Lots of people claim lots of things. I would be inclined to do some
personal research before I would just my life to something I saw in a book.
This type of farming is very difficult to sustain and takes a lot of work.
You could well be in deep trouble if you were forced to stop work for a week
or two due to injury, illness, or some other reason. or what if a storm
came through and destroyed your crops? or a horde of grasshoppers? even a
herd of deer could decimate your garden very quickly.

personally I suspect you can do a lot on 5 good acres with a continuous
water source, but I am leery of trusting my life to such a small area.

"WCD" wrote in message
...

There are an awful lot of variable involved here, but in a place like
Maine where I am, I've heard you could grow all the wood you would need
for heat through the winter on 5 acres. I've also heard you could eat
very well if you gardened 5 acres, with a lot of extra to put away or
sell for cash. I think I remember Eliot Coleman saying in one of his
books you could make a decent living growing on as little as 5 acres.

HTH



One issue is the question of how much physical space would be
needed to grow enough food to completely support myself?