What do you grow?

I think that if you are talking pure calories I would say potatoes and squash.

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Libertarindependent

I guess I've seen both fatrat, but never really knew much difference. I thought it was all cured the same way until I got older and learned about air vs. fire. I guess most of what my family did was air dried burley cause I don't remember any large stoves.

nc_mnt, Yeah they also do dark fired Virginia in that region. I know some people in Virginia who did and I can see how it might go down into your area also. Is that what they call the Piedmont? I guess most of the flue cured is probably toward the east and south on flatter and maybe sandier land. Do you have the red clay they do north of you in Virginia?

Off what you want a bit, but we've made the most selling bottle calves. We buy them for $10, put $70 worth of milk replacer into them. A few buckets full of grain and sell them for $250 at about 200 lbs. Of course, you have to expect a few losses but usually it's the $85 calves that die. Also, if my lamb sales go through as people have requested, I stand to make $2500 profit on my 4 ewes' lambs this year.

I expect to make $3-5000 a year on my raspberry and blackberry patch. It will all depend on if the customers will come to me. I hope to have 1/2 an acre in production next year but I won't be in full production until the year after that.

the list of what we grow is too long to put on here but it is on my blog, see my signature.

as for what items I suggest for the largest return of course would be fruit trees and vines, but my favorite 2 right now are the black raspberries (which are very very productive compared to others and will bear all summer if conditions are right, right up until frost)..also asparagus..I stand out in the garden and eat them buggers raw every day for the first couple months of summer..yummo..so healthy too.

apples will keep you well supplied, peaches, pears, cherries, of course tomatoes and summer squash are huge producers..buy OP so you can save seeds.

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Brenda Groth
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

High Bush Blueberries and Apples here.
5 years after planting the berries from 2-3 yr. old stock we harvest enough for 3 for the whole year.
Apples take a little longer and need more maintenance and harder to keep long term.

I grow smallish quantities of lots of things:

For fruit we have mulberries, raspberries cantaloupe and strawberries.

For veggies, we have callaloo, beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, onions, garlic, groundcherries, cucumbers, leeks, asparagus and volunteer blue potatoes. A few unusual veggies each year just for the novelty.

Just about every herb that you could think grows somewhere here.

Raccoons and squirrels won't allow us to grow corn.

Turnips & wild grapes for the chickens.

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We still live in the city (*sigh*) and hope to one day (hopefully much sooner than later) move to the country. So, right now, the focus of our garden has been cutting costs at the grocery store.
My favorites are fresh lettuce - any variety. Sometimes, you can get creative and eat the leaves off certain plants, like beats. I've gotten so spoiled now, that I hate when I have to pay for lettuce at the store. The other, of course, which saves us a ton of money is tomatoes.
We also enjoy jalapenos (just got some of those to plant this season), and it's soo much fun to make our own poppers. Also, green peppers, red peppers, and yellow peppers. These are really expensive in the store.
But - every winter- my all time favorite is the broccoli. Awe man, it's sooo good. Just melts in your mouth.
We try to do our garden "organic" - I use quotes because there actually is a legal term now on what constitutes organic and we probably aren't doing that. But we are trying not to put commercial fertilizers or commercial pesticides at all. We build the soil naturally.
So, because we stay away from pesticides, we sometimes don't do as well. The first year we had great cucumbers, but haven't been able to do that again. This year, we tried with squash, but our plant decided to reject her babies. As frustrating as that sounds, it's a ton of fun.
You're going to love it. No matter what size of property you have, there is just simple pleasure in growing a vegetable from seed and then eating its contents. And NOTHING tastes better.

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FlaGuitarGrl

I grow what my family likes to eat, and I like to grow stuff that taste better home grown, and if it is expensive in the market, even better.

Fruit trees will give you the best return on investment, care, and space.

Fruit and tomatoes are the ones where there is the biggest difference between home grown and store bought (and tomatoes are technically a fruit)

What kind of lambs are you raising and how many? I may need to switch breeds...

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Carolyn

http://www.ruffrowranch.com/
Katahdin Sheep, Ancona Ducks and Calico Cochins

http://www.equinecpa.net

My money crop is blackberries. Raspberries do not hold up well for traveling to the markets. Blueberries are great but picking them is a pain for the return. Salad greens are another big return for dollars and time invested. Corn if you got alot of ground for sweet corn but you have to trap the coons the deer are not that bad. Squash are another great return. Since I do this for a living time is a factor. I grow Jade and Kentucky Dream green beans. They are both bush and massive producers cutting alot of time for picking and building trellis.

