How much land would you want?

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How much land would you want?
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Marches

Joined: 13 Dec 2011
Posts: 171
Location: Nr Peak District, England

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 12:29 am Post subject: How much land would you want?

How much land would your ideal plot consist of?

I'am lucky enough to have a large garden despite living in the suburbs, it's half an acre but my neighbour has 1 and a half acres for a garden which I'm secretly jealous of.

The land me and my folks rent is just under ten acres and we use it for growing some crops and sub-rent some to the dairy farm next door.

Ideally though I'd just have around 2 or 3 acres really, I think that is enough for any body unless they intend to farm on a commercial basis.

A area of potatoes, brassicas, root veg, soft fruits, compact fruit trees, rhubarb, hazel trees for the nuts and oats is my idea of a good plot. Of course you may not be able to get full self sufficiency on a smaller plot, but at least you're largely there.

One problem in the countryside is wasted land, especially by people from cities just buying up rural property for the views and tranquillity whilst leaving the land to go to waste or under utilising it.

Another problem in my opinion is the horse craze which wastes a lot of land and pushes land prices and rent up for everyone else, especially us folks who actually want to use the land productively!

So anyway, what is the ideal size of a plot to you and what sized plot do you already have?

A useful online measuring tool someone else originally posted on here can be found here:
https://www.freemaptools.com/area-calculator.htm

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46359
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 12:37 am Post subject:
pends none or lots depends how it is used

Marches

Joined: 13 Dec 2011
Posts: 171
Location: Nr Peak District, England

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 12:52 am Post subject:

dpack wrote:

pends

none or lots depends how it is used

Well the idea is that you state how much and what it is / would be used for.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46359
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 1:23 am Post subject:
my first thought was how many cows could it support in a strip grazed meadow system sorry domestic .5 acres including 1 of garden ,1 of useful trees ,3 of grazing/ hay pannage ,forage ,and fuel from the common

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 3:54 am Post subject:
When we moved her we thought an acre would be ideal.... now we would really like 7. Ideal plot would have a small wood and some sort of stream....

Andrea

Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 2260
Location: Portugal

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 7:12 am Post subject:
We have around 11 ha. The forest land is underutilised at the moment, but we have plans for it all.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 8:04 am Post subject: Re: How much land would you want?

Marches wrote:

One problem in the countryside is wasted land, especially by people from cities just buying up rural property for the views and tranquillity whilst leaving the land to go to waste or under utilising it.

That Capability Brown has a lot to answer for.

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 8:25 am Post subject:

We have 3 acres and that's just about right, I think, for what we do. we've had pigs for some years now, but they're going, leaving poultry and ducks as well as fruit cage, polytunnel, veg garden, two greenhouses, flower beds and orchard. the pigs' top field will become (hopefully) a forest garden and we'll leave their woodldand to regenerate and see what's there before we do anything with it. I wouldn't mind a few acres of woodland though, for firewood and to let go.

woodsprite

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Posts: 2943
Location: North Herefordshire

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 8:38 am Post subject:
We used to have almost 5 and on that we had a large veg garden, fruit cages, polytunnel, 4ewes 1ram(and lambs for 6 months) 2 cows, 2 sows (and their litters), hens ducks and geese in the yard. We managed the land very carefully and always had enough grass even managing to make a bit of hay a couple of years. I'd have 5 acres again.

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 8:55 am Post subject:

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

When we moved her we thought an acre would be ideal....
now we would really like 7.
Ideal plot would have a small wood and some sort of stream....

SNAP!!

We have 0.8ha but would really love double that + a woodland for firewood and to allow the pigs to roam in and a little stream for water power.

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9891
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 8:56 am Post subject:

there is never enough land - however much you have, a lil bit more would be nice.

we have 2 acres, in which we have 2 greenhouses, 7 12x28 ft veg beds + 2 smaller ones, a fruit bed, some outbuildings, a pig run big enough for 3-4 pigs, 2 chicken runs, a duck run, a small newly planted orchard, and we have 4 sheep (and another one being companion to someone else's ram elsewhere). and we have raised turkeys from poults. We mostly keep ourselves in meat and veg.
So far we have kept ourselves in firewood with donations and our hedging efforts (hedges were neglected for some years)

I'd like a bit more grazing, and a small woodland please. actually we planted a strip of the land where it is boggy for coppicing but its some way off. I'd like a mature woodland added to our land please.

so i reckon a total of 5 acres would do us nicely.

arvo

Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Posts: 3321
Location: Somerset

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 9:04 am Post subject:
Seymour recommends 1 or 5 doesn't he? Though I remember on here a while ago there being some dicussion on how much land it was possible to feed a family on. Can't remember what the outcome was.

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 9:06 am Post subject:

arvo wrote:

Seymour recommends 1 or 5 doesn't he?

Though I remember on here a while ago there being some dicussion on how much land it was possible to feed a family on. Can't remember what the outcome was.

Is that acres or hectatres?

earthyvirgo

Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 7972
Location: creating prints in the loft, Gerlan

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 9:15 am Post subject:
I'd like enough land to be largely self-sufficient in soft fruit and veg, to have a small orchard and to be able to keep the 'eating' garden largely separate from my shrubs and flowers. I think I'd like ducks but not sure I could justify that until I was confident I'd be able to kill one if I had to. EV

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 9:28 am Post subject:
Ducks are easy to kill. Same as a hen only a stronger pull (and hold the legs nearer to the body). Quite a lot of meat off a duck too.

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