The Cook wrote:

On Mon, 15 May 2006 23:20:28 -0400, "D.Reid"
wrote:


"zxcvbob" wrote in message
...

wrote:

Howdy!


An acre, which, if I'm not mistaken, is 220' x 220', contains 44,000
square feet. Therefore, one acre in corn is 44,000 plants! Is this
about right?

43560 square feet.


If even approximately correct, it would appear that hand harvesting a
single acre of corn would be a daunting challenge for two people who
are not mechanized beyond the aforesaid dinky Cub tractor.

I will genuinely appreciate some of the experienced souls in here
providing me a reality check on what our realistic goals should be.
Since our entire 13 acres is already cleared and is all sand, we
thought a reasonable long term goal would be to plant 3 acres each
season, then move over. Thus, every fourth year we'd come back to the
original plot.

Without asking you to ..er.. "take us to raise" would you please orient
us? If it's to point us to a book or a web site that's more than fine.
In fact, I just ordered "5 acres and independence" but it hasn't
arrived in the mail yet. It may very well have the answers I'm
seeking.

Finally, and on the assumption we plant a manageable size, can corn be
intercropped with peanuts? I do not think our soil is ideal for corn
since it is somewhat shy of humus. But I'll wager peanuts would grow
like the dickens.

Any other suggestions you care to toss out, especially as to companion
planting, will be greatly appreciated.




Why not *watermelons* and peanuts?

Or plant something perennial, like blackberries?

Bob

Actually...after further thought, I'd bet Strawberries would be a good "Cash
Crop"...cultivated under black plastic...Hmmmm...big $$$ in Strawberries.
They ...could...if worked right...be perrinial.
Dave


Strawberries are not that carefree. Around here the commercial
strawberry farmers replace their fields every year since the berries
are susceptible to various diseases, especially if the beds are not
kept clean. And they do not use the runners for the next year. They
purchase plants.

Another side, strawberries have been prolific and maintenance free here.
They are almost like weeds! I dug them out of one spot to put them in
a raised bed. They have taken over the raised bed and then some as well
as re-established themselves where I dug them from initially. I do
nothing to them other than pick the berries, toss in a little
fertilizer, and cuss them when they spred. This is my fourth year doing
it this way. The bed is already flowering profusely so there should be
plenty of berries. These are June bearers if that makes any difference.

--

Garden Gnome
http://ca.360.yahoo.com/sfg.oamc
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/garden_wanderings
http://gardengnomewanderings.blogspot.com/

wrote:
Howdy!

My wife and I are embarking on a "semi-retirement homesteading"
adventure on 13 acres on the central Texas Gulf Coast.


do you want to farm for profit, or garden for subsistence? Subsistence
can be done easily on a well tended half acre. Subsistence is done by
hand, farming by tractor. Some issues as they come to mind:

- make a list of the relatively few plants that will grow well in sheer
sand. If you are thinking subsistence, I think chickpeas and millet
grow well in semiarid regions.

- mixed plantings go well beyond corn and beans. Besides, corn and
beans don't really go together. As you harvest one, you are always
damaging the other, and beans really don't like getting bruises. My
favorite corn companion is corn salad (mache), which will reseed itself
and come back year after year. Another is favas and fruit trees, or
favas and anything that needs a N boost the next season. Your region is
good for winter favas.

- how many fruit trees, and which types?

- if you want to be organic, how do you plan to build the soil? Looks
like a tough, multiyear project requiring innumerable truckloads of
anything organic.

- Further, do you want chicken, lambs, or other protein-rich edibles?
Free range or corn-fed? If you are not too far from a large city, you
can make a living with free range, grass-fed animals sold directly to
the consumer. How about heirloom pigs and turkeys? Lots of people
jumping in that business. If you have oaks, they will take care of
themselves.

Hi Tenaz,

I could take the rest of the minute off and tell you all I know about
Hopi dry farming methods.

I imagine you already know about the nice people at "native seed
search.org". Only today I placed an order with them for about $240
worth of various seeds. If you haven't heard of 'em find their web
page. They are a non profit conservation society. Their stated
mission is to collect, grow out, and proliferate seed lines that were
of historic and/or cultural significance to native Americans. Whenever
they mentioned "Hopi dry farmed" for a seed listing such as corn I
decided to try it.

Last night I searched on "hopi agriculture" and found some information.
Basically, they use drought resistant seed stocks and have developed
knowledge that enables them to maximize ever molecule of moisture. But
alas, an expert I am not.

