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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
by 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 ago2 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.