Start-up costs for this experiment
Q: How much land would a family of four need? Any wildly ranging estimates and/or completely blind guesses would be greatly appreciated.
A: In a lower Puna environment,which is where I live on the Big Island, a family can grow all their own food in a permaculture style orchard on a 3 acre parcel with no problem. With trees spaced roughly 25-30 feet apart, 2 acres could be home to over 100 fruit and nut trees, leaving an acre for gardens, buildings, and infrastructure for water, electric, and storage and processing. This would be plenty. Reasons to have more land than this in our tropical environment include grazing animals, privacy, multiple families, and the space necessary to earn one’s living. For example, if you want to sell vegetables, goat milk, or timber, you will need a corresponding acreage.
In your neck of the woods, ranchers often measure land in terms of “sections” instead of acres. I believe a “section” is 640 acres. I say this to emphasize that the productivity of desert land is astronomically lower than here in the wet tropics. I have little idea how much land would be necessary to produce a reliable supply of food for a family. In many dry southwest environments, grazing animals are the only sustainable food option. I have little experience with greenhouses, but one might be needed. Facilities for food storage (cold cellar, food dehydrator, solar electric freezer) are probably essential. The dwelling needs to buffer inhabitants against a wide range of temperatures. My wife lived in Taos, and built an earthship there. Seems to me to be the best way to build a house in a high desert. You might need to account for access to a sustainable source of biomass for heating and cooking. Water collection and storage is an issue. In addition, your plants will need protection from native plant eaters, and your animals similarly from native animal eaters.
Q: What would someone wanting to do this in YOUR area be looking at in terms of cost and time.
A: In terms of expense of our project, it depends hugely on what you perceive as needs versus luxuries. You must begin with challenging what is really necessary. If I try to recreate the lifestyle that I grew up with, I will never succeed in meaningful progress into sustainability.
An example from European history: Early explorers to the North Pole were discovered frozen in the snow alongside heavy piles of silver dinnerware. Even in their last days, wandering cold and hungry in the tundra, they could not free themselves of the social convention of a meal with fine silver. In our family, we are often probing into our lifestyles with the purpose of freeing ourselves of imaginary “needs”. Some of the recent issues have been our motor vehicle, “comfort food”, and propane. Our journey towards this freedom is ongoing.
That said, we spent about $90k on the land, and maybe double that amount for infrastructure. In terms of time, it took three months and a few thousand dollars to be able to move in and be happily living on our land. It was more like camping then, but, hey, we still live under a tarp. We are ten years into it, and the project is still expanding, and lots more to do.
