Questions about small acreage homesteads

[lupinfarm]

Last year we planted two wal-mart buy strawberries in our front garden thinking they'd produce okay that year and not last through the winter. They lasted, and I didn't cover them at all. They're huge and sprouting off strawberry babies and have been producing non-stop this year. Pretty easy to grow

 

[i_am2bz]

However, something i have just recently learned about purple hull peas might be helpful to you. First, if they will grow where you are (and i have no idea whether they will), they produce like mad. You can pick them for weeks and weeks, then till them under, and they'll come back up and produce some more. Their fruit is very tasty and very healthy and a good protein source.

Also, i learned that these peas help improve the soil by adding nitrogen and other goodies.

Also, i would think that honey bees would be a good thing for you (and everyone really). Having a healthy sweetener that you could also sell or trade for things like flour, etc., would be very nice.

First of all, thank you all for your great ideas!!

Now, I'll be honest, I've never heard of purple hull peas, so I will have to do some research on them. Are they actually PEA peas, you know, like you eat for dinner...?

I've thought about bee-keeping before...I seem to remember a local college here was offering a class & giving you some of the equipment as part of it. I think it was to encourage local people to do it in order to help the bee population. Do many people here do it? It doesn't look too hard...hee hee...but what do I know??

 

[i_am2bz]

Last year we planted two wal-mart buy strawberries in our front garden thinking they'd produce okay that year and not last through the winter. They lasted, and I didn't cover them at all. They're huge and sprouting off strawberry babies and have been producing non-stop this year. Pretty easy to grow

Now, I hope I don't get kicked off the forum for saying this...but I actually bought one of those hanging-strawberry-basket "kits" at Walmart. BIG MISTAKE! I got 5 1/4" sprouts that promptly died. I couldn't find any strawberry plants at the local nursery. Can they be grown from seeds okay?

I'm hung up on strawberries b/c I have two books that make them sound horribly complicated to grow, & I really want me some 'berries!!

 

[ducks4you]

I'm reposting this as a separate thread, since I was inadvertently highjacking someone else's post - sorry!! :/
My biggest problem is our land is entirely CLAY (North Carolina, where nothing grows but tobacco & cotton), so we actally had to truck in decent soil & put it in a raise bed. How could I manage that on a larger scale...?

THAT is your first problem. The three biggest feeder crops are tobacco, corn and cotton. The "Old South" practically destroyed all of the topsoil growing them. But I think I can help!!
My grandfather had to, by necessity, become a master gardener during the Depression. He lived in Cleveland, home of brick-making clay soil. He had a job, but no income (kinda like being laid off for a LOOONNNGGG time). He and his neighbors gardened in tracks of land meant for homes, but no one was building. They also hunted.

How did he do it? He laid down any animal manure and compost he could and worked it into the soil. I wanted to do the same with my 1/4 acre of clay--that's what happens when they bulldoze flat housing developments-- in town (before I moved to 18" deep, 5 acres of old farm topsoil.) I just thought it was a fey thought, until my mother told me that he had done that exact thing.
I've been studying up on composting and last winter I cleaned out my (horse's) stalls and laid it on my garden. I tilled it under, created raised beds on top of it, but I put all of my 65 tomato plants in the ground without raised beds.
The only crop having trouble is my cucumbers, but that's because I've overwatered them. Still, they are producing.

I have 1 pear tree, which has about a dozen little pears on it right now, & 1 apple tree with NOTHING. I would LOVE to grow more fruit, and have some nut trees. I've read they're hard to grow (nut trees). I would dearly love to grow strawberries, but also read they're hard to grow.

If it is an established tree, it can start having "feast and famine" years. I have one of those, and only have 12 apples on it this year. Last year it was loaded. If you can strip about 1/2 of next year's fruit, you will start to get a regular amount every year. (This is according the "Illinois Gardener" and somebody's question just this week!!)

Oh, & a good share of the back yard is the septic system, so obviously I couldn't grow trees there.

I wouldn't either. You'll have good grass, there, however.
Get on the phone and find out the best deal to get cow or horse manure. I can tell you that horse owners ALWAYS have too much manure, and stables don't like to have to pay to have it hauled away.
When you finish mowing and when your garden is finished, build some decent compost piles. You can compost any vegetable, but avoid meats and fats. Composting is preferable to chemical fertilizers because compost creates a microbial world living beneath your soil that continually feeds your plants. Chemical fertilizers have to be constantly reapplied. You can compost around your fruit trees, too.
So, to surmise. Get the manure and mix it in your clay. Get the composting going and add it in your garden ANY TIME.

