How many acres is a good amount to homestead?
I would be having couple cows and pigs, rabbits and quail, turkeys, chickens, ducks and geese. I will be having also horses and goats and cats and dogs. I think 15-20 acres would be good plus a garden and orchid
It depends on what you want to accomplish with your homestead. You can definitely grow all of your own produce for a year on a 1/2 acre or less, but if you wanted corn for grain, or other grains, you'd need more land. If you want meat, dairy, or eggs, you'd need more land. If you want to be self-sufficient with their feed, you'd need even more land. I personally feel that more vegetable-based diets require less land than higher meat-based diets. I found
an article which sited several sources that generated land needs for self-sufficiency, and the estimates were all over the place. One source stated 17 acres per person, while another said 2 acres for a family of four. I fully believe you'd need to plan an ultra-efficient plot with no room for error if you wanted to homestead on 2 acres of land and be entirely self-sufficient, but that's just me.
My feelings are, buy as much land as you can reasonably afford. Look for land with an open water source (stream or clean pond), pasture, and perhaps some wooded area for hunting, or grazing if you want goats.
Here is what I have: We own 4.68 acres, much of which is on heavily wooded hillsides. We have perhaps 1.5-2 acres actually usable to us, but goats could make quick work of the remaining if we get any. We'd still need to buy alfalfa for the winter. We couldn't grow it. I have 17 chickens and they have plenty of room, but feed costs go way up in the winter. The laying flock free ranges. We raise our own meat chickens, but again, we have to buy the feed. Ultimately you'll likely pay more to raise meat birds than to buy chicken at the store. Rabbits are a more feed-efficient meat source for sure. I grew about 50-80% of all of my own produce for the year last year with two garden plots. One is about 40'x60' and the other where I grew popcorn and potatoes is 20'x30'. The popcorn was a flop, so I lost valuable produce there. I didn't do well with sweet corn either, so there is certainly room for improvement. My annual grocery bill went from about $5,538 to in 2019 (with only 10'x20' garden, 7 laying hens, 0 meat birds in 2019) to $3,174 in 2020. However, spending in other areas (animal feed) did increase.
If you can't have an orchard, there is always the opportunity to network and trade with other homesteaders. For example, I acquired several bushels of apples and pears, but I traded them for eggs, a couple meat chickens, and some homemade soap. It'll take years to have a "fruitful" orchard.
It is important to remember to set reasonable goals. You'll kill all of the fun if you try to be 100% self-sufficient in your first year. It's taken me three years to get to where I am now, and I'm still learning more and more every year (like popcorn doesn't work, and we eat more potatoes than I realized).
Homesteading and self-sufficiency is a journey with virtually no end, but in my opinion it's one of the most rewarding journeys.
