Infographic: How big a backyard would you need to live off the land?
Graphic illustrates how much backyard square footage would be needed to feed a family of 4 a well-rounded diet of meat, dairy, eggs, wheat, fruits and veggies for a year. Not surprisingly, it's a lot.

By:

Matt Hickman
Tue, Aug 30 2011 at 10:00 AM
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Last week I shared with you "Cool House, Fat Wallet: How to Run the A/C Full-Blast Without Paying For It," a fantastic — and somewhat sobering — infographic from the folks over at group solar purchasing company, One Block off the Grid. In that post, I mentioned a previous infographic from 1BOG that details how much land would be required for a typical family of four to become completely self-sufficient (read: happily well-fed) for an entire year.
 
Here's a look at that infographic, titled "How Big a Backyard Do you Need to Live Off of the Land." As you can see below, you'd need a heck of a lot of backyard space — about 89,050 square feet (or about 2 acres) — if your clan plans on eating fruits, grains, and veggies, dairy (via goats) meat (via pigs), eggs, and wheat-based foods (the number drops to about 1.5 acres if you cut wheat out of the equation and opt to purchase flour from a local grocery store). The infographic also shows that to live off the grid, power-wise, the typical American home consuming 11,040 kWh of electricity per year would require 375-square-feet of rooftop space to install 25 solar panels that receive a full seven hours of sunlight per day. 
 
Interesting stuff. My question to those of you out there producing a significant amount of edibles in your own backyards: How much space do you require to feed your family (or just yourself) in a self-sufficient manner without the benefit of living on a full-blown farm? What things, due to space constraints, are outsourced? What things do you find yourself never buying at a grocery store? Two acres is a whole lot of land — backyard farming is often so romanticized that one often forgets the amount of raw space required to keep it up beyond "hobby" status — so I'm curious as to how you make it work ... tell me all about it in the comments section. 
 

Home Solar Power Discounts - One Block Off the Grid

 

