Feeding a Family From a Garden

[thistlebloom]

If it is okay with everyone, I like the idea of growing all the calories a family of 4 would need on 1/4 of an acre.

Now, how many calories does that milk cow need . . ?



Steve

Well, okay Steve, go ahead. You have my permission.

 

[897tgigvib]

I'd sure love to own a quarter acre!!!

 

[digitS']

Okay, really "ballpark" but a cow requires about 16000 kcal/day. This would be about equivalent to 8 people.

A great deal depends on the milk production of the cow and low temperatures make a big difference, as well. For example, a cow at 0 will need 32% more calories than a cow in a 32 loafing shed .

Now, you can feed the cow potatoes . . . I know a potato farmer who does just that . He claimed he was tired of seeing the deer eat his culls.

Anyway, one cow = 2 families of 4 people each. Keep in mind that as more calories come to the family from the cow, less calories are required from the garden but, it doesn't make a lot of difference because the cow is eating your potatoes . . .

So, we are up to 3/4 acre potato garden. Four people and a cow.

Steve

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

good thing it's only 2 of us on our full acre here and our house has a root cellar to store stuff in. i'm slowly tilling patches of land and hope next year to have a few more patches tilled to expand out the gardens even more. with all the fruit trees i put in: 6 peach, 4 pear, and about 20 apple, the asparagus and then there are black raspberries that have been allowed to grow naturally on their own around the property. i think with all my future gardening expansion plans i could eventually be somewhat self sufficient when it comes to veggies and fruits. now i have to figure out how to grow enough for the chickens to enjoy. sunflowers aren't difficult to grow, and there is plenty of dandelions along with weeds and grass the chickens love, but the corn i've always had issues getting to take root and not dry out before they produce, so i haven't bothered to grow that.

i've always admired a garden that is in the heart of downtown Rochester that has got to be a 10th of an acre parcel. the guy who owns it has a beautifully done raised bed garden taking over his entire back yard. there's a few fruit trees, some raspberry brambles, between his veggies he has flowers to attract his bees (which he also keeps 1 hive on the property), you name it he probably has it tucked in there! i think he has it set up as an intensive garden where he double dug each bed.

 

[thistlebloom]

Okay, really "ballpark" but a cow requires about 16000 kcal/day. This would be about equivalent to 8 people.

A great deal depends on the milk production of the cow and low temperatures make a big difference, as well. For example, a cow at 0 will need 32% more calories than a cow in a 32 loafing shed .

Now, you can feed the cow potatoes . . . I know a potato farmer who does just that . He claimed he was tired of seeing the deer eat his culls.

Anyway, one cow = 2 families of 4 people each. Keep in mind that as more calories come to the family from the cow, less calories are required from the garden but, it doesn't make a lot of difference because the cow is eating your potatoes . . .

So, we are up to 3/4 acre potato garden. Four people and a cow.

Steve

You're the math guy Steve, but wouldn't two goats be easier than one cow? ( Where's Petey?...) Your cow will have to dry up before it can freshen again, and if you had goats they would eat less and you could always have one in production. Also they would arguably be more sustainable on a wider variety of forage ( pretending for the moment that you were okay with how different fodders affected the taste of the milk). Okay, just wanted to throw another variable in your scenario, ...carry on.

 

[baymule]

I have a small space, and have incorporated a flower bed as well. Let's see......right now I have broccoli, cauliflower, green onions, lettuce, mustard greens, collard greens, beets, garlic, and carrots. Of that, I am currently harvesting mustard greens, collard greens, green onions and I cut the first head of broccoli yesterday. The rest of it is growing. I have mustards once every week or two, lots of collard greens, there is 30 broccoli plants and they will produce all winter. We have green onions 2-3 times a week. The lettuce is a bust this year. Only a few plants made it and they won't produce near enough for us. The cauliflower didn't come up, but for a few plants, so it is not a wild success either. Still, it will be enough to have some very good salads. I had a few carrots come up last year and it was sweet success. This year I have LOTS of feathery little carrot green plants out there.

Last spring I planted Maestro English peas. They produced very well and we enjoyed them. Was it enough to last all year? No, but it was enough to make quite a few meals on. I planted my green beans. Those things would break a famine-they make so MUCH!! The tomatoes, squash, new potatoes, bell peppers all jumped on the bandwagon and made lots of vegetables for us to eat. I was able to dehydrate tomatoes and bell pepper. I froze squash and canned some soup. I planted sweet potatoes and they were a disappointment, but I was able to get enough to make quite a few meals. The butterbeans were good, I have some in the freezer and we had butterbeans once a week, plus some to give away. The freeze finally got them. The corn I planted sprang up to 12' and made about 50 ears, which I let dry to make cornmeal. It is shelled out and in big plastic jars in the pantry. The cornbread made from it is delicious.

