Can I feed a family of 3 from my garden?

[sonyan]

I've never gardened. I am plowing right into the raw food lifestlye by taking me 100% raw and the kids 75%. But I have to try to do it on the cheap, because I'm a student and poor. Is it possible to live off of your garden to a large percent? say like growing 50% of your own food?

I just have this idea in my mind that if I grow, say lettuce, that once i take it from the ground, I'd then have to wait X number of weeks for more lettuce to grow. Somehow that doesn't seem like it's saving me a lot of money.....

Are there forums or sites that talk about gardening in terms of growing enough to FEED your family from? Like really feed, not just make a weekly meal or something....

[rawstrength]

It depends on how big your garden is, how much effort you are willing to put into it, and what you plant.

As for your question about lettuce, you can buy "lettuce mix" that has several different varieties of lettuce seed in it that mature at different times. That way, you have a continual source of lettuce.

Here are some other suggestions for cheap, easy, and fruitful gardening:

Weeds, such as dandelions, are much much hardier and will grow back much quicker than conventional greens. Try planting amaranth seeds (just buy amaranth at your health food store and plant), flax seeds (leaves, flowers, and dried seed pods are edible), borage (edible flowers and leaves), and other hardy plants with edible leaves.

If you plant the raw sunflower seeds that you would normally eat, you will get quick-growing sunflowers with huge heads and tiny petals. Cut the sunflowers, hang the up to dry, shake out the seeds, and you will have homegrown food to last you through the winter. Sunflower seeds are great for fat and protein for your growing children. From one sunflower seed, planted, you can get 200 more seeds!

Also, grow huge jack-o-lantern type pumpkins and save the seeds.

Butternut squash are extremely productive. One plant can produce 50 squash! The seeds of butternut squash can also be saved, dried, and eaten in the winter. The flesh of the squash makes delicious raw soup.

Plant blackberries and raspberry bushes. While you may not get much the first season (or anything) by next year they will have spread like crazy! Seriously, these "weeds" produce so much good fruit.

Buy heirloom tomato seeds. They are much hardier than conventional tomatoes, and you can save the seeds from your ripe tomatoes to grow next year. Get some varieties that produce early (like stupice) and some that produce later so you have tomatoes throughout the summer. www.tomatobob.com is great.

Don't bother trying to grown corn. It takes way too much effort, too much space, and is too attractive to pests.

Don't forget to plant some herbs, like cilantro and oregano! Fresh seasonings will make growing your own food much more enjoyable.

Also, get a local field guide, and forage for food when you can.
I wish you all the best in your gardening adventure!

P.S. I forgot to mention http://www.backwoodshome.com/article_index.html#fg has some great self-reliant gardening articles.

[juliebove]

It really depends on where you live and how long of a growing season you have. Here, I can grow a few things during the winter, like onions and herbs in the house. If you have a large enough area in the house, and can afford the equipment and growing lights, you can grow things in the house year round.

There are a few things you have to keep in mind. Weather that doesn't go the way you want, insects and other pests can cut down on the amount of your crop.

Last year I planted cucumbers three times. Slugs kept eating them. By the time I got the third crop in, it was too late in the season and I got only one cucumber.

My tomatoes did not do well. We had a cool season followed by a lot of rain and they rotted. I got very little to eat.

The year before, I had trouble with my Walla Walla onions. We had an odd hot spell early in the season and it caused them to bolt. This can also happen to radishes and greens if the weather gets too hot.

Another thing to keep in mind is you will tend to get a lot of food all at one time. You can get by this somewhat with some things like greens, radishes, peas and beans by spacing out your plantings. But other things that come later in the season do not give you this luxury.

Depending on where you live and your season, you may have something fresh only for about 2-3 weeks, if that. You will have to come up with a plan for what to do with that excess food. Some of it will keep for a while. Like cabbages, apples and squash. But other things like peas, beans and tomatoes do not keep so well. The only options you have for these things as a raw foodist is to dry them or freeze them. Tomatoes can only be dried. They do not freeze.

[sonyan]

Oops, I guess location would make a big difference. I live in Austin, in a suburb. I may be able to rent a community plot in additon to a nice sized garden in my back yard.

