So we're gonna have 40 acres in Nor Cal... what should we grow?

Ok, besides the obvious thing to grow in Cali, what else would you grow on land if you had some acreage and the time to do it? We want to be as sufficient as possible, so being able to grow a variety of vegetables would be great. Fruit if possible, but I don't know what would grow in the northern California region.

Any thoughts?

Peppers? Lettuce? Potatoes? I mean, what can we groooow???

Hoping to go all organic. How much food can a few dedicated people produce if they have a few hours each day to dedicate to the vegetable part of their garden?

rettyplease:

Let me know what you think we should put out there!

 

With forty acres I would plant herbs, organically, to sell because there is a shortage of herbs growing in the wild due to decreasing native land.There is a great market for herbs and you will be helping the earth.

 

Thank you for that advice. Actually, that sounds really wise.

I've been meaning to learn a little more about herbs and healing, so maybe this summer will be a good chance to do just that while also creating a nice organic spice rack.



Between what we can grow and what we could trade/barter for herbs, we should be alright then. Once we get this off the ground in the next month or so I'll get some pictures up here. I'm excited. First time going off-grid, should be a new adventure.

 

It depends on a lot of factors, climate, soil, exposure, etc. Even within regions there are micro climes. It is obvious that you cannot grow wheat on an arctic icepack without some substantial rearrangement.
I was invested with an off the grid experiment on 5 mixed forested acres.
It turns out for the land to be arable to the extent to provide cultivated foodstuffs, i had to actually created soils through sifting and organic enrichment. All of this without the assistance of power tools or equipment. It turned out that the natural fecundity of the area provided the most accessible economy, i.e., evergreen huckleberries, salal, ornamental ferns and bows, culinary funghi, fishing, fire wood.

 

Well first thing to do is figure out what Ag zone you're in, this will do allot to tell you whats going to grow best for you.

Secondly, as always, I strongly suggest investigating Terra-Preta as a growing medium for raised beds or otherwise as it retains the nutrients from your compost and so forth rather than simply letting them wash away with waterings.

If you're in zone 5 or lower, Buckwheat makes a good source of protein and the leaves are great in salads, but much like Spinach can be bad if overconsumed due to the Oxalic acids they contain which can lead to kidney stones.

Eggplants are a great source of a wide variety of vitamins too and even if it's too cold where you're at the only thing preventing you from building a simple greenhouse from recycled double pane windows is the motivation to do so.

But yea', let's see what zone you're in before we go on about just what you can and cant grow. Pretty much can grow anything anywhere, it's just a matter of how much effort ya' want to put in or how well something may or may not do in your natural climate. I know of some folks doing rather well using greenhouses up in Alaska.

 

fruit trees.

 

Excellent advice for anyone growing anything... Terra-Preta is the best thing you could ever add to your gardens (or anywhere else you want stuff to grow well)

 

Some good things to think about.

We're going to go with raised beds, or hire some heavy machinery for a few days and properly clear out some soil and replace it with decent growing medium.

Luckily we have a few farmhands to help us, but it's going to be ... a lot of work.

So for zoning, from what I can tell it's going to be zone 8 if that makes sense. Either 8a or 8b, the lines seem kind of close for the area, but that's the zone.

I'm guessing there is a lot open in terms of what can be farmed in each zone.

We're still very much in the planning phase, I just want this to be more than just you're average farm, I want to actually turn this thing into something that can produce organic food in addition to medicine.

Definitely going to have to figure out reasonable size. That's going to be the hard part, balancing out how much gardening and maintenance 3-4 people can handle. I'm already budgeting 3 hours a day in the other garden, so if I could figure out some good veggies and food stuff to grow that doesn't take a TON of maintenance, all the better.

We're buying the land, and so far it looks to be partially forested with water access and rights. Guessing we're going to have to clear out some space to get the most out of it, but that'll be part of the fun.

wow. realizing how much work this is going to be ... what fun!

 

Another thing to investigate is companion planting. Things like Legumes pump Nitrogen into the soil so ya dont need to use as much in your fert's.

Heck, zone 8 you're pretty much good all around, nice mild winters will mean probably good for stuff like Kale, Broccoli, Lettuces and so forth and your summers are pretty much wide open. Crap, you guy's hiring?

j/k I'm coping with working the Hostel down in Tecopa for now. Might even get around to putting in a big garden if the boss ever get's her head out her butt and set's me loose on it instead of wanting a report damn near asking exactly what sort of yield to expect from the first year in zone 11,,, (She did actually ask that, and how long till yield but I lmao and she kinda went away and worried about other things.)

 

Lol Fritz;
I'll keep posting our progress up here. If we actually get this thing of the ground we might just need a spare hand or two to help.

*edited*

Looking to go down in the next few weeks to start looking at property. right now we're just scoping places online, but nothing like actually walking around a property to get the feel for it's true potential.

 

Good point

No fears, I've passed many a test in my day, studied at least a few books in my time.

 

Heres a fun title to page through for some ideas on self sufficiency, preserving food, making fabrics from tree bark and all sorts of other insane crap.

http://books.google.com/books?id=_L...resnum=1&ved=0CAoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

wow 40 acres? Sounds like that is just enough to get me in trouble especially round the emerald triangle he he he

 

I would go with corn,tomatoes,strawberrys,melons. I would love to donate my labor for a few months just to get out of the city for a while in exchange for some space to pitch a tent and do some gardening. Peace!!!