 

[Farmfresh]

First I need more info.

You have already told us that you have clay soil and a small lot, but that is about all.

So ... Do you know what planting zone your property is located in?

Have you checked out the zoning requirements for your area? What are they? How much rainfall does your area get per year? Which are the rainy months and which are the dry months?

We can recommend that you grow peaches or apples or oranges, but if those things won't grow in your area what good is our recommendation?

Also ... I am glad to know about you being (I assume) a lacto ovo vegetarian, but do you have any other allergies, medical issues or just plain old dislikes that would effect what you will want to plant?

 

[Beekissed]

Being a veggie makes this all a lot easier! You don't have to raise any animals if you don't want to....that is a good thing and simplifies your life.

Bees are a great thing to get started, not to mention very good for your diet. They don't have to be as complicated as they sound. A good place to start for info is Beemaster.com forum...lots of nice folks who don't mind answering questions.

I started with bees this year after several years of research into what kind of beekeeper I wanted to be.

The soil you have can be your friend...my mother has gardened for years in red clay mud. You need good drainage and you need to amend your soil so that it is more easily aerated and drained.

You might also consider raised beds and square foot gardening, as well as plastic tunnels so that you can do four season harvesting of the greens you will need for your diet.

Wise use of space, soil amendments or raised beds with trucked in soil, four season crops. I would raise a few rabbits for the manure...they take up very little space, are easy to reproduce and can be a source of income if you sell your offspring. You could also consider vermicomposting of the manure and add the castings to your soil as well.

There are many options for small acreage if one wants to have a multi-tiered approach to homesteading. Diversity is key.

 

[Buster]

Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre, by Brett L. Markham.

Awesome! I see this book recommended with another one on backyard homesteading (can't remember the name now) on Amazon.com. Thank you!!

You are most welcome.

 

[Farmfresh]

I second what Bee has to say. Clay soils are very fertile... they just lack the little air spaces that allow roots to breath easily.

Certain crops like potatoes and carrots will have to be container grown, but lots of us are growing "trash can taters" and the like anyway since it requires less labor and gives usually a better yield.

Some soil amendments like adding sand or bark chip mulch to the soil beds work well and are quite cost effective.

 

[i_am2bz]

First I need more info.

So ... Do you know what planting zone your property is located in?

Have you checked out the zoning requirements for your area? What are they? How much rainfall does your area get per year? Which are the rainy months and which are the dry months?

We can recommend that you grow peaches or apples or oranges, but if those things won't grow in your area what good is our recommendation?

Also ... I am glad to know about you being (I assume) a lacto ovo vegetarian, but do you have any other allergies, medical issues or just plain old dislikes that would effect what you will want to plant?

Let's see...according to my NC gardening book......I am in USDA hardiness zone 7b...annual precip in inches is about 55 (sorry, it doesn't break down by dry/wet seasons). Avg 1st fall frost is in November, last spring frost is in mid-April.

We live in a "development", but it's in the middle of nowhere...it's considered "unincorporated" (not part of any town or city), so we only pay county taxes & the only zoning requirements are for building. We have our own well, & as I mentioned before, the leach (sp?) field for the septic takes up a good part of the backyard (hence, not being able to plant trees there).

No allergies to any food that I know of. Yeah, I have quirky tastes, not like my will-eat-anything hubby, but that's another story.

Does that help at all...?

 

[sammileah]

i have a small lot .25 acres in all, including what house sits on.

on that i have2 goat. 9+ chickens, 4 kids 2 legged kind, dogs, cats, gardens.

i compainion plant. you can fit so much in a little space that wayplus weeds are fewer. plus i'll plant stuff in flower beds. there r 3 peppers in my window boxes.

as for your soil put those chickens to work. last yrs hen yard is this yrs garden. I also spread the compost over my gardens in the fall and till it under in the spring. I'm told that if you cover it with black plastic tilling wont be needed but haven't tried it.

with goats keep in mind you need 2 and unless someone around u is willing to stud. 1 will have to be a billy, and they smell.

emilosevich. what breed do you have? i have a saanen and if i don't have to breed her every yr that would be great.