Anyone SFG with a large family?

Does anyone have a SFG to produce food for your large family.

We have 7 people in ours (2 adults, 5 kids). We have just started ours, so far we have four 4x8 boxes and a 4x4 box. I also have lumber for a few 4x4 deep boxes for carrots/potatoes etc.

I just planted a small orchard too. I put 7 trees in this year and would like to add another 5 or so, but that wont be until next year now.

How many boxes do you have?

How much % of your families food do you produce?

any other tips for me?

-rebecca

There's 6 of us at my house. This is my first year, but I've only got two 2x8 boxes so far. Just putting in a little at a time to conserve the cash right now. I'm hoping we can get to a point so we're growing all our own veggies. that would really be neat.

only 2 of our boxes are planted so far, but we have several seedlings growing up strong.

The kids are also have a Giant pumpkin growing contest. Oh help me please. Its a good job we have a large yard. No doubt we will end up with five 400lb + pumpkins which they will try and make me move to the front lawn for halloween!

No doubt we will end up with five 400lb + pumpkins which they will try
and make me move to the front lawn for halloween!

Well I'm sure you can rent a crane to move them the front yard

I'd be putting together special SFG beds on a garden cart for those monster gourds!!! I think an average garden cart can handle 400 pounds.

I can't really give you any advice since this is my first sfg in 10 years (since we moved to this house). We had a plot that was 2 4X8 beds previously and produced enough veggies for fresh eating all summer for a family of 6 but I didn't can or freeze back then so all we wanted was fresh summer veggies. This year I have made 2 3X12 foot raised beds and am hoping I get enough produce to freeze/can some of it. If I don't get enough, I'll add another bed or two next year. Oh and we still have 5 kids at home (3, 8, 15, 18, 21 and a 24 who is on her own) this Summer, but two will be in college in the fall. The oldest is married and planting her own SFG so we plan to share veggies too and we went together and ordered all heirloom seed, so I can't wait to see how that turns out.

My family isn't that large (only 2 adults with 3 kids~although my 10yr old son eats like two adult men!) but I noticed a large savings in our grocery bill last year. Before SFG we'd spend at least $7-$10 on bagged salads a week. And nearly as much on pickles and relishes for our hamburgs and hot dogs. With the tremendous harvest of lettuce (we staggered the planting dates for a staggered harvest) and the cucumbers, radishes, etc. you need for a good tossed salad we saved nearly $120 in salad savings alone during the growing season. I canned my own pickles and relishes and was able to put enough up that I haven't bought any since!

I also had a bountiful crop of carrots, beans and peas. I froze them in mixed veggie type bags which I use for a lot of stews, soups, and pot pies during the cold months. I'll admit that around February I ran out of home made veggie mix but still I would say I saved about $6.00 a week (I always have to buy two of the frozen bags to get enough for my crew). Over the course of 3 months I probably saved close to $50.00. And I got the privledge of saying, "Kids, these veggies were the one ones that you took such good care of." My crew eats their veggies much easier when it's the ones they planted and loved from little bitty seedlings. And as long as I'm sharing... they now refuse to eat bagged salads claiming, "They taste funny!"

Hope my very limited info helps you some.

We have 15 4x4 boxes, two of them doubled to grow potatoes and carrotts. We have three kids at home, three kids in college. I do a lot of preserving with my garden so we save money year round on vegies, not just during growing season.