The Cottage Smallholder

I agree,TA. Good topic.

It's a difficult question to answer, S. O.L. How big is a piece of string?

I can only recount my experiences. We have one third of an acre all told, between the front driveway (a bit of a waste as regards growing veg etc, although FN grows tomatoes against the front wall of the house) and the narrow back garden. I guess that we currently grow 40% of our veg but we may increase that to 75% this year. We will never grow 100% because we love things like Bell Pepper, and also simple stuff like carrots that we use all year around and it's just not worth growing.

By contrast, my dad (a primary school teacher) had five acres that fed a family of seven (incl parents). It gave us all our veg, plus all milk and most of our eggs and butter. We bought all our meat from the local butchers. But it was hard work. Fortunately, he loved farming and the land - that was the key thing. He always kept one milking cow and one or two steers to be sold off for extra income / school fees etc.

I have read that a minimum of 40 acres is required to become totally self-sufficient. Again, I would guess that it can be hard work. For me, there is a good balance. Earn some - grow some.

A sort of middle ground is probably best, IMO.