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anonymous
Mariette Oct 24 2012 at 12:04 PM
This graphic is interesting and I agree with everyone who says it's not quite right, and for all their reasons. All good environmentalists know that eating lower on the food chain is much more efficient and takes up less land / resources. We have been growing our own wheat in CT now for the past 3 or so years; we have an 800 sq ft plot, and on a good year get about 25#'s of grain, enough for about that many loaves of bread, and/or hundreds of the best tasting pancakes you've ever had. We grow
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a variety of corn from Tibet for milling, and buckwheat and rye too, mostly for fun and curiosity, but it's been great to have around! Experiment and see what you can do; it's fun. Gardening is an art, and one person's solution may not work for another situation. I recommend John Jeavons and Masanobu Fukuoka for other ideas.
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anonymous
Granny Oct 23 2012 at 1:05 PM
No one seems to be thinking about seed production (a potentially profitable endeavor) or grains other than wheat. Sorghum (Milo) is wonderful, takes little space for the yield. Buckwheat doesn't yield much, but some, and serves as a weed suppressant. Climate makes so much difference! CA can grow year-round, WI/MN certainly are challenged to do the same! (Figure a factor of 3-4 in that difference.) Animals are a part of the natural fertility of land, don't exclude them entirely if you want to
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be sustainable. And don't lose control of their feed sources, but do consider feed crops from decades past: Mangles, Potatoes, etc.
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anonymous
Savanarola Oct 23 2012 at 11:10 AM
This is way more land than necessary, depending on how you go about it - in part because of how the animals are being kept. The benefit of chickens or geese is partly in pest control for the garden - why keep them in a run that is fixed on the land? They need to be in a coop at night, but during the day they should be wandering. Therefore, the area in the coop is smaller, and it should move around the land. Also, it's a little silly to want to be totally self-sufficient when you are going to
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have to barter anyway. The idea of growing grain on a suburban lot is kind of nutty: stick to things that can be fed to a large degree from the kitchen garden rather than requiring specialized feed. A couple of goats are great, but pigs? Go in with a neighbor who will keep several for the different families, who contribute to their feed. If you substitute another starch for the grain - say potatoes and sweet potatoes - you can greatly improve your land use. This also does not take into account coplanting. I literally know people doing a really amazing job on 1/3 to 1/2 an acre. They coordinate with neighbors, no one worries about being fully self-sufficient. If you can't trust the neighbors around you, your problems go farther than what crops to plant.
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anonymous
Richard H Oct 23 2012 at 10:42 AM
Total self sufficency is really just a myth. You will be living in a community of other people. Even if you grow all of your food there is still clothing, shoes, and medical care to consider. Rather than pursuing a myth, look at how your current skills and resources could be developed so that you can be self supporting within a self sufficient community. As an example, An herbalist/massage therapist who grows all their own herbs on a half acre could be an essencial part of a larger group. Stock
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raising and hand based farming leads directly towards sore bodies and linament.
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anonymous
Texas Aggie Oct 21 2012 at 9:07 PM
The graphic doesn't figure the land to grow feed for the livestock in their 2 acre requirement saying that you could buy corn at $5.00 a bushel. Right now corn is at $8.00 and going higher. And you would also need a protein source like soy, another legume or alfalfa hay for your livestock and they aren't cheap, either. If you have chickens, you would need vitamins and minerals as part of the ration. If you raise pigs, you deserve all the hassle they take (think manure disposal, two acres isn't
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enough). Someone's comment about tilapia seems to be more feasible, especially if you have a freezer and live in an area where it doesn't even approach freezing. They don't survive cold well. Maybe catfish would be better. About tilapia, they breed before they reach edible size, and if the population grows too fast, as it assuredly will, then there isn't enough food to feed them all and they never reach edible size. You need to either have a unisex tilapia population or put in some carnivorous fish, bass, that are big enough to eat the babies but not big enough to eat the adults.
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momn8r's picture
momn8r Oct 08 2012 at 2:06 PM
I think a lot of you who claim to be able to do this on 1/4 to 3/4 of an acre are not including the feed necessary for the goats, hogs and chickens. While it is true that chickens will free range, they do need supplemental food in the winter when food is scarce or they will not have enough calories to produce the body heat needed to keep from freezing, not to mention you won't get any eggs. Goats, if not grained properly, will not produce milk and even a good nubian nanny will be dry in a month.
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Hogs need food and lots of it. If you pen them so they can't forage, you must feed them. You are NOT self sufficient unless you produce the food for the livestock! Not calling you a liar, but I did get all A's in math and algebra in college and your math doesn't come out with the same numbers as mine.
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anonymous
Early2rise Oct 04 2012 at 6:09 PM
I really appreciate this timely attempt at quantifying what we hippie-back-to-the-landers spent decades trying to work out. This article has a lot going for it, but as usual, the true answer (alluded to by the author) is...it depends. For example, here in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, solar power isn't going to fly like it would in Texas. Another consideration is food storage. A freezer costs a fair amount to run, especially in warmer months. Concentrating on "root-cellarable" storage crops like
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cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, squashes potatoes and apples as well as dried products are very labor intensive to produce but will see you through even a prolonged power outage. For my money, oats are my grain of choice and keeping an abundant supply along with rice and flour also make a lot of sense. If enough chickens are raised to provide the income from eggs required to pay for their feed, go for it. Otherwise, it's likely a losing proposition. Great topic, just needs a whole new generation to become devotees!
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anonymous
Texas Aggie Oct 21 2012 at 8:44 PM

I saw three different ways of drying food that are various degrees of labor and investment requiring. I dry my own stuff out in the open on a tray, but then I live in an area where the humidity is low and the sun is hot. It takes a day to dry a pan full of sliced okra or sliced chilis. It isn't time consuming at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=z35qloTGtvg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aofrh-bjCvQ

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anonymous
Stephanie Jul 31 2012 at 8:57 AM

When you add in vertical gardening techniques, and add integrated systems (chickens in the orchard, ect) it is more than possible to feed a family of four on 3/4 acre - I know because I've done it.

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tarrant's picture
Tarrant Aug 01 2012 at 6:46 AM

Can you tell us more about your technique? How did you get started? Did you buy any foods from other sources?

