One of the common questions people have when thinking of self-sufficiency is a simple one: how much land do you need to homestead. But, when homesteading in Florida, or anywhere else for that matter, the answer isn’t as simple as it might seem on the surface. See, homesteading can take on a lot of forms. At the core of it, you have a desire to build a more sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyle. Unfortunately, states, cities, and other local municipalities often limit activities that can be legally done based on the amount of land. Today, let’s examine both the practical concerns of space along with these local legal considerations that go into play when planning a homestead.
First, Mind the Local Laws
As wrong as may be (and it is wrong), there are a lot of limits imposed that can make homesteading difficult in certain parts of the country. Here in Florida, there is a law that prohibits being completely off the grid. In other words, while you can build a fully sustainable home, including a fully self-powered property, you still have to be connected to the power grid. Similarly, many cities in Florida have limitations on what sorts of animals you can have on how much land. Specifically, you might find that you need 1 acre per hooved animal. Or, you might find certain areas prohibit chickens entirely (even if you have an acre or more).
If you are looking for land to start your homestead, researching and understanding the laws that could impact your plans should be first and foremost in your mind. For those who already have a property, you should do the same -learn the local laws and restrictions before you get started planning. Without a proper plan, those with 100 acres could even fall short of building a proper homestead. But, what defines a homestead in the sense we’re looking at here?
Defining A Homestead
According to dictionary.com, a homestead is defined as simply “any dwelling with its land and buildings where a family makes a home.” Of course, when most people talk about homesteading, that’s not what they mean. What they mean is closer to a farm. Someplace where you grow your own food, raise your own livestock, and produce your own goods. There’s a whole other conversation that could be had around this subject, but let’s define homestead for our sake here. In this case, we’re looking at establishing a homestead where we produce all (or most) of the perishable goods we consume.
For us, this means milk (and there’s plenty of things to make with goat milk), eggs, vegetables, honey, and a whole lot of fruits and vegetables. Depending on what level of self-sufficiency you’re after, you might need more or less than this. But, for our definition here, we don’t consider it necessary to be 100% self-sustaining. After all, the time and effort to do things like make your olive oil or grow your own rice may just not be practical for you.
So, let’s go for a universal definition. A homestead is a property where half or more of your food is grown right there on your land.
Is An Acre Enough Land to Homestead?
Going by our own definition of a homestead, you should catch something right off the bat. We don’t have a homestead. Right now, we get far less than half our food from our property. However, we are making strides each week to improve this. And, we have plans in place that should change this within the next year. This leads to the question: is an acre enough land to homestead.
Yes, we have 5.5 acres here on our Florida homestead. However, most of the land we own is not being used for homesteading purposes. In fact, most of it is not going to be used for homesteading. Instead, much of our land is natural Florida forest. It’s beautiful, and if you think Florida is just beaches, you’re missing the real joy of living in the sunshine state. But, I digress.
Anyways, our current homesteading plans require less than an acre to come true -with a small caveat. Florida laws on beekeeping are pretty asinine. Without a large enough plot of land, we can’t keep bees. Specifically, bee colonies need to be at least 150 feet away from any public locations. So, if you live in too small a lot, you can never really keep bees. For many Floridians looking to homestead with bees, you’re likely out of luck if you only have an acre.
However, if your local laws allow it, you might be able to keep goats, chickens, ducks, and grow a vegetable garden on as little as an acre. In fact, if you keep breeds like the Nigerian dwarf goats, you can have quite a small piece of land set aside as pasture and they can thrive. This all leads to the main point of this post…it’s all about planning.
Plan Your Homestead Around Your Land
Whether you have an acre or 40 acres, the real secret to efficient homesteading is planning your dreams around your land. We have no intentions of having cows on our 5 acre plot. But, if we had 20 acres to work with, they’d likely enter the equation. Similarly, you might have local noise ordinances that prohibit chickens on your 1 acre plot. But, perhaps ducks can serve as the egg-producer for your home. And, if you’re after meat, it doesn’t get much more delicious than a good duck!
Another great point on the front of meat -don’t underestimate rabbits. We’re still debating whether we want any meat animals on our homestead, but if we do go for it, rabbits are our top choice.
But, let’s play devil’s advocate here…what if you can’t have any livestock? Can you have a homestead? Well, that once again depends on your plan. Maybe you are a vegetarian (man, you’re missing out on some tasty food). If this is the case, it’s quite easy to grow a significant amount of food on just 1 acre. With the right gardening strategy, you can totally eliminate your need to buy fresh produce. Couple that with a nice sourdough starter in the fridge and you have a successful homestead by our standards.
So, How Much Land Do You Need to Homestead?
Hopefully this post helps give you some perspective on the scope of homesteading and what’s possible, even with just a little land. Sure, we all dream of having those 100 acres where we can build a fully self-sufficient operation. But, with the right planning and logistics, you can go a long way with a little. Whether you’re homesteading in Florida or anywhere else in the country, understanding what you can do with the land you have will get you started on the right track.
So, even if you can’t build that dream homestead, begin with a small garden, get yourself a sourdough starter, and do whatever else you can to work towards those dreams. Until next time, we’ll see you around the homestead.