The winter months are the perfect time for planning on the homestead. Whether you have goals including your animals, land or garden, now is the perfect time to plan for the upcoming harvest season. Learning how to grow enough food for your family can be much less overwhelming with these tips!
Can I grow enough food to feed my family?
The simple answer is yes, absolutely! But there are a lot of factors involved. Every family is unique in their size, diet, resources and in so many other areas If you are just getting started on your journey to being more self sufficient, the idea of growing a lot of food can be overwhelming. Here are a few questions to ask before you start planning:
- How much food would my family actually need?
- How much space do I have to grow food?
- What are the resources I have available to me?
- What does my family like to eat?
- What are my talent and skills that can help me to feed my family?
- What storage do I have to store food long term?
While this list may seem like a lot to think about, it shouldn’t take you long to answer them.
Creating Community
Another point to note when planning how to feed your family is to remember that being completely self sufficient is fairly difficult. It is so important to have community. Whether it is local farmers, homesteaders or maybe just your next door neighbor, you can find people around you that are just as interested in growing food as you are. More than likely you can help each other out.
If you have more land and your neighbor needs somewhere to raise pastured chickens, maybe you can work out a deal so that they can use your land in exchange for meat. Or maybe you have a small yard, but you know someone who would be willing to let you grow a garden on their land.
Not only can you share resources, but skills too. Maybe you can teach someone to can or ferment in exchange for them teaching you to make repairs on your equipment or teach you to build a fence.
Maybe start by asking people on your social media, at church or other groups who is interested in growing food and you might be surprised by how many people actually want to learn or are already doing it.
Garden Planning
Probably the first thing that comes to mind when someone thinks of how to grow enough food for your family is an imagine of a huge garden full of fresh produce. However, a huge garden isn’t possible for everyone and with enough planning it doesn’t have take much space to grow for your family. Here are the steps I take when garden planning each year.
1. Start by deciding how much space you have and your ability to tend to it.
For example, this year I am pregnant with our fourth child. I will be massively pregnant and getting ready for birth at the peak of harvesting and preserving. So, I am planning on planting more crops that are easy to preserve or preserve themselves. I will be planting a lot more winter squash, dry beans and sweet potatoes.
2. Decide what foods you will actually eat.
My kids don’t like greens, but my husband and I do, so I will only grow a small amount of fresh spring greens. However, we all enjoy cucumbers and were short on them last year so I am planting extra this year.
3. Choose varieties that grow well in your area.
Whether you grow hybrid or heirloom, pick varieties that are easy to grow for you. We can grow sweet potatoes, okra, and green beans like crazy, but brassicas and greens won’t last past the first part of May because of the heat. They will be given very little space and we’ll use them only for fresh eating.
Checking out local feed and seed stores or co-ops for seeds may be your best bet to find what varieties grow best in your area. Plus, you’ll more than likely be able to strike up conversations with people there who have been gardening for years and ask advice!
4. Decide how you are going to preserve these foods.
If you grow an abundance of tomatoes, but don’t know what to do with them then you’re not going to get very far. Learn the skills now that you will need, or have a plan for when all of your produce comes in. You can preserve food in many ways. Canning, dehydrating, fermenting and freeze drying are the most popular.
Resources on how to preserve food are available all over the internet, but also at your local library for free!
Raising Meat
If you have never raised animals before, you probably don’t want to start out with beef or pork. Start small with animals such as chickens, rabbits, ducks or even turkeys. However, even with small animals, you can become much more self sufficient.
Deciding how much meat to raise is a little harder. There are so many factors involved. Some include cost, space, skills and time. Growing a protein source is very important when learning how to grow enough food for your family and can take a few years to really figure it out.
Here are some great options for beginners.
Raising chickens for eggs & meat:
Chickens are such a great multipurpose animal. They are easy to get started with, even in small backyards. Raising chickens can be very cost effective too. By free ranging, fermenting feed and feeding them garden scraps, you can raise chickens on a small budget!
Not only that, but you will be raising a much healthier bird for your family than anything you can find at the grocery store. Even if don’t want to raise strictly meat chickens, you can always butcher hens after they get too old and roosters once they’ve served their purpose.
How many meat chickens do I need? That is up to you and your family. If you think you will eat the equivalent of 1 whole chicken a week, then plan on raising around 52 meat birds for a year. If you figure up more, double that number and have extra to give as gifts!
Other meat alternatives:
- Rabbits. Rabbits are great for beginners and can be raised in very small spaces. They also reproduce quickly, are inexpensive to feed and grow quickly. Just make sure you can finish the job come butchering time.
- Ducks. Ducks are fairly hardy in our experience, much like chickens. However, they are messy, especially if not free ranged or given plenty of space. Still, they are a delicious meat to raise and get larger than chickens. Bonus, they can take care of bug problems on your property!
- Turkeys. Turkeys are fun to raise and they give a great return on the amount of meat you get. However, they can be very feeble when they are young. Newly hatched turkeys are delicate and take a little extra care compared to ducks and chickens. But if you can get them to about 2 months old, they become much hardier. They are a delight to have on your property!
- Quail. Raising quail is another option that requires very little space. They reproduce fast and butchering is very simple.
Learn to hunt.
While it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, learning to hunt deer, wild hogs, rabbits, quail, ducks, etc. can bring in a lot of free meat for your family. It’s especially cost effective if you learn to do all of the processing yourself. Just be sure to learn from someone with lots of experience and is very knowledgable about gun safety.
How to grow enough food for your family
Learning how to grow enough food for your family can be overwhelming. Start by planning things one step at a time. It is so easy to take on too much at once and get overwhelmed. If you have never grown a garden before, start small with just a couple of raised beds. If you have never raised animals, start with just a handful of chickens.
It can be so tempting to want to become self sufficient very quickly. However, this is quite the task to accomplish. Take time to plan, learn new skills, and enjoy yourself while you’re at it.
Finally, remember that it is good to work within a community. Likely, you won’t be able to produce all the food you will ever need in your own backyard. It is good to find others doing what you are doing and supporting them.
Also remember that you are not a failure for buying food from the grocery store! I cannot, nor can anyone around me grow enough wheat for all of our bread for a year. We live in a very hot and humid climate with it’s own limitations. For a good article on foods that you can grow quickly for your family, check out this one here.
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Proverbs 16:9
