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[burlsgirl]

We looked @ a house yesterday, possibly to fix up & re-sell. It sits on 1.2 acres. So, for the sake of discussion, how much "stuff" would an acre support, in terms of garden, etc...  That will matter to some folks around here!

Personally, I thought it would be a precious house for OUR family & would get us out of debt! BUT, too bad it's too small for our two goats & our garden. 

Anyway, just curious!

Thanks!
Em

[mhoward1999]

I, too, would be interested in more information. We are planning to buy a house with 2.36 acres this month. We want to make the property as useful as we can without destroying it's beauty.

[blsd2bhome]

When we were looking for property, The "Have-More" Plan was a good read.  It tells you how much you could do with only one acre.  Including livestock and garden, and I believe it has some plans to help you get started.
the Bulk Herb Store carries copies, and so does Amazon.
http://www.bulkherbstore.com/HMP

Good Luck!

[LKS]

Depending on the layout & the land, you could do ALOT on an acre. You could have a large garden, chickens, rabbits, a goat or 2, fruit trees, berry bushes. With planning, it could be a very productive homestead. Are you sure it's too small for your goats Burlsgirl?

[burlsgirl]

Depending on the layout & the land, you could do ALOT on an acre. You could have a large garden, chickens, rabbits, a goat or 2, fruit trees, berry bushes. With planning, it could be a very productive homestead. Are you sure it's too small for your goats Burlsgirl?

LKS, I almost pm'd you to begin with to ask this question!

No, I'm not positive it's too small, I just assumed....... The house sits @ the front of the land, and the land just goes straight back. Think rectangle, but not too narrow. Anyway, there are some trees that need to be cleared.

How would you house the goats? I'd never have more than 2, except briefly during kidding... and I guess chickens COULD be housed with the goats? Other than that, we'd need our big garden, and some of our blueberry bushes, a fig tree & a peach tree!

OH! And the kids would need room to have a yard! See, doesn't 1.2 acres seem to get smaller & smaller, or is it just me???

[boysmama]

This is a topic very near to my heart  . We have one acre right now. The last place we rented was also an acre which we were developing into a "Mac-Kinkade" farm. 
At some point, probably next year, we want to take alot of pictures and put them up on a website just to encourage folks who do not have or do not want alot of acreage.
We have the goats, 4 does/doelings and 2 bucks on approx. 1/3 of the area.The doe's area has a large tree that keeps at least 1/2 the pasture in shade. The bucks have a shade cloth.  The does and bucks have to share a fenceline, which I do not prefer but it's doable.  Have half a dozen (freedom ranger) hens and rooster out of our last batch of broilers. When the small barn goes up laying hens are coming. More broilers will go on the garden spot late August if all goes well. We have a lot portable shelters that are adequate for the animals although a small barn is going to be welcome and there's an old shed for the hay.
We were raising puppies up until a few months ago when our female met with disaster...
The house sits on the front right corner with large trees in the front yard- that's play area plus there's space all around the garden for a bike path, etc.
The rest of it is garden, 3-75ft. rows of strawberries, 25 ft. of black raspberries, 3 blueberry bushes, a sour cherry tree (coming in the spring), 50 ft. of asparagus, various permanent beds for garlic, etc. and a roughly 60' x 60'x 12' triangle that will be herbs, medicinals, elderberry and possibly another small fruit tree. There is also a little bit of space for some other kind of berry or bush and red raspberry on the front of the property along the fenceline. Garden and storage shed along the property line on the garden side. Hotbeds and fig trees are going on the southwest side of the house as soon as the addition is finished.
The garden space seems small for all we plant, but with a combo of square foot gardening and traditional methods we are getting plenty for our family of 5 and to share AND this is the first year for that ground with part of it not doing so well. Mulch and soaker hose maximize potential. Plenty means 6+ bushels of potatoes, 125 qts. of green beans + several bushel to share, 30 qt of corn, 40 qt. of summer squash, cucumber pickles, beets, onions. Still coming in are lima beans, melons, sw. potatoes, okra, pumpkin, winter squashes, popcorn, several hundred qts. tomato... Fall garden will include English and field peas and something similar to a pinto bean. Also small plantings of other vegetables for fresh eating. Just possibly some grain sorghum and black oil sunflower seed for animal feed...
We are also considering a bottle calf in the spring when goat milk is plentiful and it could help eat the grass so we wouldn't have to mow the pastures.
My joke is that I go to Walmart for lightbulbs and TP. Oh and chocolate chips. 

[burlsgirl]

boysmama,
WOW! Thanks for posting all that! I would LOVE to see some pictures of all of that! I just wouldn't have thought it possible!! It would be nice to have everything just "right there". And so much less for dh to keep up. Right now we have just under 20 acres.

