I've been on just shy of 5 acres for 9 years now. One day one, this land was a harvested corn field with soil that modern farming methods has beaten the life out of. The spring following our purchase I started plants trees following a food forest concept. All the trees I've planted to date either produce food or fruit for humans or wildlife with just a handful of exceptions. In this time I've planted over 500 trees with the majority being bare root as they're considerably cheaper to buy that way. For the most part these plants have received no special treatment and only the hardy have survived. Last night, I found some acorns for the first time on a sawtooth oak I'd planted all those years ago. So aside from adding some fruit trees here to there to replace ones that have died off or a tree that got killed by a buck rub, I'm pretyt much done planting trees.
There's probably just a little less than 2 acres worth that up to this point I've just been mowing. With all the shortages I'm expecting to see in 2022 I want to turn this into a mini farm. The soil is a sandy loam, and I have a small shed beside our chicken coop and run. I'm going to let some of this section grow wild into taller grasses this year to give a safe haven for pheasants that we plan to raise and release next year. I dabbled with that this year and so far I still see them running around and staying alive and I plan to help them out a bit more next year. There's a small garden/landscape pond that I put in this year that just a few feet deep and is roughly 20x20. Basically it's a wildlife water source.
All that gets me to where I am now and what I can do moving forward to produce more of our own food. Keep in mind, I'm trying to keep everything as maintenance free and simple as possible. I'm not quitting my job and becoming a you tube homesteader. I'm trying to produce more of our own chow with as minimal of effort as I can make it following the work smart not hard principle. I don't have a tiller, tractor or anything like that. I've got a strong back and some good shovels and wheel barrow. I'm not opposed to getting that stuff, but I'd prefer to rent it for a day or not own it.
One of the things I plan to grow in abundance next year is squash. For some reason we can't seem to screw that up and when we make a small effort at it we get a ton. I told the kids they could setup a veggie stand and sell extras for $1 each and they could grow thousands if they wanted. I exaggerated a little bit, but wanted to get the point across. I've never tried to grow food on the scale that I'm thinking about for next year, and I'm in the process of reading and absorbing all the information I can on it. With that in mind, do any of you have any suggestions?
There's probably just a little less than 2 acres worth that up to this point I've just been mowing. With all the shortages I'm expecting to see in 2022 I want to turn this into a mini farm. The soil is a sandy loam, and I have a small shed beside our chicken coop and run. I'm going to let some of this section grow wild into taller grasses this year to give a safe haven for pheasants that we plan to raise and release next year. I dabbled with that this year and so far I still see them running around and staying alive and I plan to help them out a bit more next year. There's a small garden/landscape pond that I put in this year that just a few feet deep and is roughly 20x20. Basically it's a wildlife water source.
All that gets me to where I am now and what I can do moving forward to produce more of our own food. Keep in mind, I'm trying to keep everything as maintenance free and simple as possible. I'm not quitting my job and becoming a you tube homesteader. I'm trying to produce more of our own chow with as minimal of effort as I can make it following the work smart not hard principle. I don't have a tiller, tractor or anything like that. I've got a strong back and some good shovels and wheel barrow. I'm not opposed to getting that stuff, but I'd prefer to rent it for a day or not own it.
One of the things I plan to grow in abundance next year is squash. For some reason we can't seem to screw that up and when we make a small effort at it we get a ton. I told the kids they could setup a veggie stand and sell extras for $1 each and they could grow thousands if they wanted. I exaggerated a little bit, but wanted to get the point across. I've never tried to grow food on the scale that I'm thinking about for next year, and I'm in the process of reading and absorbing all the information I can on it. With that in mind, do any of you have any suggestions?