My project to achieve a self-sufficient "farm-garden"

valk_scot

Lotus-eater wrote: »

The problem is, he or she wouldn't last 5 minutes on one of those,.

What...you mean that s/he lasted longer here?

Davesnave

Aww....!!!!

As one of those struggling at times with 'a bit of land,' I was really looking forward to hearing all these easy and cheap answers to my problems!

Oh well...

simmed

Wow, apart from the unhelpful crowd, thanks for the amazing responses

Living_proof wrote: »

Quite apart from all the advice in Valk-Scot's excellent response, how much time do you have to devote to your project? How many folk will this venture need to feed and nuture?

I think people are panicking a bit and thinking that this will be an immediate process. The general idea is for example:

Do some research, plant a large amount of e.g. corn, various hay plants, etc. Maybe keep a few chickens, feeding them on store purchased food (not a self-sufficient garden just yet).
When the corn harvest comes in, start feeding excess corn to the chickens. Gauge how much you go through, if more or less plants need to be planted, etc.
Replant it at the appropriate time, using compost you have created yourself.

Et voila - however small-scale, you have a self-sufficient garden. From here, take it slowly, and expand a bit, if you want.

misskool

great! one sweetcorn yields approximately 1 cob per growing season (ie one year). How much feed do you need per chicken?

simmed

Someone told me a while ago that they have 25 egg-laying chickens that they keep "totally free range" - they do not provide any food for them, ever, even in winter. I was quite surprised at this is possible, but it just goes to show that however much you panic and shout that huge amounts of research/investment/artificial elements are needed, nature is simple.

simmed

misskool wrote: »

great! one sweetcorn yields approximately 1 cob per growing season (ie one year). How much feed do you need per chicken?

I love people who answer questions with questions, so helpful

mrbadexample

Well, deeply sceptical as I am, I wish you the very best of luck. The idea's worthy, but the implementation is another thing entirely.

yorkieorchid

"Once it is up and running, the only "input" into the garden will be sunlight, water and things for the compost heap."

Hi,
You are going to need to put an awful lot of time into this project, many hours a day, every day infact. Do you intend to go out to work in paid employment to pay the bills? Looking after a small holding, livestock etc is a full time job. Will you have any help? How will you manage?

simmed

mrbadexample wrote: »

Well, deeply sceptical as I am, I wish you the very best of luck. The idea's worthy, but the implementation is another thing entirely.

Thanks I will probably need it. Then again, as long as it's done in tiny little steps, one thing at a time, over the course of many years, it should be easier.

One thing the modern "farmer" has is an ability to fall back on e.g. shops to sell food. Because if you were a farmer thousands of years ago living out in the middle of nowhere and your crop failed, everything is pretty much going to die, no?

simmed

yorkieorchid wrote: »

"Once it is up and running, the only "input" into the garden will be sunlight, water and things for the compost heap."

Hi,
You are going to need to put an awful lot of time into this project, many hours a day, every day infact. Do you intend to go out to work in paid employment to pay the bills? Looking after a small holding, livestock etc is a full time job. Will you have any help? How will you manage?

You're either exaggerating or overestimating the scale of this. If I just had some corn growing, it would not take hours a day to water them (more like 30 seconds). There are one-off things which can be a time sink, such as planting, but as stated, they are one-offs.