As animals go it is chickens, goats and rabbits but you need to learn to butcher your own. An incubator is something else that comes in handy and if you got it cortnix quail are great.

We grow 4 ac of asparagus and it is a great money maker. You plant it once and it produces for yrs and yrs and yrs. We bought 2 yr crowns and this year is the first year we can pick all our crop. YAY! And it's sooooo much easier than tobacco, which alot of our neighbors grow. It needs alot of chemicals and care....not so with my asparagus!

We also have about 800 blueberries although they are not fully matured yet and we haven't gotten much in the way of a crop yet because of these crazy Ky winters! One yr, the wild turkeys went through and ate every blueberry in the fields!

It seems like with a farm, it's always something to hinder your getting the crops in! LOL

Another couple of things we grow is garlic and rhubarb.... not many folks grow this stuff around here so we have an open market and can count on little competition!

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I sell Oregano, Thyme, Sage, Lemon Balm, Soapwort, Chives, Rosemary, about a hald dozen different mints, and Basil. I have some others like Chamomile, Lavender, and Lemon Grass that are more seasonal. I cut them fresh early in the morning before heading to the market. I sell in "bunches". Just a few sprigs, tied together with some twine. I also do a Sampler Bunch with a little bit of each of the most popular (oregano, basil, thyme, and chives)
I sell my herbs wholesale to several chefs in the area as well. They buy by the pound. Its amazing how much Oregano and Basil a resturant can go through in a week.

We grow a wide variety of vegetables and berries for ourselves and to give away or barter with. For cash crops we grow garlic because we can get $6 a pound for it and rhubarb because it is so easy to grow and maintain. Two local stores will take all we can grow of both. We also sell chevon [goat meat] by the side in the fall. The garlic is difficult to dry in our damp climate but so far we have been successful. We find other crops are too labor intensive to grow to sell.

as most others, I grow a variety of different things. Working on asparagus and raspberry currently.

However, last farmers market I sold at, one of the best sellers was cucumbers ($1 ea). Easy to grow and pick, and any extras (never had any) we would probably have eaten on the way home.

Baby zuchinni were a great seller as well, and I can't think of an easier plant to grow.

Edit to add--to the poster above me, I would love to try chevon!~ Have 3 does to breed this fall, but alas, I can barely butcher the chicken!

clover and rape to lure in the edible creatures.

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His name was Jeremiah Johnson,They say he wanted
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Grass - We graze the dairy cow who gives us 5 gallons of milk a day to feed our family and chickens that give us a dozen to two dozen eggs a day plus meat if we want them. Milk also feeds a pig that grazes on the grass. Vegetables and fruit are great but if you want to cut your food bills, raise your own dairy and meat.

I raise finnsheep. I hope they will all have triplets this year. One might have quads- she's a big as a boat already and not due for 2 more weeks. I can sell their fleeces - raw for $20 per pound. Only I can't bear to part with it. I sell ewe or ram finn lambs for $350. One cross ewe - my powerhouse producer- lambs sell for $250 each at weaning. If they triplet, I have them all sold. If quads, I might get to keep one. If you want big hardy meat sheep - finns are not for you. Their meat is very lean with almost no muttony taste - but there's not much of it. My larger ram is only 150 lbs.

I don't raise any crops for money. However, we usually get several gallons of blueberries each year, as well as several fruit (peaches, pears, cherries, kiwi), which save us a bundle on groceries. We also grow most of our herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary, lemon balm, mints, lavender, thyme & chives are the ones I can think of right off), which are so much better fresh and I share with friends, who often share their bounties with us. Most of these do not require planting every year. We also plant a vegetable garden each year and get most of our tomatoes, beans, squash & cucumbers out of it. I get more salad type things in the early spring (lettuce, radishes, onions, garlic), but it's too hot here in the summer for those.

Dawn

Apples, pears, peaches, figs, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, mulberries, various herbs both culinary and medicinal. The herbs I can think of off the top of my head are rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, parsley, catnip, yarrow, st johns wort, camamile. I know there's more, but can't think of them now. Oh, we also have a willow tree.

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