Subject: Re: How much land is enough?

From: [email-masked] (Don Bowen)
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 09:13:11 -0800

>
>Hi y'all -
>
>As you may know by now, I'm in the process of selecting land for 
>homesteading, and I'm wrestling with trying to figure out how much land I 
>really need.  I'll have a large organic garden (big enough to provide a 
>large portion of the food for a vegetarian family of four) and I'll need 
>a big enough woodlot to provide fuel for heating.  Anyone got any good 
>rules of thumb for sizing a homestead plot?

        That depends on where you want to be more than enything else.  A
place in Arizona may provide a longer growing season and shorter heating
season but there would bot be enough rainfall to keep up a woodlot.  Places
in Washington state have a short growing season and a long heating season
but enough rainfall to keep up a woodlot.

        I have heard that in the midwest that 5 - 10 well cared for acres
will provide all the wood needs you will have.  John Jeavons claims that an
intensive garden with a 6 month growing season need only be 1000 sq. ft. to
feed a family of 4 and he has 2/3 of that in grains.  Again weather, pests,
and water will modify that.  I researched this issue and I think that 10 -
20 acres in the lower midwest could provide food, fuel, and income for a
frugal couple if you went in with a low debt load.

  Donald E. Bowen           [email-masked]
  Valley Center CA.         [email-masked]

  Software Engineer, woodworker, historian, beekeeper, farmboy
  1936 Farmall 12          1966 Corvair CORSA 140 convertible
  1 wife, 3 kids, 2 acres, 2 cats, 2 dogs, ? projects,  24 hours

---

From: [email-masked] (Karl Henning)
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 95 12:46:52 EST

> frugal couple if you went in with a low debt load.

Hmm,  I guess the heating wood needs also depends on home insulation and
cubic feet of space to heat.  In michigan the warm air act for tenents
is 68 degrees, 3 ft. off the floor, in the midle of the room. 
5-10 seems an awful lot for wood needs. It might be easier to purchase/barter
for heating wood (whats the best kind of heating wood?).  True though geography has everything to do with it.  
And garden space will also vary with fertility.  We have a 40 X 50 garden
but sandy soil, we used half and planted compactly, with 30 tomato plants 
15 various pepper plants, along with turnips, carrots, and onions, we had
enough for soups and sauces for canning. (family of 2) lasted all last winter.
This winter we are just running out of soup base. Oh yeah our well went dry last
year, man this constrained our watering and thus our yield. (food for thought).
(luckily we had a neighbor who allowed us to tap off her water, or else we would
have been in a real fix).  Now we have a 100 ft well, (cost; $2200 for drilling 
and new pump (20 yrs old) ).

Karl Henning