Video: Living off your own city lot? Its possible.
 

Pretty cool family here. They grow almost everything they need right in their 1/5th acre. The guy says he just doesn't like the 9-5 grind and doesn't like paying bills (I think I can relate). So, he started transforming his yard into a very pretty farm. He even has some animals for milk and eggs I'd imagine. Also solar PV panels on the roof and a solar hot water system for showering. They sell excess crops for income.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W51JR...ature=youtu.be

Now THAT is awesome. I would so do that if we lived in an area that could grow stuff year round. That guy is awesome! More people should be like that.

Too bad that a lot of people that try to do what he does are usually served notices to not grow anything in their front yard. I've heard of many cases where people were fined for growing veggies in their front yard, which IMO is very stupid. But still, if you just even grew it in your whole back yard it would be great.

As long as you had a park nearby for kids to play in, there really wouldn't be a need for a big yard.

Hard to do the veggies in Winnipeg in the winter.....but.....I had a great salad last new year from my sisters garden in Nova Scotia. She figured out how to grow 8-10 leafy veggies in a raised bed garden with plastic on top.

Apparently you need around 100sf to grow enough veggies for a single person, we have around 200sf for 4 people and didn't put it to very good use and did pretty well, with a foot and a half of snow we still have fresh Kale in the garden next to the Brussel Sprouts, Carrots and Beats in the fridge, dried mushrooms in jars and canned tomatoes.

Even though I continue to fight my way up the ladder at the company I work for, my dream is to do this and quit my job. I have between 1/2 - 3/4 acre which should be more than enough space for myself and my son. Unfortunately I'm a full time single parent and money and time aren't things I have much of. I will slowly begin transforming my yard this spring/summer. Everything I've researched shows that growing this way in raised beds on a small scale is much more efficient than the large farms producing our commercial food. I believe the government should be offering incentives to people, just like they have done with solar power, to promote this kind of thing to help improve our economy, not passing out fines to people who plant in their yard. And as a bonus I wouldn't need to spend time and money doing something I hate - mowing the lawn.

"Look at that happy family surviving well and not buying into the man. What a bunch of weirdos"

Man! How did I miss this one? These people are my heroes. The kicker is that I have a whopping 1/3 acre. Once the next big house project settles down (the last big one. Outsulating) I will concentrate on the yard.

Thanks Daox!

People like that just impress me beyond decent expression. My wife and I are trying to learn to be more self-sufficient. We want to lower the amount of income we need to maintain a decent standard of living when I retire. We have the solar array, lots of insulation, etc., plans for a high efficiency HVAC system soon.

We are also trying to find time to grow more of what we eat where we are at. We have plenty of available land. Our climate is more than adequate for the task. The time I have to spend in the garden is too little for now, so we started with berries. We have blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, muscadines and grapes planted. We've also planted three apple trees this year. We have high hopes for a garden in the not too distant future. That's after I finish the garage / workshop project that seems to be never ending. Hopefully, I can learn how to grow a better garden. My last couple of attempts were less than successful. :o

I would love to do this, but instead of Wisconsin maybe Costa Erica or Nicaragua :).... can garden all year long