I've just started delving into this site. It's under construction and far from complete, but it's pretty interesting thus far.

When I think about wanting to move out to the country to homestead, I always start thinking in acres upon acres of land. This Pasadena California man and his family are "urban homesteaders" and only have 1/5 of an acre to make use of. And make good use of the land they do.

Path to Freedom

Yes, people dream of acres and acres of land, but the usual thought is: If you can't keep a quarter-acre under control, what would you do with fifty?

Of course, more land keeps the neighbors farther away...

Sue

Don't believe them, it takes FAR more time, effort and water (not to mention land) to grow enough to feed yourself and your family than most people realize. Also consider the fertility and topography of your property (is it even close to level? how are you going to cultivate your crop(s)? Spading fork and shovel? Rototiller? Plow? Who's going to pull it?
Also, why hasn't the site been updated in more than a year?

My folks did a pretty good job of keeping our family supplied with food using a 1/4 acre of land. I'd say 65% of the fruits/veggies we had growing up came from our garden. The meat came from the surrounding woofs, fields, and lakes. I remember spending days in the fall canning stuff or freezing it, depending on what it was. Sidenote: the only power tool used was an old rototiller. Every peice of waste plant matter was composted, and we used sprinklers and rain water to keep everything hydrated. This was in central Minnesota. The soil was great but the summers could get dry.

I don't know about meeting all the needs of a family, but I think if you are willing to put in the labor you can make a good dent. I'd STRONGLY reccomend taking full advantage of your local Master Gardener's group.

-Blast

The square-foot gardening technique that they are using is surprisingly productive/sq foot. I didn't notice any credits to the originator:

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

I have used this technique with great success in the past when I lived in a city home.

When I was a kid, and uncle had 1/2 acre, most of which was covered with pine trees 'til I chopped them down. Just about enough land for him to grow enough blackberries for a few good cobblers. I can not imagine trying to grow enough to live on that little land...

I agree.
Supplement...yes.
Self-sufficient...not even close.

About 5 acres seems to be the absolute minimum for self sufficiency, providing you make use of all the modern technical advances available, and supplement with wild game and fish, or buy your meat elsewhere, and you choose the right type of land and plants.

It is going to be one of the most strenuous jobs you will ever have trying to get that amount of land to produce enough to feed a family for a year, but it can be done.

Done right, it should provide at least 4 months of fresh produce a year and allow for an additional 1,000 quarts canned. It should also produce about 100 bushels of wheat. A good root cellar ought to allow for an additional 400-800 lbs of storable produce (pumpkin, winter squash, certain root vegetables, apples, etc).

If you hunt and fish, you should be able to garner another 1,200 lbs or so of meat, depending on where you are in the country. To be that successful will take a fair investment in equipment and practice, as well as finding the animals. Domestic livestock would cost more in resources than they will provide, so best if you can get it wild. In my heyday, after amortizing the cost of all my hunting and fishing gear, I could usually bring in 1,000 lbs or more of meat a year on less than $500. Most of it was fish, but I got my fair share of birds, and the occasional deer and elk filled the deep freeze to capacity.

Yeah, I dream of working 3 to 5 acres and having about 50 more between myself and the neighbors.

If you take a moment to look at the section Path Project/At a Glance, you'll see in there that they don't claim to provide all of their own food, and at best only 80%-90% in the summer. Also, at several points in the site they mention the fact that since they decided to make money on some of what they produce, they've gone boutique in some ways. This means growing more garnishes and spices rather than sustenance plants so, the percentage of what they provide for themselves may have even gone down since that post.

Also, you are correct about the main part of the site not being updated in more than a year. However, if you take a look at the Journal Section there you'll see that the site appears to have taken a turn for more of a Blog type page and is very active. There were 5 posts on leap-day alone including an interesting look into the family's diet for a week. As with Blogs, some posts are fluffy filler, but others have some great info in them.