He is fantastic! He has been living on that wee bit of property getting it set up that way for 20 years though

part of that answer I would think depends on if you were going to have critters

Well back in the dsy the goverment gave the info on that each family got/needed a section in order to have the best chance of making it as a family farm, and ranches that supported 20 folks where even bigger.

I tried to add the picture without success but here's an info graphic that answers the question in a cool way: http://adventures-in-country-living.blogspot.ca/2011/09/how-big-backyard-would-you-need-to-live.html

thankyou all for your input, Farmgal, did you mean a section or a quarter section?
Oldschool, yes, I think you'd need to factor in maybe 12 chickens, a couple a goats, a fish pond would sure be nice...
Anita - way cool graphic, thankyou!

If you haven't seen this, you must. This guy does it on one tenth of an acre!! Is this the guy you were thinking of Igs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IbODJiEM5A

If you haven't seen this, you must. This guy does it on one tenth of an acre!! Is this the guy you were thinking of Igs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IbODJiEM5A

This is also the guy who put a trademark on "urbanhomesteading" as well as many other generic terms.

Really intersting topic and comments.. It makes you think hard about the types and quantity of stuff you might store?? I suspect that if a family survives 12 to 18 months that most of our current thinking will not apply to that future..

so Martha, yes by that I meant a Quarter.. my bad, slipping into lingo 🙂

What do you mean by that Koutenay? Do you mean that we can survive on a lot less than what is currently thought?

Denob, my life experiences have taught me that there's so often a story, a reason behind what is done. It may seem selfish or greedy that the guy trademarked what we now view as common terms, but perhaps he tagged them because in reality he was the pioneer of urban homesteading and he saw a liklihood that others were attempting to take credit and likely to trademark those terms themselves. In any event, the guy has been squeaking out a living in simplicity and respect for the environment and he did it mostly on his own ingenuity, beginning long before it was cool or commonplace to do so, so I think he deserves a lot of credit.

I'm 55 years old, and starting in my teens I avidly aspired to learn about organic, simple living & ways of providing food, etc. I bought the magazines and borrowed the books from the library... There was no internet. I don't recall any backyard enterprise as focussed, intentional, productive, varied as what he came up with. And I don't recall any terms like "urban homesteading" referred to, so maybe the ideas evolved from his original perspective and labor, and maybe he does deserve credit, his little "claim to fame" if you will. Maybe... I'm just trying to look at it from a different perspective, I may be wrong.

Hi Martha

This made big news in the homestead world last year, he sent a whole bunch of letters out to tons of folks, demanding they "stop" using Urban Homesteading as he wants to work the process of it becoming a trademarked wording.. Needless to say, he found out a few things.. Like you can't send letters to authers, writers, bloggers and other farmers who have the proof and the documents that show they were using what is considered a "common wording" for years and years as well.. in some cases some of them were able to prove they had used that wording in books dating back to when his yard was just a garden.

It got hot with a fair number of lawyers making good money, and then the homesteading community stepped up and asked if we could help and what we were told is that if he could get the rest of us to "stop using that wording" then he would have a chance at being able to push and or prove his trademark claim, if "we" as the homestead community however used the words in context and used it by the thousands daily, weekly and monthly, that his trademark request would be impossable to get..

We the homesteaders stood up and joined in the voicing themselves by the thousands, it would be fair to say, that unless something changes in the movement, he will lose on this issue, and the general homesteadying community will be able to continue to use that wording without having to either pay to do so or risk getting a letter in the mail..

Just the other side of the story for you.

Always someone trying to cash in eh Farmgal? / good job on standing up, nice to see in my native Homeland

A good book for small acreage homesteading is The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan.
http://www.amazon.ca/The-Backyard-Homestead-Produce-quarter/dp/1603421386

It contains some basic designs or layouts for a homestead for less than 1/2 an acre to a few. It doesn't account for solar or other power though. It contains basic info on most livestock, gardening, and beekeeping. There's also some baking/cooking, beer and wine making, and some cheesemaking. It's a good book, although I'd recommend buying some others to supplement it, especially for livestock. Storey's Guide books seem to be pretty informative on most subjects (although the Turkey book was rather lacking in my opinion).

Thanks for the info Farmgal . Rachel I've looked at that book and debated on purchasing it, so thanks for the recommend.