Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicola 
Too much greenacres.
Start with a fruit orchard. Plant a mix of fruit trees. Apples,pears,peaches,plums and cherries. A mix of types. Plant extras. Expect bad years that early frosts kill off the flowers. Expect bad years that blight etc kill things. Expect bad years that the birds/bugs eat lots. Expect bad years that it rains too much. Expect bad years it doesn't rain enough. Still if you plant enough trees of different types you'll have enough in a bad year. In a good year you'll be feeding the animals.
Nut trees to if you have the time to wait.
Of course it'll take years for the trees to hit peak productions.
Then add your small fruits. Raspberries , strawberries etc. Quicker to establish then trees. Raspberries will spread to. Aspargus won't hurt.
Learn to look after pigs and chickens. The pigs will eat all your excess.
The trees will need to be pruned during those times you think nothing needs doing. So start learning pruning and grafting.
Learn spring/summer/fall/winter veggies. Even in fairly cold areas you'll have things that can be planted or growing during the winter.
Get a wood stove. The fruit and nut trees prunings will provide some of your firewood. But you may need to plant some trees for that to. Something else to do in your spare time. Chopping firewood. Remember many of those fruit trees aren't long lived but take awhile to get going. So you'll be planting replacements before the old ones die off.
If you're smart you'll have enough land to plant a clover or alfalfa patch in rotation of your other stuff.
Oh don't forget some rabbits they breed like rabbits. They'll also eat stuff you might otherwise be throwing out.
Start with a fruit orchard. Plant a mix of fruit trees. Apples,pears,peaches,plums and cherries. A mix of types. Plant extras. Expect bad years that early frosts kill off the flowers. Expect bad years that blight etc kill things. Expect bad years that the birds/bugs eat lots. Expect bad years that it rains too much. Expect bad years it doesn't rain enough. Still if you plant enough trees of different types you'll have enough in a bad year. In a good year you'll be feeding the animals.
Nut trees to if you have the time to wait.
Of course it'll take years for the trees to hit peak productions.
Then add your small fruits. Raspberries , strawberries etc. Quicker to establish then trees. Raspberries will spread to. Aspargus won't hurt.
Learn to look after pigs and chickens. The pigs will eat all your excess.
The trees will need to be pruned during those times you think nothing needs doing. So start learning pruning and grafting.
Learn spring/summer/fall/winter veggies. Even in fairly cold areas you'll have things that can be planted or growing during the winter.
Get a wood stove. The fruit and nut trees prunings will provide some of your firewood. But you may need to plant some trees for that to. Something else to do in your spare time. Chopping firewood. Remember many of those fruit trees aren't long lived but take awhile to get going. So you'll be planting replacements before the old ones die off.
If you're smart you'll have enough land to plant a clover or alfalfa patch in rotation of your other stuff.
Oh don't forget some rabbits they breed like rabbits. They'll also eat stuff you might otherwise be throwing out.
^ that would be a great way to start. It's basically what I was alluding to above - you don't need a huge amount of space to grow a pretty high percentage of your food, but you do need to be creative, and you want to think in terms of using or reusing everything.
