Write up : How Much To Plant To Provide A Year’s Worth Of Food

by Brenda on April 1, 2013

 

Do you know how much your family eats in a year’s time? As a farmer’s wife, I am keenly aware of how much meat, poultry, eggs, honey and dairy we consume. Raising enough food to meet our own needs, as well as an abundance to sell is an integral part of our life. To be honest, it hasn’t been the same with vegetables. I’ve at least attempted a garden most of the years that we have been married. Some years, I was more successful than others. If I didn’t grow it, I bought some produce from local farmers and preserved some foods for the winter: salsa, canned tomatoes, strawberry jam, pickles, and lots of frozen veggies and fruit. Still, I’ve always depended on going grocery shopping. I’ve never preserved everything that we needed for the winter, nor have I ever grown enough to meet all of our family’s needs.

Not long ago, people had to think about how much to grow for the year. They had to plan ahead, save seeds, plant enough for their family, preserve enough, etc. It wasn’t just a hobby. It didn’t take up a 4 foot by 4 foot square in their backyard, next to the beautifully fertilized lawn. It was their yard. It didn’t take a back burner in their spring and summer plans, after camping trips, barbecues and swimming parties. These are all good things, but people had to think about survival first and foremost. Partying came after the harvest. Now days, most of us party first, fertilize our lawns second, go to the grocery store and depend on other people to grow our food (and expect it to be cheap), and then we think about gardening, maybe, if ever, as a hobby.

I loved Joel Salatin’s talk @ The Healthy Life Summit. I pretty much love everything Joel says. This quote got me thinking:

“Everybody is a part of agriculture whether you want to be or not.”

We’re all a part of agriculture. Even if our part is just being a consumer, getting spinach and rice at the grocery store, we would not survive without agriculture. I, personally, want to be more involved than that. I want to know how much my family eats and how much we need to grow to supply that need. I want to work towards the goal of a completely self-sustaining homestead.

With that in mind, recently, I have been curious about exactly how much my family eats in a year. I started looking through a gardening book that used to belong to my Great Grandmother. I LOVE old books. I love the look of them, the feel of them, and the wisdom in them. I love that my Great Grandmother once thumbed through this very book and gleaned from it. I also have a newer book that I’ve made use of to determine how much to grow. These are the two main resources I used to compile this list:
Sunset’s Vegetable Garden Book (from 1944)
The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food

Want to know how much to plant per person? This is what I found:
Artichokes1-4 plants per person
Asparagus10-12 plants per person
Beans, Bush10-20 plants per person
Beans, Lima10-20 plants per person
Beans, Pole10-20 plants per person
Beets10-20 plants per person
Broccoli5-10 plants per person
Brussels Sprouts2-8 plants per person
Cabbage3-10 plants per person
Carrots10-40 plants per person
Cauliflower3-5 plants per person
Celeriac1-5 plants per person
Celery3-8 plants per person
Corn12-40 plants per person
Cucumbers3-5 plants per person
Eggplant1 plant per person, plus 2-3 extra per family
Kale1 5’ row per person
Lettuce10-12 plants per person
Melons2-6 plants per person
Onions40-80 plants per person
Peas25-60 plants per person
Peppers5-6 plants per person
Potatoes10-30 plants per person
Pumpkins1 plant per person
Rhubarb2-3 crowns per person
Spinach10-20 plants per person
Summer Squash2-4 plants per person
Winter Squash2 plants per person
Sweet Potatoes5 plants per person
Tomatoes2-5 plants per person

Obviously, all of this will vary based on your family’s size, tastes, allergies and climate. If you’re on the GAPS Diet, you’ll obviously plant more squash and leafy greens, and no corn, potatoes or sweet potatoes. If you can grow some of these vegetables year-round, you will be able to grow smaller rows. If you’re doing Square Foot Gardening, you may be able to plant things closer together & thus take up less space in your garden. Never the less, I believe that we all ought to be considering how much we use in a year and how much needs to be grown to supply our family’s needs (whether we are the ones doing the growing or not).
If you like analyzing this kind of information, you might like the charts in my Garden & Preservation Planner!
What are you planting in your garden this year?

More Reading About Gardening

Source: Well Fed Homestead
Image: Dave Shafer

SOURCE : http://www.wellfedhomestead.com/how-much-should-you-plant-in-your-garden-to-provide-a-years-worth-of-food