How much land do you REALLY need to be self-sufficient? It's more than you THINK!

[@mmily5058]

This is such a realistic way to think about it. Watching your videos motivated us to list out the things we currently buy so we can figure out how to provide those things. Looking at all the different steps for each thing is a little overwhelming but helpful for seeing what we'll actually need. I stepped back to see what I can realistically do now. It's been fun to work at trying different recipes or ways to make things until we find what works for us. Example, we've almost got the yogurt techniques dialed in so we get exactly what we want. It took several tries, and a few failures. But the way we think about our food is changing, which is important. Planning for failure really is challenging. The biggest thing we learned on this property is that we want to have the plants spread out. For years we had each bed dedicated to one or two kinds of plants. Not only is companion planting helpful, but if an animal digs up one bed you lose a bit of several things rather than all of one thing. Making sure to plan for enough of a buffer that when things go wrong you still have enough is hard. Definitely going to take trial and error on figuring out what the buffer is for each thing.

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

I'm SO glad we can be motivating and inspiring - we all need that sometimes (er, I definitely do today). Figuring out what you can work on NOW is such a great first step. Even where we are, deeper into homesteading than you are, I'm still overwhelmed with future plans/needs/stresses and sometimes have to pull back and think one foot in front of the other to get things done. YES on companion planting and spreading out crops. My brain wants it all together, but I had to learn that it wasn't the best way to ensure good production. And once you get it figured out, something will change!

[@JeremyVanderwall]

Exactly. I don't want to live like some 1800's frontier's man. I want enough food production and food storage to smooth out the "shipping problems" that cause random price spikes and shortages. I don't want to mill my own grains. I want to have 4 chickens for consistent eggs. I don't want to grow all my own veg. I do want to grow enough greenbeans and tomatoes that I can can enough stuff that if a hurricane takes out the road, I have food for 2-3 weeks while that gets fixed. I can achieve my goals on 1/4th of an acre suburban plot. My desired degree of "self sufficient" is just not being 100% reliant on the big agra and distribution networks, to be able to survive short periods of disruption. If there are widespread long term failures, I'm going to have much bigger problems than the food production.

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

And knowing what you're aiming for is so important. Doing what you want to do you can get away with FAR less space than we can, given our intentions. That's the beauty of it - a total choose-your-own-adventure life!

[@coffeewithbabymae6503]

I like reading the historic books on homesteading..... old school knowledge rocks.

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

100%! Any good book reccs?

[@dismurrart6648]

On the failure thing, one time i was lovingly caring for some lilys. They were just about to bloom when i noticed a red bug on them. I went to the store to get an oil for them and in the couple hours i was gone, that bug colony had decimated them. People who don't plan for failure need to start smaller. If they're planning it as a perfect aesthetic then they haven't been gardening long enough

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

So true. Failure is guaranteed! I've certainly had to change up my ideal garden plans after failures here, so getting a solid dose of my own advice!

[@2ndSprings]

"Don't Trust the Infographic". If Marcus Aurelius had the internet, he definitely would have said posted this. Great Video! Great Content! Thanks for sharing so authentically.

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

Thanks for the support! We try to keep it very real, even when that means less than perfectly polished!

[@rileybrock344]

Being self sufficient also means bartering with your local neighbors for the things you may not have

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

it certainly can - all depends on how one wants to live!

[@lpf7961]

"Self-sufficiency " is a relative term. Are you accounting just for feeding yourself with fresh produce, eggs, meat? Then couple of acres is enough. Are you planning to make a living, like earning enough to pay your bills? Then you might need even less space . A cannabis farm in a 40 ft container can do that. It does not matter how much land you have, you still need to get a tractor and fill it up with something.

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

That's so true, so many people want to define self-sufficiency the same for everyone, and that just isn't the case. Making the money for bills/costs is an important point as well, one that if I'm honest I probably didn't consider. And super important if that's your goal. Very good points!

[@aaronml8298]

Tilapia ponds or fresh water shrimp ponds seem to be a bit common. Have you considered doing the pond thing especially having an abundance of rain?

[@brianhansen2202]

fresh water shrimp swimming in mud, fed antibiotics?