[Revvell]

Check this out:

http://pathtofreedom.com/

http://pathtofreedom.com/neighborhood/

[baltochef]

As the other posters have mentioned, whether or not you can feed a family of any size will depend on multiple factors, many of which have been discussed..

If you are asking if it is possible to feeds one's self & one's family for the entire year without purchasing food from off site sources, then the answer is maybe..If you were a vegan cooked food eater..And if you were willing to give up many of the fruits & vegetables that we have become accustomed to purchasing & consuming..

As a vegan raw foodist, the answer is probably not..The diet that most vegan raw foodist's consume depends in large part to an ever expanding world wide transportation system that allows farmers to sell their produce in markets that were unimaginable 50-100 years ago..

We depend on a large variety of produce, dried fruits & nuts that can only be grown in the tropics..Take a long hard look at the recipes that you & your family really enjoy, & that you would depend upon to feed a raw family of 3-4 adults & children..Then ask yourself if there are substitutes for the tropical ingredients most commonly needed in the average raw recipe??..Then ask yourself if you would be willing to accept those substitutes for the rest of your life??..The answer is that to even contemplate such a scenario would require some pretty drastic dietary compromises as regards to the current huge variety of produce, dried fruits & nuts available to the 21st Century raw foodist..

To feed a raw vegan family of 3-4 for a calender year who live in a temperate climate (anyplace in the world), requires at least 2500 square feet of arable land per person..With access to clean water for irrigation..A more realistic amount of land per person would probably be closer to 4000 square feet..These amounts allow for growing biomass on site in order to create the compost necessary to keep the soil's fertility at reasonably sustainable levels..And these levels would not be reached for a period of years after starting the mini-farm..

Anyone interested in this type of gardening or mini-farming should read the works of John Jeavons..Since 1972 he has been working towards full sustainable mini-farming for the vegan eater..His many, many publications can be purchased through Bountiful Gardens at http://www.bountifulgardens.org

The mini-farm where he & his co-workers put into practice their theories is located in Willits, California..You can check out the farm at http://www.growbiointensive.org

As juliebove has stated the number one stumbling block for the raw vegan that might wish to truly feed themselves & their family is how to grow fresh produce year round in a temperate climate that has cold winters..Season extending devices in the garden / mini-farm would definitely be required..As well as learning to grow & to like foods capable of withstanding cold weather with the protection of the above mentioned season extending devices..A return to the food storage practices of the past would be necessary in order to accomplish this goal, IMO..Another stumbling block would be time..Anyone who has grown a large garden knows that from mid-to-late July through mid-to-late September there is an almost non-stop need to spend many hours every day preserving food..Many of the techniques that cooked food eaters use to prolong the freezer life of frozen foods, such as blanching, are simply not available to the raw vegan..So, certain frozen foods are not going to store as long as their blanched counterparts; nor will they look as appetizing when defrosted..

Root cellaring, freezing, drying & storing without spoilage large quantities of fruits, nuts, & vegetables, would all be required..

Eliot Coleman, an organic truck farmer in Maine, has written several books that outline how to extend one's growing seasons with the use of cold frames, fabric coverings, hoop row covers, & portable tunnel green houses..His ideas, together with the practices of John Jeavons would theoretically allow the raw vegan to organically grow the majority of their year-round food supply in a temperate climate..Assuming that nature was cooperative, & that a somewhat less diverse diet than we are currently accustomed to was consumed..

Cooperation between raw vegan families that lived & mini-farmed in close proximity to one another would allow sustainable, organic, year-round vegan farming to more easily be achieved..

Books to consider reading are:

Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman-- Chelsea Green
The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman-- Chelsea Green
How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons--Ten Speed Press

An out-of-print quirky book, with an almost cult-like following, that truly opened my eyes up to gardening & farming possibilities that I'd never considered before is:

Secrets of the Soil by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird-- Harper & Row

In the back of the printed Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply Catalog is a very large bibliography of books dedicated to all aspects of organic gardening & farming..Check them out a http://www.GrowOrganic.com They are located in Grass Valley, California..

Bruce

[spicyfull]

As for your Lettuce and Greens, don't pull them up, pick them or pinch them off and they will grow all summer. If some begin to form SEEDS, pinch that off also. You are NOT poor......

