Wine takes awhile too (and is very inconsistant -- and sometimes it's easier to cheat and add something like welch's concentrated grape juice to sweeten up the rhubarb).
You also have to include canning or freezing preparation time. For meat it depends on what you do (we did deer only when it was cold so that you can let it freeze in the shed).

You need spring to fall (plus hunting season). That allows you to freeze/can/bottle what you need for winter.

Time well spent varies...if you like it, it is. If you have children, it's probably good for them. For me, I don't have the time to make it well spent.

Many of the fruits/veggies have more flavor when picked ripe (esp. berries). Many people say they are better for you too. And once you get going it is sort of cheaper (aside from time -- but that's also what children are good for).

Answer 2

I listen to the Geek Farm Life podcast. They spend about 72 hours a week on farm chores (divided by 2 people) on sheep, goats, rabbits, ducks, turkeys, bees and pigs, plus gardening, and that gives them meat, wool, eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, honey and veggies. They buy fruit. They seem to think it is time well spent except for cheap things like fresh corn. They have several acres, a barn, and most importantly, a cleaning lady.
.

Answer 3

the idea of small family farms, growing all their needs, or almost all of it, has long passed away, since it represented an inefficient agricultural system.
a typical farm like that required a full day's work of all it's members just to sustain themselves.
but spending a few hours a week you could grow vegetables and herbs, maybe fruits, to replace most of what you buy.

Answer 4

In Permaculture most of the work is done at the beginning of a project so you start by digging a pond, creating microclimates by terracing and berming and planting a 'forest garden'. The Permaculture garden is designed so that it is 'minimum effort, for maximum output.

You aim to get a yield EVERY year from what you plant. So you have pears, apples, nectarines, plums, mulberries, almonds, hazelnuts, raspberries, blackcurrants, rhubarb, gooseberries, asparagus, artichokes, horseradish, herbs etc, etc year in year out because they are perennials or fruiting trees. They pay you each year for the first year's effort.

The plants/trees you grow are polyculture and multipurpose as individual plants. So by conscious design you eliminate man work hours. You grow feedstuff for your livestock and wild animals as well as yourself. The diversity of planting ensures, stability, prevents plagues of pests and provides year round crops. Livestock self feed and flourish without need for human intervention. For example chickens are multi-functioning within the system, they collect their own food from the forest garden plants, scratch the soil which plants more seeds. They eat pests and fertilize as they wander around. Occasionally in a really bad winter, you may have to subsidize their food, but this can be done with table scraps.

The plants themselves are selected because they are multipurpose too, as well as perennial, so they provide, food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer and are used in home remedies too.

Permaculture gardens are designed to self renew, self fertilize and self maintain. Permaculture uses natural energy sources such as wind and rain so they do the work for you. A simple example of this is growing trees along the ridge of the spoil from your pond, which warms the wind and redirects it, preventing tender plants from being frosted. Permaculture copies FROM nature or mimics nature.

So how much time do I spend each week, we have nearly nine acres, maybe six hours a week including tree planting and maybe seven hours a week planting annuals in spring such as pumpkins and tomatoes. This will become less as the system matures and it is already getting richer and richer, not only by what we have planted but what nature has planted herself so we get a lot more FREE wild food too from Giant Puffballs to wild rocket, watercress to Jack by the hedge, Elderberries to wild garlic.

How many hours do we spend? Less and less as our earlier efforts bear fruits. Eventually we should only have to pick our crops and plant new trees/perennials for added variety/amusement.