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

We are planning on a pond of some type (have the hole in the ground!) but we're not big fans of tilapia, so likely we'll find a different fish or shellfish. We have found a few small fresh water crabs in our creek, so hey - that's always an option! And yes, plenty of rain and water to keep a pond well maintained, so we're lucky there.

[@realcasama]

it can be answered 1 simple question what do you need every single day?

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

That's a good starting point, for sure.

[@Suspended.Solitude]

40 acres and a mule I remember it being back in the days.

[@tendrocksteve]

Former slaves were given 40 acres and a mule.

[@Suspended.Solitude]

@@tendrocksteve Typo, I meant 40.

[@joshuacarpenter4477]

Might be smart to start planting cacao given how high the prices have been. 🤔

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

Funny you mention that, we were just looking up the pricing for cacao. Last week at the market, the cacao buyer was absolutely mobbed by everyone trying to sell their little bags of cacao. It was nuts, nothing we've seen before. Two neighbors of our have planted out fields of it in the last couple weeks, as well. While we have some going and we'll likely do some processing and selling of it eventually, it's hard to know just what the cacao market will do in the 3-5 years it takes for the plants to be productive! That's the problem with long-term crops like that. It will be interesting to watch, that's for sure.

[@joshuacarpenter4477]

@@tinyhandsbigdreams i think it's past 10,000 USD a ton? Can't remember the metric but we've been hearing about cacao for years. A good cash crop combo might be cacao, avocados and coffee. That's what I would plant. I'm pretty sure 3-4 years out you'll be making money. Even if it isn't much, I'm sure you'll be happy to have all 3 for yourselves anyways. 👍

[@joshuacarpenter4477]

@@tinyhandsbigdreams Wow, I just looked at the maximum year chart for cacao and dear God, it's the highest its ever been by a HUGE margin! More than 6x its peak in 2010 😳

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

Hah, we were JUST looking at it, too. We actually saw it at it's peak last weekend. It's started to go back down a touch, back to $8,000. But we'll see what it does now. Still insane, though.

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

Yup, that's a trio we can get behind. Have all three growing in the greenhouse already! We're huge into coffee so it's been a dream for a decade now to be able to grow our own.

[@Rockin357]

I totally agree. It is such BS. There is NO one size fits all. For instance, I am allergic to pork, so I will not be having piggies. Also allergic to broccoli... sad but true. Sorry to hear about your buck.

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

Exactly - it would be silly for you to grow or raise anything you can't eat! We've got a pile of allergies/sensitivities in our family, so I feel you there. No gluten, no cow milk, no soy, no eggplant, and I am crazy allergic to mangos, which is a pity now that we're in the tropics. Truly, no one-size answer here.

[@brianhansen2202]

You never showed your own garden with fruits and vegetables

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

Ah, well this video is more about what other people can and want to do, less our specific plans. We have a video outlining our property plans, and there's a couple garden-centered videos in the works. We're having to rework our garden spaces to fight a few unique battles here, so stay tuned for those!

[@leeennise.a3338]

Is artificial insemination an easy option for your pigs possible?

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

Technically yes, it's possible. But then we only have certain boars to choose from. It would also be...less than easy with our sow (while we love the heck out of her, she's not the friendliest). And something to consider that it would be relying on a company and transportation to ensure our ability to raise pigs. Not to say that something couldn't happen to our boar that would cause the same issue! So it's something to consider, for sure.

[@mulatokudzava7797]

Kateřina Šedá strikes again?

[@steveventer2317]

It's REALLY difficult to watch this because you keep talking over each other! Sorry, but after 5 minutes I can't continue watching, and won't be subscribing. STOP TALKING OVER EACH OTHER!

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

You're right, if you don't enjoy our content, you certainly shouldn't watch or subscribe. Perhaps you'd prefer a scripted style of video, instead - we don't script, we keep it very authentic.

[@coloradolivin1626]

Jesus, just say how much. Dont have time for a 30 minute ramble

[@tinyhandsbigdreams]

Perhaps you missed the message of the video: there IS no one-size fits all answer. To actually figure out an answer for YOU it would take far more than 30 minutes.

[@tracy419]

Jesus, don't get angry at others because you haven't learned how to use the technology they are providing information to you for free on. Speed up the video. Read the transcript. So many possibilities today to get the information you want in a format that works for you, yet they are the problem?