Nevertheless, I look forward to learning as I muddle along.

V

I'm really amazed at the enthusiasm effusing from this group!

Thanks!

Vernon

wrote:
Howdy!

My wife and I are embarking on a "semi-retirement homesteading"
adventure on 13 acres on the central Texas Gulf Coast.

The land has not been in agricultural production in at least 15 years,
this being the time period we've owned it.

When last it was, it was in watermelons. In fact, it is textbook
watermelon land, since it is fine deep sand.

Our reasons are both economic and philosophical. Although we have no
for-profit aspirations we aspire to eventually cultivate at least 10
acres. The reason for this is so that in 5 years we hope to be
elegible for an agricultural use property tax exemption.

My wife loves to garden. Without doubt she'll be the one taking the
lead, but I am also enthusiastic. We have a dinky Farmall Cub tractor,
a 3 row garden plow, and a disk.

We are about to place an order for some seed stock from "Native Seed
Search". We expect to concentrate on "the three sisters" corn, beans,
and squash. But we're eager to companion plant some other things as
well.

As the project evolves I'm sure I'll have lots of additional questions.

But for now, the burning question is: How big of a plot to plant?

An acre, which, if I'm not mistaken, is 220' x 220', contains 44,000
square feet. Therefore, one acre in corn is 44,000 plants! Is this
about right?

If even approximately correct, it would appear that hand harvesting a
single acre of corn would be a daunting challenge for two people who
are not mechanized beyond the aforesaid dinky Cub tractor.

I will genuinely appreciate some of the experienced souls in here
providing me a reality check on what our realistic goals should be.
Since our entire 13 acres is already cleared and is all sand, we
thought a reasonable long term goal would be to plant 3 acres each
season, then move over. Thus, every fourth year we'd come back to the
original plot.

Without asking you to ..er.. "take us to raise" would you please orient
us? If it's to point us to a book or a web site that's more than fine.
In fact, I just ordered "5 acres and independence" but it hasn't
arrived in the mail yet. It may very well have the answers I'm
seeking.

Finally, and on the assumption we plant a manageable size, can corn be
intercropped with peanuts? I do not think our soil is ideal for corn
since it is somewhat shy of humus. But I'll wager peanuts would grow
like the dickens.

Any other suggestions you care to toss out, especially as to companion
planting, will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Vernon

Hi Vernon!
I live in Lufkin, about 100 miles to the north of you, so our growing
conditions are similar. We already have squash, tomatoes, peppers,
cucumbers, broccoli, potatoes, onions, turnips and cabbage (several
varieties of each) that are harvestable. Our sweet corn is already
making tassels and our beans/peas should be ready in about a week. They
were planted in March, so I don't think there's time to wait for the
seed order. Consider buying plants form your local feed store, they also
have seed. They will have varieties that are known to grow well in your
area. Or you may still find plants at Lowes or Home Depot.

We have two gardens, the one in the back field is about 3/4 acre, and
the one out back of the house is about 30' x 50'. The larger one has
soil like yours and smaller one has richer soil. Our corn is doing well
despite the sandy soil. Alternating two rows corn then two rows of beans
has made the corn picking much easier. We use the one out back for often
picked items such as tomatoes and peppers and the larger one for less
picked items such as corn, okra and beans. I don't often help in the
garden, due to physical limitations, and my husband said he couldn't
have managed so large a garden without a little larger machinery than
you have available. Also we don't rotate our plots, but only specific
crop locations within the same plot.

Some other things to think about is watering, storage and equipment to
make processing your harvest a little easier. Last year we had little
rain throughout late Spring to late fall. We had to pump water from our
pond to water the large garden several times and still lost most of the
corn but the other crops did well. After giving away oodles of veggies,
we still had to purchase a 2nd freezer and wound up with both freezers
full. We found that an electric pea sheller is indispensible, saved us
countless hours shelling peas/beans. They are kind of expensive, but
worth every penny. Our was ordered thru the local feedstore and took
about two weeks to get here.

In our county growing hay and selling it qualifies as agricultural use,
so if your land has been in grass all these years, check it out, you may
already qualify for agricultural exemptions. Raising hay is much easier
than raising a large garden. Around here you can hire someone to cut and
bale it and sells for $25+ per round bale and it can be cut several
times during the growing season. Then you could limit the size of your
garden to one more suited to the size of your family.



