>>57170i second pretty much all you said... including that 54265 know his stuff.
I life on a 55 acre mini-ranch. we raise cattle for sale, grow 2 acres worth of grapes and i have a nice herb/vegetable-garden. We also have chicken, rabbits, and a few peach trees.
most of the property is wooded though.
Woods are quiet useful too, not just for firewood and lumber, but about 200 (fuck yeah) of those trees are old pecans and produce WAY more then we could ever eat! Seriously a single mature nut tree is enough for all your needs.
we have an ok population of deer and turkeys.
From my experience and what I know from agriculture and gardening I would say that 1/2 acre properly managed can sustain a family of 4.
Emphasis is on properly managed, so you need to know about soil conditions, plant varieties, weather forecasts, etc...
To be on the save side I would suggest 1 to 2 acres. then you still have some space for woods.
on woods: you can expect about 1 cord of fire wood from 1 acre of wood-lot... you can get more, but it will deplete the natural cycle and you will get less and less each year. To be on the same side, we do not take more then about 0.75 cords of fire wood per acre.
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IMPORTANT! you will not be able to life of your land in the first 3 years or so!!!
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It simply takes that long for everything (soil condition, plants, fruit trees, irrigation, ...) to take root (no pun intended). But after that you don't have to do all that much to life. About 2 hours of standard maintenance, 2 hours repairs, 1-2 planting/harvesting veggies and herbs. In the high season you can easily double those numbers, but in winter you can half it. if you life in an area with a 'real' winter (aka not Texas) you might only have to work about 2-4 hours a week.
Pic related: Deer from the wood-lot.
