4 ms·

This is really hard, I had four 8x4 raised beds (all I could fit) for 5 years. The amount of space and time it takes to produce enough food to replace actual me

by sbf501 4y ago

This is really hard, I had four 8x4 raised beds (all I could fit) for 5 years. The amount of space and time it takes to produce enough food to replace actual meals for more than just a few times in the summer is absolutely astonishing (unless you like squash all the time). I grew tomatoes, kale, squash, onions, lettuce and peppers. It tasted great, and got some salads and side dishes out of it, but that was about it. And it only yielded from July to August, I had nothing in the winter (except some canned tomatoes that were really good). It really takes a community effort to make this work. Like, plots of land that multiple people tend to. I've seen some cities do this and think it is fantastic.

Scoundreller 4y ago
> And it only yielded from July to August Where are you? I’m near Toronto, started my seedlings indoors ~6 weeks ago, and already eating small kale leaves and lettuce that’s somehow growing in the grass. A dying apple tree gave me more than I could eat for 2-3 months last year. Gonna plant a pear tree in the front yard.
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  My parents have a pear tree that came with the lot. Straggly looking creature with barely any signs of life all year, then for a month or two it produces more pears than my parents can eat for the rest of the year. I love visiting my parents while it’s going apeshit. Crisp pears all day.
- sbf501 4y ago
  Middle of Washington state, off I5. The last few years I planted I got my starts going real early in my basement and we had an early spring and I was over the moon. But I had a few cold springs that didn't warm up until June and had to replant multiple times. Rookie mistakes and bad luck. :)
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    Yeah, I learned how frost and radiative heat loss via a clear sky into cold space works through gardening.
TheMerovingian 4y ago
Consider canning and fermenting some of your food. Also, grow things that can last throughout winter, such as potatoes, carrots, beets, etc. They can last in a cool dark place for months. Broccoli and Okra can be blanched and flash-frozen. Cucumbers can make pickles. There are tons of good ideas out there about preserving your own food. But, I agree, that a small garden won't take a big bite out of your food needs. You're not trying to become self-sufficient, you're trying to lower your reliance on store-bought food.
Merad 4y ago
100%. Growing up my parents were hardcore gardeners (arguably smalltime farmers) with about 2 acres of farmland and an additional 2 acres of fruit trees. We'd eat pretty heavily out of the garden from the late spring through the fall, and would have potatoes, apples, canned/frozen goods through much of the winter... but it was an enormous amount of work. In the spring and summer basically any time that it was viable to work in the garden on the weekends or in the evenings, we were out working in the garden.
- wott 4y ago
  > about 2 acres of farmland That's huge; I haven't seen anything like that, even in the deep country where I grew up, where people (farmers) almost didn't buy anything but grew and processed most of their stuff. Their gardens hardly ever went over a 1/4 of an acre, I'd say, that was already pretty large and provided for filling quite a number of jar of tomatoes and beans and stuff. Didn't your parents sell anything? Using 400-500 sq ft, I get enough potatoes for a family of 3. Not that potato is our only staple food, but...
  - Merad 4y ago
    2 acres was the total farmland, they would rotate which areas they used so on any given year only 30-40% of it was actually growing crops. They never sold anything that I can recall, but they loved being able to give extras away. Both of them grew up in the 50s on farms in the south. They both saw their dad have to transition away from full time farming and get a day job, but in both of their families the farm remained a big source of supplemental income that involved the whole family. Interestingly both of them were the first in their family to go to college because they didn't want to be trapped in the rural farming life. I guess they were still pretty fond of it though because after they married they decided that their dream home was a small farm, which is where I grew up.
wott 4y ago
You don't need a community effort or astonishingly vast land to grow potatoes :-) What I mean by that is that the choice of stuff you grow matters. Lettuce, peppers (and one might add tomatoes) won't feed you much indeed. They are however indeed interesting in small spaces when you don't expect them to feed you but to provide you nice, fresh extras. I mean, I produce about 800 lbs of vegetables by spending 20 mn a day on it (average on 365 days, which means more at times and nothing at other times). Surely it requires more space that you had. But no motorised tool involved, no fertiliser but a tiny bit of manure (no fancy permaculture tricks either, just traditional beds), no pesticide except in case of emergency like once a year on 10% of the garden, no watering except in case of emergency again, no search of any optimisation (time, space, yield, ...). It isn't a bid deal to get a partial yet significant autonomy; it just gets harder and harder as you want to get close to 100%. There are stuff you can keep across winter in storage without transformation, like potatoes or cereals (onions, shallot don't do bad either); and stuff that can be kept where they lie, in the ground, like parsnip, sunchoke, and a few other root vegetables; cabbage can stay too, leeks as well. (Of course, it depends on the geographical location.) Yeah, a base of potatoes + cabbages + onions get you a long way; and they are quite versatile as far as cooking is concerned.
- sbf501 4y ago
  Agreed! I was just getting into it and trying various things. If I had grown up with family that did it I probably would have had better odds. Also, I've always wanted to try a root cellar, too, but alas, no space for that.
- swader999 4y ago
  This! I spend about four to six days in a similar garden each summer. Automate the watering. Kids do the weeding. Need to figure out a root cellar.