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anonymous
dl3 Sep 17 2011 at 10:13 PM

how big of a bank account would it take to pay the bills on a backyard big enough? that's the question...big corporations legislated homesteaders out of the american landscape years ago (with exceptions of course) but that's just the ways she goes in this corporacracy-

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anonymous
Reality Check Sep 12 2011 at 6:01 PM
Lots of books out there describing how to do this on 1/4 acre. The original "Self-Sufficient Life & How to Live It" book written by John Seymour decades ago has a well-illustrated plan for a 1-acre plot. Here is someone doing it (with surplus to sell) using only 1/10 of an acre! http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2011/06/03/may-harvest-tally-3/ Use chickens and/or rabbits as your meat source, a good dairy small-breed goat for milk, skip the grains (or buy local in bulk), and used raised bed intensive-planted
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gardens and you can easily grow 90% of your own food in a backyard. When you give up processed foods, and many of the chemical house products, etc., you don't need the store and all of the "stuff" they shove in your face to buy.
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anonymous
Tim Magner Sep 05 2011 at 12:46 PM
The article has pretty graphics, but it's just a starting point for a conversation. There's so much that 'depends.' i.e. soil, climate, labor. At best, there ought to be a range provided. In Chicago, City Farm (part of The Resource Center) grows well more than $100,000 worth of vegetables on slightly less than 1 acre (enough, allowing for trading, to feed a family of 40. Love & Peas, Timhttp://www.truckfarmchicago.org p.s. didn't Barbara Kingsolver feed her family of four on a fraction of an
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acre?
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anonymous
Gary McCray Sep 02 2011 at 11:19 PM
My wife and I are on just an acre and plan on significant potentially self sustaining food production as follows: Multiple double wall Solexx and insulated north wall greenhouses with all semi hydroponic container gardening Mild northern california coastal climate yeilds good year round growing under these conditions. Also 300 gallon Tilapia tanks in each of four greenhouses. Chickens for eggs. Expect to use as major food source and to provide at least minimum for survival in event of significant
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economic breakdown. We already get all our water from roof top rain gathering to 9000 gallons storage with multistage filtering and chlorination. Greenhouses will get their own collection and water storage. Have already installed many energy efficient solutions and reduced grid power usage to about $30.00 a month. Currently also have a 500 watt PV system supplying ultra efficient chest freezer and some lighting (used to about 20% capacity). Will also be installing 2000 watt grid tie / backup system in future. Expect to meet over 80% power needs from this small system.
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anonymous
dl3 Sep 17 2011 at 10:16 PM

you have tilapia? where do you get your hatchlings? i'm trying to grow tilapia also...

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rollzone
rollzone Sep 02 2011 at 10:35 AM

hello. it is important as Jooliree has pointed out that there are supplemental costs (not including veterinarian) for feeding all stock. including the labor, only the assured quality will be the benefit. having to depend upon larger farms for stock feed, why not depend upon them for products as well? 2 acres is just for a hobby.

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anonymous
Guest Sep 04 2011 at 3:17 PM

Agree. On two acres, it would make much more sense to focus on fruits and vegetables solely, and obtain meat from other sources. It's enough space to provide a substantial supplement, but it isn't enough to be realistically self-sufficient.

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jooliree
jooliree Aug 31 2011 at 12:02 PM
We have a 1 hectare (2.5 acres approx) small-holding in Central France - 2/3 in pasture for goats and sheep ( we buy in local grain and make hay for free from neighbours unwanted hay-fields) and a vegetable plot that provides all of our veg needs for the year. We have a 2 hectare woodland that provides all our fire-wood from coppicing ( a sustainable carbon neutral practice) and we aim to construct our own solar water heating panels to provide all our Summer hot water needs and will supplement the
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wood-fired Rayburn stove/boiler in the Winter. The FIRST thing you can do is reduce the AMOUNT of MEAT you eat AND reduce the amount of electricity you consume - This will make the whole exercise a lot more doable. We have helpers via HelpX and WWOOF who come from all over the world to help us and learn first-hand how to do it, We produce food to feed all these people too! I make cheese from the goat's milk and have just bought a cream separator to make cream and butter too!. We work 4-5 hours per day and do what we want the rest of the time - do crafts;write;play musical instruments; read; spin yarn....I have an ideal,idle life!!!
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anonymous
Ken Philo Aug 30 2011 at 4:35 PM

I read an article in the Mother Earth News about a family of four in California that grew all their own veggies and fruits on a half-acre yard. He did it by using fruit trees as shade trees, and training his plants to grow up on trellises, fences, whatever he could.

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anonymous
Guest Sep 04 2011 at 3:13 PM

The problem is, Mother Earth News is a complete crock when it comes to factual reporting. Their claims are ridiculously overstated and undersourced, whether they're promoting or chastising a topic.

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anonymous
Guest Aug 31 2011 at 1:31 PM

They also did one with just one acre. Also there are folks like myself where it is just a 2 person household. Anyhoo still a good reality check for folks who are in the planning phase. I've seen some mighty creative use of space.

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