[LKS]

Boysmama you guys are right on !
Em, a rectangle w/the house at the front is almost perfect. You concentrate all the animals & garden toward the back. Just a quick "what I would do" : I would have a nice play yard right in back of the house, the garden beyond that, and a small multi - purpose barn w/ pasture beyond that.  A driveway down the side for access to the complete property. A well thought out barn can provide goat shelter, a chicken coop & feed storage. Fruit trees could be planted along the fence line providing beauty & privacy. Same w/ berry bushes. It is really all in how you use it. Of course w/out pasture you will have to buy hay but as my husband said, I would rather have a smaller place, be debt free & buying a little hay. It also takes less & smaller equipment on a smaller place. It is a big decision, but if that is the direction you want to go in, you guys could SO make it work 

[mykidsmom]

Hey Burlsgirl,

This is our first year on exactly an acre much like you describe yours.  We have a large gravel parking area out front, then our driveway and house (sit about 50ft from the road).  We have a gravel drive that goes to the back of the property also.  This year we did a 900sq. ft garden.  Next year we're doing 1800 sq. ft.  We have a 14x14 shed that houses all of our garden stuff and bikes.  We have a small chicken coop that could hold 5 chickens or so (we don't have any - yet).  It's about 4x6.  The back pasture area is about 1/4 acre and we are going to put two pigme goats on it.  We have blackberries in the garden that will transplant to the fence.  Grapes next to the blackberries will go in.  We'll be putting in 5 fruit trees of varying types about 5ft from the fence line but they will go into the pasture area.  Our house sits to one side of the property up front so our grass is 1/4 acre all on one side.  That is where the kids play.  We have some grass at the back close to the house.  Truthfully though, our kids play all over place.  We have a climbing tree (a sycamore) for them.  We will be getting two ducks for duck eggs and are looking at two hens for chicken eggs.  When we add another 900 sq. ft to our garden next year we are going to lay it out so that ground type veggies (pumpkins, squashes, zuchini, cantalopes, watermelons, etc. are in one garden so they have lots of room to grow out (that's been a problem this year).  The side we have our whole garden in this year will be our corn, peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers, etc.  I've been canning and freezing this year.  We won't have enough to get through the winter but we think with 1800sq. ft next year we will. 

A word on peas..... we had a 30ft row of peas this year that produced wonderfully.  We had three full pickings.  That only made ONE quart bag to freeze.  So, if you want peas, plant A LOT!  It takes a lot of peas to freeze 'em.   

We've actually talked about getting a buffalo for meat instead of the goats which will just be pasture eaters).  We can do a buffalo on 1/3 acre they said.  So we'll see.  But you'll find it amazing what you can do on an acre.

patti

[ksburgess]

wow thank you for the great posts!  We live on a matchbox lot right now, working hard to pay off the mortgage in a couple of years.  But it's good to know how much can go even on a smaller parcel of "acreage."  Very inspiring.  I am going to look into the recommended book

[daisey]

We have a little under 2 acres and have 2 pigmy goats, 2 horses, one pony, 4 chickens, 2 dogs and varying numbers of cats.........depending on the season.   
We have a large metal shed at the very front of our property and then the house which is off to one side.   We have open area on one side and at the back of the house, which is where we relax and children play, although as someone else mentioned the children play everywhere.      
Our gardens come next then the barn and pasture.  We have a pond at the very back of our property.   The only reason we can have all these animals is that in the summer our neighbor very generously lets us post our horses out in his field which is right next to our property and they eat the grass. 
We have some apple trees, 2 shade trees, strawberries and are just starting some raspberries.   One disadvantage is we live in a very cool climate where not much fruit grows so we don't have much variety there.   
I have lots of nicks and crannies for flowers and herbs and still we have to mow some.   
I really like the smaller place because everything is close by.    There are times I wish we had a bigger pasture but that is the only thing I would really change.   
You become really creative when you have to do things small.    Gardening goes up instead of out.   
Lots of good ideas everybody posted.    I agree with LKS's husband..........I would rather be debt free and buy hay.    This has been a wonderful place to raise children and be as self sufficient as we possibly can be. 

[Deb]

We just got a book called THE BACKYARD HOMESTEAD by Carleen Madigan  because it is about this very topic. I haven't got to read it yet, just glancing through, but it looks Great. On the back cover it states"from a quarter of an acre you can harvest-1,400 eggs, 50 lbs. of wheat, 60 lbs. of fruit,2000 lbs. of vegetables,(etc.). I have THE HAVE MORE PLAN and 5ACRES AND INDEPENDENCE and they are great resources.

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