[shashibala]

A little tip for a revolving crop of lettuces and spinach or chard is to plant a number of times. Plant once and then again in a week or 2 and then in another week or 2. This way you have more greens maturing at different times. I don't know much about farming in hot places like Austin, but that method works for me in NY state. Good luck!

[sonyan]

You are NOT poor......


I am, however, facetious and self-deprecating, with a tendency towards tongue-in-cheek remarks, and possessed of a dry sense of humor.

[sonyan]

Thanks so much for the ideas and links to information. I got the gardening biointensively book from my library and will start reading it soon. I'm a little overwhelmed, but excited about the opportunity.

As for what I was hoping to accomplish.. I'd like to get around 40 - 50% of our food from the garden eventually. My youngest has so many food allergies that I will need to supplement his daily diet with less common foods, and the respective increase in price is what concerned me.

Thanks again. If you have more to add, please do. I'm sure there are others wondering the same type of things!

[asil]

Hey,

I lived and gardened in Austin for 20 years. Now I live 20 miles outside of Austin.

Those books that were recommended are great! Just keep in mind that Austin has a unique climate. Winter is not a fallow (non-growing) season for us. We can grow all sorts of things in the winter. It's late summer that is more or less fallow here. The soil temp is too high, nighttime temps too high.

Our soils are difficult too. In Austin, I had heavy clay soils that basically smother roots. I had to do a lot of amending. At my house now, I have almost no soil -- just rocks with a bit of dirt. So I'm building soil from scratch.

Learning to garden is a long-term labor of love. It can take many seasons to build the soil, understand the micro-climate, find the right crops. Sometimes a planting fails. Sometime your garden gets overwhelmed by disease, sometimes crazy weather takes things out.

It can be quite expensive initially, depending on the type of soil you start with.

But I love it! It's thrilling to see those little sprouts, the first fruits, have your first salad of the season, the first time you make a meal with nothing but stuff from the garden.

I grow all our greens, year round, pretty easily. And most of our other veggies, some of our fruit. Maybe 50% of what we eat. And that takes a lot of work.

Check out John Dromgool's site at the Natural Gardener. He's the best about organic gardening in Texas. Also Austin Permaculture at Yahoo.

[BeadedGraces]

I live just outside of North of Dallas and our soil is very much the same..that heavy clay. So this make for a very interesting thread....this is our first year to start to garden...we just planted some starters as well as seeds...i have been blogging the progress so I am so thankful for this bevy of info!!! thanks!!!:)

[BeadedGraces]

A little tip for a revolving crop of lettuces and spinach or chard is to plant a number of times. Plant once and then again in a week or 2 and then in another week or 2. That is a really great idea...especially in the south with longer warm months...being so very new at all of this...that seems brilliant!!! I am sure though it must not be a new concept! i am still a baby to it!!!:p

[FloridaPatty]

your best friends. I see you have mild winters and hot summers. Don't bother getting any of the books suggested here and most of the advice you can ignore. Gardening in the South is totally different from the rest of the country. I tried for several years growing stuff in Florida and finally became a master gardener to find out how to grow anything here.

Winters are for lettuce, anything in the broccoli family, onions. Spring and fall is when you grow everything else. Summer is usually when you go on vacation. I found you can grow sweet potatoes in the summer. They grow like weeds and the leaves are edible. Then in the fall you can eat the tubers.

There are other plants for summer. They told us here we couldn't grown anything edible in the summer. It's amazing what is edible.

So start with your extension service. They should have all the information you need.

[juliebove]

That is a really great idea...especially in the south with longer warm months...being so very new at all of this...that seems brilliant!!! I am sure though it must not be a new concept! i am still a baby to it!!!:p

You can do this with peas and beans as well.

[sonyan]

your best friends. I see you have mild winters and hot summers. Don't bother getting any of the books suggested here and most of the advice you can ignore. Gardening in the South is totally different from the rest of the country. I tried for several years growing stuff in Florida and finally became a master gardener to find out how to grow anything here.


I just heard back from my extension service today as a matter of fact. I called about the MG program. They told me I'd have to interview! I'm a little intimidated by that thought... lol.

thanks for the tips. Wow, there is so much to learn. No wonder I could never keep a plant alive. I just threw it in the ground and watered it when i remembered... LOL

[BeadedGraces]

perfect! thanks!!! again!