Best Regards and Happy Growing!
Alana


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As a young man thirty years ago, I too shared your aspirations, but after
five years of truck farming five acres, the bloom came off the rose. Growing
the stuff was the easy part. Getting it picked and selling it at a fair
price was the hard part. As another poster said; Pick-Ur-Own is the way to
go but only if you live near where your customers live.

Small farms can be financially sussessful if they can produce a niche crop.
If there are resturants nearby, find out what fresh herbs they use and grow
them. Big bucks on a little as an acre.

I, too had a Farmall Cub. Great machine for cultivating but I wouldn't plow
or disk with it. The engine's too small. Hire someone with the proper
sized equipment or buy something bigger to do your ground preparation.

Finally, if your real goal is the ag tax exemption. consider leasing your
land to a local farmer and continue to garden for your own pleasure.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Howdy!

My wife and I are embarking on a "semi-retirement homesteading"
adventure on 13 acres on the central Texas Gulf Coast.

The land has not been in agricultural production in at least 15 years,
this being the time period we've owned it.

When last it was, it was in watermelons. In fact, it is textbook
watermelon land, since it is fine deep sand.

Our reasons are both economic and philosophical. Although we have no
for-profit aspirations we aspire to eventually cultivate at least 10
acres. The reason for this is so that in 5 years we hope to be
elegible for an agricultural use property tax exemption.

My wife loves to garden. Without doubt she'll be the one taking the
lead, but I am also enthusiastic. We have a dinky Farmall Cub tractor,
a 3 row garden plow, and a disk.

We are about to place an order for some seed stock from "Native Seed
Search". We expect to concentrate on "the three sisters" corn, beans,
and squash. But we're eager to companion plant some other things as
well.

As the project evolves I'm sure I'll have lots of additional questions.

But for now, the burning question is: How big of a plot to plant?

An acre, which, if I'm not mistaken, is 220' x 220', contains 44,000
square feet. Therefore, one acre in corn is 44,000 plants! Is this
about right?

If even approximately correct, it would appear that hand harvesting a
single acre of corn would be a daunting challenge for two people who
are not mechanized beyond the aforesaid dinky Cub tractor.

I will genuinely appreciate some of the experienced souls in here
providing me a reality check on what our realistic goals should be.
Since our entire 13 acres is already cleared and is all sand, we
thought a reasonable long term goal would be to plant 3 acres each
season, then move over. Thus, every fourth year we'd come back to the
original plot.

Without asking you to ..er.. "take us to raise" would you please orient
us? If it's to point us to a book or a web site that's more than fine.
In fact, I just ordered "5 acres and independence" but it hasn't
arrived in the mail yet. It may very well have the answers I'm
seeking.

Finally, and on the assumption we plant a manageable size, can corn be
intercropped with peanuts? I do not think our soil is ideal for corn
since it is somewhat shy of humus. But I'll wager peanuts would grow
like the dickens.

Any other suggestions you care to toss out, especially as to companion
planting, will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Vernon

FDR wrote:
"D.Reid" wrote in message
...
Actually...after further thought, I'd bet Strawberries would be a good
"Cash Crop"...cultivated under black plastic...Hmmmm...big $$$ in
Strawberries. They ...could...if worked right...be perrinial.
Dave

Asparagus would be great too.

Seconded. In the UK, fresh asparagus sells for a hell of a lot of cash,
the main problem being that it takes up a lot of space all year round.
As you have tons of space that isn't a problem. If it's growable where
you are, it sounds good.

Hi Alana!

You're practically our across the street neighbors!

Vernon

Hi TQ,

I'm always happy to hear from folks who have already been where I hope
to tread.

There are a couple of aspects to our situation that appear to be
especially favorable.

First, the property is on a rural stretch of busy highway. It has
great visibility and easy access. Therefore, if we can grow
significant volumes of quality produce it would seem to me that we
could market it on the spot.

While alone, that does not mean that we can compete with large scale
agribusiness, it sure seems that we can get to market without all the
"middle people".

But I agree that a niche market is the way to go. We just haven't
figured out what niche.

Another aspect of it is that we don't really have to live from this.
The fundamental reason for doing it is physical exercise and the
harmony of being closer to nature.

On the other hand if we can make some money at it that's great. But
it's not the driving force for doing it.

Thanks to everybody who's provided your point of view. I've learned
something valuable from every single response!

V