theoretical homestead question

[oldboyscout]

What would be the minimum acreage to support a family of four in an old fashioned homestead? That is, with someone doing minimal outside work, to grow some food and wood to live on mostly from the acreage?
I know very little about the subject, but in a wild guess I imagine you need 5 acres of woodlot, an acre for house, barn, chicken coop, septic, wood storage and driveway. 5 acres of corn, potatoes and such.
as usual i guess more is better.....

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Sorry, those days are not possible anymore. Even the Amish have had to modernize and get on wheels and utility systems. 10-11 acres, you could not sell enough produce from it to buy the fuel to get the seed and etc and product to market. You would need horses or oxen to work the land due to fuel cost. They burn more feed than you have acres to grow. Work-out, when will you farm? Old fashion farming was labor intensive. Gov sponsored homesteads were at one time 40 Acres and a mule if my me mnory of high school history still sticks.

Only works if you have no restricting laws and/or rules or onerous taxes that do not allow barter w/o imputed income.

If devestation occurs to the modern world a lot of folks will die of starvation before they figure out how to survive. Look at the evolution time line for agriculture.

Ron

 

[teg]

It depends on the quality of the land, swampy vs. desert or somewhere in between... Assuming you don't have to buy the land or pay off any other debts and have it generate enough income to at least pay taxes / insurance??? Truly have Self-sufficiency???

Not sure it could be done but in the spirit of your post... if you had 10 acres, you'll need less woods, 2 acres of forest and 7 good farm-able acres and one acre for the homestead... (with the structures built/paid for).

We buy produce from a farmer that still making a go of it on ~5 acres but he has a big city nearby to be able to get higher prices than a produce stand out in the county could make. "Organic" produce is his nitch.

 

[Eastinlet]

You can make a decent living if you are near a city market and intensively grow quality vegetables and berries. It will need to be good, strong land and you will need to provide intensive management. You will need to have professional level experience. Barring a good market you will eventually end up working in town... you can't compete with commercial corn/grain growers at the homestead level, so it is high value products or nothing.

Firewood, assuming you wish to manage sustainably: in the northeastern US it is generally possible to have annual volume growth of 1/2-3/4 cord per year. You can work out your own acreage numbers depending on what you think you will burn. I would need about 15 acres in northern NY.

As a former draft horse owner I suggest you get a small tractor unless you have reason to believe that fuel and parts will no longer be available. Takes a lot of work just to keep draft animals fed and they eat whether they work or not. Not needing to feed animals will cut down on land needed for hay pasture, oats, and corn.

You should be able to feed your family from 1/3-1/2 acre of productive land excluding the growing of wheat and corn. For example, 0.1 acres will grow at least 2500 lbs. of potatoes up here.

 

[Western]

Don't forget to factor in any pending medical cost, heating cost, if fire wood, then you'll have to have a decent supply available.

As mentioned, even the Amish sell hand made items to supplement their income and are famous woodworkers. I agree with the other thoughts, the expenses in this day and age will almost certainly mean someone has to work outside the home, but you may be able to be a bit more "picky" depending on your needs or living requirements.

The idea has a certain "romance" to it, but I think it would be much more difficult than expected, remember the "old " stories of homesteaders, had a bunch of kids for labor and at times, neighbors to help, and the average male lived like 42 years!

 

[oldboyscout]

this is really just a mental exercise.
I figured some outside work to make cash for tractor parts, taxes, insurance, etc. Some people could be writers, or do repair work etc., (like the Amish?)
This isn't an end of the world scenario. Assuming any one of us wanted to do it we would already have a tractor and some gear.

interesting about the potatoes.
What other kind of yields on food that you would grow for yourself are feasible?


I would do maple syrup for extra cash. Blueberries, raspberries also sound good.

 

[DAY]

Been there, done that-40 years ago! It was fun, 'til the money ran out. . .

A more practical method would be intensive green house "farming". Elliot Coleman, up in Maine, has fine tuned the system, and seems to be making money. Writing books, of course, is a part of it.
Four Season Farm - Welcome to the site of Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch

 

[forgeblast]

Great book have read it a couple of times.

 

[NorTracNY]

I've read that you would need to properly manage about 5 acres of woodland to heat an average home. Clearly efficiency of the home, how hot you keep it, and temperature of where you live come into play a lot. If you buy your grains, you can easily do all the gardening without needing a tractor and my guess is need only 2-3 acres. That would be a small orchard, grapes, berries, and a lot of raised beds.
What would require the outside job would be taxes as much as anything else. If you're talking "old fashioned homestead", are you willing to forgo health insurance. That's clearly a huge cost now a days.

 

[Eastinlet]

"Five Acres and Independence"

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Five-Acres-Independence-Handbook-Management/dp/0486209741[/ame]

I own the book, don't particularly recommend it unless the topic is new to you and you want general background and some suggestions to get started. Nothing horribly wrong about it, just a little general and based on experience I would not do a few things the author recommends.