Wall Street buying up farms?

[awakenedsoul]

I know what you mean, Gregg. I have a 567 square foot cottage on a 7,400 square foot plot of land. This year I really applied myself to growing food. It's been exciting and very rewarding. I've always had fruit trees, and I mulch and compost the land every year. Once you get an organic system in place, it's very healthy. I see such an ecosystem back there now. Lizards everywhere, tons of birds, worms in the soil, and even a pair of falcons in my poplar tree. There are plenty of fresh vegetalbes every day. My diet is a bit repetitious, but it's worth it. I have enough to share with my neighbors, too.

I plan to invest in more fruit trees, vegetable seeds, and limit my consumption of meat and chicken. If I had to, I could raise chickens for food, but I don't like to butcher.

[Gregg]

Wow awakenedsoul, you already have going what I'm aspiring to. We just bought a 874 sq.ft. house on a 7,370 sq.ft. lot. Looking at my plan right now. Most of the work right now is on the house so we can move in by the end of the year, but we're going to get things rolling with the big plants this fall. The plan has 3 dwarf fruit trees along with all the shade trees, some for privacy & wind screening and several varities of big bushes, berries and brambles. A friend is a landscape architect so he's helping us out. I gave him my copy of Gaia's Garden to get him into the permaculture mode (with only moderate success). We're planning a chicken coop with 6 or 8 laying hens. We love eggs! We'll see how it goes down the road when they reach the end of their laying days...

[awakenedsoul]

That's great, Gregg! I find this size lot is ideal. It's a challenge to keep the weeds down sometimes, but straw mulching helps. Another thing I wish I'd done was to plant all standard size fruit trees from the beginning. My dwarfs only give me a few pieces of fruit a year. I read on Dave Wilson's website that he recommends keeping standard trees trimmed to 10 feet high. I do it this way now, and my trees are loaded with fruit. They also have wide root systems, so I don't have the weeding problem. I'm still trying to work it out so I have things fruiting each month, if possible. I hope to grow a lot more melons next year.
With all those chickens, you'll have plenty of manure for your compost. I'm also interested in putting in more tropical fruit trees: cherimoya, guava, lychee, etc...The longer I garden, the more I choose food that I love. Fruit trees take a while, but once they take off, it's really exciting and rewarding! Keep me posted!
I have a 15 year old chicken who still lays eggs! My neighbor gave her to me...

[Gregg]

Awakenedsoul, I love our conversation so far, but it is WAY off topic here. I copied what we have so far and posted it in Gardening and Farming as a new thread so we don't further derail the topic here.