Can a family be totally self-sustaining by using between 1 and 2 acres
to grow, eat, and sell food? Yes! As a matter of fact, families in many
countries are doing it, and they often have gardens much smaller than 1
acre. However, you should consider carefully what you are getting into.
I'll paint a picture of the problems first, then show you how blessed
you are to be using the best possible growing methods for a family
garden, and finally I'll give you some ideas as to what and how to grow
your market garden.
I. Considerations Before Beginning
Your income depends on what you choose to grow, and how well you follow
through in the growing process. It also depends on how well you learn
the financial and marketing aspects of the job. Growing corn is easy,
but doesn't produce much for the amount of space used, or pay well,
unless you like to eat corn stalks. And someone has to sell the produce
and pay the bills, which take substantial time and effort by themselves!
"Self-sustaining" requires very different amounts of food and money,
depending on the family size, the standard of living expected, and the
debt load you expect the garden to carry. Debt of $3,000-5,000 per month
requires a much greater effort to cover than a debt-free situation.
Location is also a factor. People in warm climates can often grow into
or even right through the winter, while colder climates have a shorter
season. Both locations can improve your production by using the
Foundation's methods. Warm climates may require lots of water and even a
little shade at the hottest times, while cold climates often require
more greenhouse seedling production and covering garden crops in spring
and fall to extend the season.
Before getting seriously into gardening you need to understand the
commitment involved, and be willing to do it right. Our grandparents
grew gardens, and also often owned animals. They understood the
necessity of working every day to feed, water, and care for their
animals and plants. Regrettably, we've forgotten this requirement, as
99% of us have chosen other ways to make a living, and become dependent
on the 1% who are highly competent farmers to feed all of us.
You must understand and accept that there is very little respite for
vacations, etc. during the growing season. A good garden requires your
attention on a daily basis!
On the other hand you, and especially your children, will benefit
greatly by having a fixed and important responsibility that requires
daily commitment and real effort to accomplish. Think of it as a paper
route without the 2:30 A.M hours, the driving, the danger, barking dogs,
etc.
And one last consideration: A hundred years ago, everyone used manure
and compost, and it was a fairly level playing field between the family
gardener and the market farmer. Not so today! Your competition includes
hydroponic growers who have invested over a million dollars per acre in
buildings and equipment, as well as dozens of employees doing the work.
And by feeding and watering their plants accurately many times each day,
they're growing 330 TONS of tomatoes per acre each year!
II. You have a big advantage over others
Is all of this daunting? Have you decided to just give up and forget
about growing your own food? I certainly hope NOT, because it's
important for you and your family to grow a garden for many very valid
reasons, which we can't address in this article.
Understand this. You can produce much more in less space, using the Foundation's methods, than other small market growers are doing, and GO FOR IT!
The Foundation's books, CD's and videos will teach you the gardening
principles and procedures by which you will grow your successful market
garden. In studying these things, remember that this unique gardening
method has been proven highly effective in thousands of situations, in
dozens of countries all around the world. It's a recipe! It WILL work to give you a great garden - in any soil and in virtually any climate. But you MUST follow the recipe.
III. Creating Your Own Successful Market Garden
How do you prepare?
1. START SMALL! Don't plant more than you can care for properly, and sell, share or use.
2. Determine the market or markets you will sell to: a) Wholesalers, b)
small grocery stores, c) restaurants, d) farmers' market, e) roadside
stand, or f) home delivery.
3. Learn what vegetables you should grow by determining those that: a)
sell well, b) at a good price, c) that you can grow readily.
4. Build proper facilities including a) a seedling greenhouse with
tables, b) T-Frames and c) a good watering system. These are essential
for success at this level.
5. Set up a formal accounting system, including account names and
numbers for every category of asset, liability, equity, income, and
expense. Get help from your CPA.
6. Stock up on tools, seeds, and fertilizers, and be sure to include all
those costs, as well as your labor, in figuring your market prices.
You'll have to meet or beat the competition to sell your produce at the
beginning. However, by growing more, bigger, fresher, tastier, and
healthier produce than others, you will develop a loyal customer base,
and then you can adjust your prices as needed.
In choosing what to grow, consider a) the ease of growing, b) cost and
risk of loss, and c) the value of the crop. Cabbage is quite easy to
grow; it can be started in early spring when many other crops would die;
and it only requires about 60 days to mature, so you may get 2 or even 3
crops in a year. However, it doesn't bring a very high price in the
market, so you must decide if it's worth it or not.
Let's look at some scenarios of what could be grown and sold from one
acre of ground, with good care and decent weather, and without losses
from bugs and diseases (by strictly following the Mittleider Method you
will minimize your crops' susceptibility to those things):
Soil-Bed Garden - 250 30'-long Beds (as if all planted to one crop)
Beans-pole - 120 plants per bed, 1.5# per plant, $.50 per pound - - - $22,500
Corn - 92 plants per bed, 1 ear per plant, $.10 per ear - - - - - - - - - 2,300
Cucumbers - 45 plants per bed, 8# per plant, $.25 per pound - - - - - 22,500
Potatoes - 92 plants per bed, 2.5# per plant, $.10 per pound - - - - - - 5,750
Tomatoes - 40 plants per bed, 10# per plant, $.50 per pound - - - - - 50,000
The above examples are estimates only, and the actual results could be -
and have been - much higher or lower, depending on many factors,
including experience & care, weather, direct retail marketing vs.
wholesale sales, etc.
If you are growing for the retail market using a roadside stand or
farmers' market booth, you will probably want a fairly wide variety of
produce, to bring customers. While corn has low value in terms of yield
for a given amount of space, it is VERY popular with customers when it's
fresh, so you may well treat it as a "Loss Leader" and have it
available. But don't try to plant too many vegetable varieties. Ten or
twelve key types are far easier to handle than twenty to thirty. And
three varieties of tomatoes are usually plenty. I would plant Big Beef,
Italia Mia, and Grape tomatoes. One planting of Blue Lake pole beans
will allow you to sell beans all season long, but bush varieties come on
much sooner.
If your customers are restaurants, you will need to grow the specific
things they use, such as specialty lettuces, tomatoes, Ichiban eggplant,
small red potatoes, etc. And you may need to plant a few beds of the
single-crop things every week, to have them maturing throughout the
season.
If your primary market is the large grocery store or wholesale
suppliers, they will usually want a large steady supply of a few things,
so you may be able to plant everything to the "money" crops of beans,
cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, or multiple plantings of
lettuces and other quick-growing crops.