Micro Plantation.

[Wallybear]

What is the smallest piece of property that anyone has heard of being self sufficient. I have the old book 5 acres and self sufficient. I have herd of a guy who was about 70% on 3 acres. What I would like to know is what is the smallest space you think a family of 4 can do it on.

Everything has to work together and be a system. Animals, ponds, green houses, raised beds, alternative power, composting, rain collection, water recycling and so on.

I have many ideas. One of them is a 3 story green house. The design was developed for a piece of property we made an offer on (fell through) The property was long and narrow and in order for us to have an orchard and a green house of the size we wanted, I had to have a greenhouse that was 3 stories high.

I am also a big fan of living roofs on all buildings as a way to conserve foot print wastage.

Let's hear about your ideas, plans and what you have seen others do that are good ideas. I am really curious as to has small a space could be used.

 

[pinkfox]

i knew one family that were about 60% self sufficient on only an acre...it was tight they had chickens a minature dairy cow and raised a pig each year, most of the rest of their acre was cutting flowers and vegatables and a couple of fruit trees, they worked a trade/barter system with a small local co-op for things they couldnt grow themselves

they were a family of 4 + a baby.
they lived next to a school sports feild that had alot of sugar maples which they tapped, and they traded goods/labor for feed for the cow and chickens. they raised the pig on kitchen/garden scraps and whey.

their house was all wood heat and wood cooking which they scavenged

i think it also depends on the family/people in question and what they want...
a family of vegitarians might have an easier time being self sufficient on much less land than those raising animals.

in terms of my own plans, i would love to eventually build a bermed passive solar home with a living roof and water catchment system.
i plan to house a couple of sheep and alpaca in a small orchard to take more advantage of the space dedicated to the small orchard, the idea being to make the most of every inch of land i have.
i plan on raising a couple of dairy goats too and will take advantage of any difficult terrain by using that for goats that dont mind rocks and such...

i think the biggest thing is trying to use every inch of your land to its best advantage...have some difficult terrain that cant be graded/grown on, use it for an animal that doesnt mind that kind of terrain...

i also plan on ONLY growing fruits and veggies i myself or my animals will eat...

 

[moolie]

These folks do ok on a tenth of an acre, but they are vegetarians. They do have chickens, ducks, rabbits and goats though.

http://urbanhomestead.org/

 

[Wifezilla]

Yeah, but they are in California, so can grow pretty much the entire year. Most people are going to need to double or triple that space since their growing season is so much shorter. Of course, their principles and concepts will still work....just allow more space.

 

[JRmom]

I have 1/3 acre, and really, if I had the time and resources to do something with every single square foot, it could be awesome. I'm sure I could at least feed us.

 

[moolie]

Yeah, but they are in California, so can grow pretty much the entire year. Most people are going to need to double or triple that space since their growing season is so much shorter. Of course, their principles and concepts will still work....just allow more space.

Yeah, I know. It can get depressing living at 3500 ft in an arid desert that gets long cold winters and short hot summers

But they are a definite example of what is possible for those who live in similar climates

 

[Sun and Sky]

Has anyone read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle? It's about a family of four that goes on a 'food sabbatical' of a year of eating totally local, and they ended up growing all of their vegetable foods (plus morel hunting ), and chickens and turkeys on about 1 acre of tillable land, and they live in Virginia, complete with full snowy winters. I believe they got dairy, meat, and flour from neighbors...but they had their own water supply so they were pretty self sufficient.

 

[saraltx]

I suppose much of it depends on what you consider "self-sufficient" (nobody will probably be truly 100% self-sufficient), and the needs of the family. I'm on my own and have been amazed lately how much I can do even in my urban backyard on a very small space. Even just a few chickens, rabbits, a few goats, and a vegetable garden can go a long way. I think just feeding a family could be done on a fairly small space. But then if you'd want to add other things like a wood lot, maybe make your own hay for the animals, or raise some extra animals or other food to sell etc, the space requirement can increase greatly. Then, of course, as was pointed out, your climate will also play a big role.

 

[Wifezilla]

It can get depressing living at 3500 ft in an arid desert that gets long cold winters and short hot summers

I am 2000 ft higher than you

 

[lorihadams]

I don't live that far from Joel Salatin and Barbara Kingsolver, I'm west of Richmond. We have 3 acres. We started with a cow pasture that was bordered in the back with some trees.

I think you can make any amount of land work depending on what you need. Two goats can supply you with a lot of milk/cheese/soap/butter etc and don't need that much space. We use raised beds for our garden so we don't have to till and improve the soil so much. We add compost that we make and they are usually pretty good. We have a well so water is done. We get a lot of sun/wind so we are looking at solar and wind options to help with electricity. We have chickens/ducks for eggs and use a tractor to raise our meat chickens every year. We planted apple, pear and cherry trees as well as blueberry bushes and blackberry bushes. We are getting bees in April as well as our nigerian dwarf milk goats.

We want to be as self sufficient as possible. We are planning a much bigger garden this year with more variety. I plan on staggering our planting times out every 2-3 weeks so that everything isn't coming in all at once.

Try looking at the books The Self-Sufficiency Handbook:A complete guide to greener living by Alan and Gill Bridgewater and The Backyard Homestead by Storey Publishing and edited by Carleen Madigan. They are full of suggestions for different layouts using as little acreage as 1/4 acre.