by sbf501 4y ago

Scoundreller 4y ago

> And it only yielded from July to August Where are you? I’m near Toronto, started my seedlings indoors ~6 weeks ago, and already eating small kale leaves and lettuce that’s somehow growing in the grass. A dying apple tree gave me more than I could eat for 2-3 months last year. Gonna plant a pear tree in the front yard.

hombre_fatal 4y ago
My parents have a pear tree that came with the lot. Straggly looking creature with barely any signs of life all year, then for a month or two it produces more pears than my parents can eat for the rest of the year. I love visiting my parents while it’s going apeshit. Crisp pears all day.
sbf501 4y ago
Middle of Washington state, off I5. The last few years I planted I got my starts going real early in my basement and we had an early spring and I was over the moon. But I had a few cold springs that didn't warm up until June and had to replant multiple times. Rookie mistakes and bad luck. :)
- Scoundreller 4y ago
  Yeah, I learned how frost and radiative heat loss via a clear sky into cold space works through gardening.

TheMerovingian 4y ago

Consider canning and fermenting some of your food. Also, grow things that can last throughout winter, such as potatoes, carrots, beets, etc. They can last in a cool dark place for months. Broccoli and Okra can be blanched and flash-frozen. Cucumbers can make pickles. There are tons of good ideas out there about preserving your own food. But, I agree, that a small garden won't take a big bite out of your food needs. You're not trying to become self-sufficient, you're trying to lower your reliance on store-bought food.

Merad 4y ago

100%. Growing up my parents were hardcore gardeners (arguably smalltime farmers) with about 2 acres of farmland and an additional 2 acres of fruit trees. We'd eat pretty heavily out of the garden from the late spring through the fall, and would have potatoes, apples, canned/frozen goods through much of the winter... but it was an enormous amount of work. In the spring and summer basically any time that it was viable to work in the garden on the weekends or in the evenings, we were out working in the garden.

wott 4y ago
> about 2 acres of farmland That's huge; I haven't seen anything like that, even in the deep country where I grew up, where people (farmers) almost didn't buy anything but grew and processed most of their stuff. Their gardens hardly ever went over a 1/4 of an acre, I'd say, that was already pretty large and provided for filling quite a number of jar of tomatoes and beans and stuff. Didn't your parents sell anything? Using 400-500 sq ft, I get enough potatoes for a family of 3. Not that potato is our only staple food, but...
- Merad 4y ago
  2 acres was the total farmland, they would rotate which areas they used so on any given year only 30-40% of it was actually growing crops. They never sold anything that I can recall, but they loved being able to give extras away. Both of them grew up in the 50s on farms in the south. They both saw their dad have to transition away from full time farming and get a day job, but in both of their families the farm remained a big source of supplemental income that involved the whole family. Interestingly both of them were the first in their family to go to college because they didn't want to be trapped in the rural farming life. I guess they were still pretty fond of it though because after they married they decided that their dream home was a small farm, which is where I grew up.

wott 4y ago

You don't need a community effort or astonishingly vast land to grow potatoes :-) What I mean by that is that the choice of stuff you grow matters. Lettuce, peppers (and one might add tomatoes) won't feed you much indeed. They are however indeed interesting in small spaces when you don't expect them to feed you but to provide you nice, fresh extras. I mean, I produce about 800 lbs of vegetables by spending 20 mn a day on it (average on 365 days, which means more at times and nothing at other times). Surely it requires more space that you had. But no motorised tool involved, no fertiliser but a tiny bit of manure (no fancy permaculture tricks either, just traditional beds), no pesticide except in case of emergency like once a year on 10% of the garden, no watering except in case of emergency again, no search of any optimisation (time, space, yield, ...). It isn't a bid deal to get a partial yet significant autonomy; it just gets harder and harder as you want to get close to 100%. There are stuff you can keep across winter in storage without transformation, like potatoes or cereals (onions, shallot don't do bad either); and stuff that can be kept where they lie, in the ground, like parsnip, sunchoke, and a few other root vegetables; cabbage can stay too, leeks as well. (Of course, it depends on the geographical location.) Yeah, a base of potatoes + cabbages + onions get you a long way; and they are quite versatile as far as cooking is concerned.

sbf501 4y ago
Agreed! I was just getting into it and trying various things. If I had grown up with family that did it I probably would have had better odds. Also, I've always wanted to try a root cellar, too, but alas, no space for that.
swader999 4y ago
This! I spend about four to six days in a similar garden each summer. Automate the watering. Kids do the weeding. Need to figure out a root cellar.