The little PVC frame redneck greenhouse is producing bell peppers and Celebrity tomatoes (hanging clusters of green tomatoes) waiting for them to ripen.

I have a rosemary bush and basil in the summer. I would like to have more herbs, but don't have any more room. Then there is the chicken coop and run in the backyard. Those fresh eggs!!!

We do have meals where what I serve is what I have raised right here on our little city lot. We have evolved into seasonal eaters, eating what is ready in the garden. Surplus gets canned, dehydrated or frozen.

What I raise is so much better that what is offered at the grocery store. I grow organic, with no industrial chemicals or poisons. I now have a healthy population of "good" bugs that are keeping the "bad" bugs under control. We eat healthier, fresher, better food.

More room, fruit trees, berry vines and nut trees and I could just about kiss the grocery store goodbye.

 

[digitS']

Production that would "break a famine" is what they'd need. The margin of error on 1/4 acre garden would be slim. Production would have to come close to matching the nutrition from a potato crop.


Marshall, almost all suburban lots are 1/4 acre, plus. I know that there are those that are smaller but, SHOOT, even right along a city boundary there are single family homes on lots bigger than that. Of course, buildings cannot interfere with growing space - that's out!

No, I'm not really a "math guy" Thistle'. My high school math was so limited that I had to take a Math 101 fundamentals in college. I did so poorly in the stat class required for my major that I had to take it twice. Let's just say that I will attempt simple math problems even with limited skills.

I don't know if I could find the "calorie requirements" for a goat. Medium quality feed for a cow is about 2.5% of body weight daily - found that on a CoopEx site. I have a feeling that goats would be less efficient since a cow's body size lowers the . . . yeah, I am talking thru my hat!

The Irish farm family would probably be grazing its milk cow on a distant pasture but I'm just keeping Violet at home, except for strolls around the neighborhood, for exercise . She needs all of her feed produced, on-site! I guess the family would have to make cheese for the months when she is dry. I think that is a reasonable expectation since she is producing, say, 6 gallons/day. I used to have access to lots of milk and would make "cheese" for the critters with it. It was a daily thing and I was just cutting down on the fluid they'd need to consume and trying to overcome any lactose intolerance problems. I wouldn't have eaten it but the dogs/cats/chickens seemed to really appreciate that cheese.

There is the issue of buildings (& corral) taking up garden space. I don't see any reason why Violet couldn't live downstairs. Okay, okay! she could have a separate cowshed! So, subsistence living on 1 acre!

Steve

 

[897tgigvib]

Ok Digit, I see where you're getting at!

Can one ole guy, me, Live on 5 acres with say, 4 assorted boatbabes in bikinis?

The cow gets her section and has a small insulated barn with a small fireplace in the barn in case it gets colder than say freezing. That's a cord of wood a year for the cow.

We grow common big ole butte russets and sugar beets for the cow, have a patch of alfalfa and a patch of oats for her too, got a good well that uses a bucket but also has a pump and a tank. Got solar water heating pipes nicely curled up. Got plenty of good timber that built the house, one of the boatbabes is a recently retired ceo, but her cash is only for an as needed for stuff, as she sez "cuz we all gotta pull our own weight" (so i'm losing some weight), lol, kidding! In return, she has her choice of chores. We best be careful with our use of propane else she bites off our noses!

K Digit, how much land is left for human food to grow. That includes we have the brambles surrounding the 5 acres cuz another one of the boatbabes wants to make sure we can defend the place. (Careful harvesting the berries. She also planted poison oak in there.) She's in charge of harvesting and pruning them by unanimous decision!

Around here we get some tough boatbabes! So on average, these babes will not be accepting minimum calory intake! K, except the one in charge of the blackberries. She needs to fit between the brambles.

Will I still have room for my bean collection, or will we have to appropriate more land?

 

[thistlebloom]

I think an appropriate consideration for Marshalls scenario is whether his boat babes will be wearing bikinis year round. If so, their base consumption of calories will have to be adjusted upward for cold weather. Of course they will probably also be working faster/ harder to stay warm, thus increasing caloric consumption even higher.

 

[897tgigvib]

I sure don't know if they would be wearing bikinis or not. I'd be seriously outnumbered, prolly saying Yes Mayaam most of the time!