Grow enough food to feed your family

Have you ever wondered how big of a garden you would need to grow enough food to feed your family for a year?

I don’t believe that there is any formula that can answer that question. Every family has different eating habits and pallets. However, there are ways in which you can plan a garden to feed your family for a long time with a little hard work and creativity. I am personally trying to reach this goal for myself and my family. Here are some tips to help you grow enough food to feed your family for the long term.

Grow what your family likes to eat

• The first thing I thought about when I began planning my garden for 2024, was what can I grow that I know my whole family will eat. I have three little ones at home. Their favorite and not so favorite foods seem to change quite often. I knew that we all love green beans, garden peas, and cowpeas. My spring garden was filled with rows of various bean and pea varieties.
• I also planted about seventy five tomato plants. This was so that I could can lots of pasta sauce for spaghetti. My fall garden will be filled with broccoli, greens, and cabbage because those are mine and my husbands favorites.

• Growing enough food to feed your family would be worthless if they didn’t enjoy eating the produce you worked so hard to grow and preserve.

Grow what grows well in your area

We live in a hot and humid climate in south Mississippi. I have to find varieties that stand up to blight and powdery mildew. Green beans, okra and watermelon are very easy to grow where we live. Plants that like the cold, not so much.

Mississippi pinkeye purple hull peas and Louisiana purple pod green beans were my top two choices. My tomatoes have to be started early, not because we have a short growing season, but because my heirlooms just don’t stand up to the humidity. By July every year, they have all succumbed to blight.

If I could grow things like kale and cabbage all summer long I would, but they just don’t stand up to the heat. However, I can grow them pretty much through the entire winter, so that is what I do.

Going to local feed and seed stores or co-ops helps when picking varieties. Ours always carries local heirloom varieties that hold up well in our conditions. By growing varieties that are acclimated to your area, you will get a better yield from each plant because it should have resistance to the diseases and pests in your area.

Succession sow for a bigger harvest

• I am still learning this one. I did successfully succession plant my beans, but I failed at re-sowing my squash and tomatoes. We have a very long season, but by the time July rolls around, it’s almost impossible to get seeds to germinate in the intense heat. However, I can start them inside and transplant as long as they are heat tolerant.
• I plan on succession sowing my fall garden throughout October into February so that we never run out of fresh greens and lettuce. Growing enough food for my family will have to mean me consistently starting new seeds and resowing so that we have enough fresh and preserved veggies.

Learn to preserve the harvest

• The last three years, I have learned how to can, dehydrate, ferment and freeze the things we grow. I was so scared that first season when I canned lots of corn and green beans. The fear of botulism had me terrified I would hurt my family. But the more I have learned, the more confident I have become. Canning can be intimidating, but there are so many resources out there on safe canning. As long as you are following the rules, you can preserve your harvest safely.
• We ferment lots of veggies such as carrots, beets and cucumbers for snacks. This can be intimidating as well, but really it is one of the easiest ways to preserve your food. Again, there are tons of resources on safe fermenting such as this one here.
• We dry and dehydrate all of our herbs and onion tops.
• By preserving the things you are growing in the spring and summer, you may not have to grow year round to feed your family. This is especially important in cold climates where your growing season is shorter.

Ways to preserve the harvest:

1. Canning
2. Dehydrating
3. Fermenting
4. Freeze drying
5. Cold storage (such as a cellar)
6. Freezing

Grow inside or in high tunnels to extend your season

• If you live in a colder climate, starting your seeds inside can greatly extend your season and allow for a quicker harvest. Just as well, having a high tunnel or green house can do the same.
• While I don’t have any first hand experience with a high tunnel, we have plans for one in the future. Having a high tunnel and covering it in shade cloth would allow us to grow more in the heat of the summer.

So can you grow enough food to feed your family?

• While I don’t believe that there is any exact answer or formula to figure this up, sit down and think about how much of each veggie or fruit you would eat a week. For example, my goal this year is to can 52 quarts of green beans so that we can have that once a week for a whole year as a side dish. Another goal I have is to can 26 quarts of pasta sauce so that we can have dishes like spaghetti at least twice a month if we wanted.
  • I grew approximately 200′ feet of bush green beans to accomplish my goal, but much of that was done with succession sowing.
• Our garden space is approximately 125′ x 75′ fenced in. We garden in several raised beds as well as nine 45′ foot in ground rows. We really only use about half of the entire fenced in space for planting. While that is a large space, you can still plant a lot of food in just a couple of raised beds.
  • If you only have small place to plant, think about a few things.
    • Select plants that take up a small amount of space while still giving a good harvest. Eggplant and peppers are great for small spaces.
    • Growing squash and cucumbers vertically can save a ton of space.
    • MIGardener has a great high intensity planting guide that only cost $1!
    • Succession planting can be very helpful in small spaces. As soon as one plant is done producing, replace it with a new one.

How are you going to be using your harvest in recipes?

• Veggies can make side dishes, or ingredients in a bigger dish such as a casserole.
• Do you want lots of jams and jellies, or would you like pie fillings and preserves?
• Herbs are great for cooking, but also for tea!
• Winter squash, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and potatoes are all great storage crops if you have the space for them.

While this post is not about growing enough meat for a full year, growing a year’s worth of fruit and veggies is a huge step closer to self-sufficiency and totally possible with hard work and planning. Not only that, but food grown in your own front yard is so much more nutritious than anything found at the store.

Just remember, while growing enough food to feed your family for a whole year is a fantastic goal to have, give yourself grace as a gardener, parent and homesteader knowing that this way of life is not necessarily convenient or easy, but it is so rewarding.

If you would like to know more about gardening and homesteading, check out one of these articles here or here.