It’s against the law to raise chickens, goats, or a cow in our backyard, but thankfully, the government hasn’t outlawed fruit trees yet. You’re still allowed to pick out your own plants for now. Well, actually, I take that back. A few years ago, there was some citrus disease going around in Florida and so the government checked everyone’s trees, chopping down anything that looked suspicious.

We don’t have an elaborate set up over here, but our yard does show some respectable effort. It’s actually a lot of effort once you factor in the 100% humidity, hurricanes, heat, swarming mosquitoes, unidentifiable bugs, and sand. But still, I figured it was worth the time and effort to locate and import fruit varieties that adapt to this low-chill, bug infested climate. Our miniature orchard consists of orange, grapefruit, peach, pear, yellow apple, plum, and fig trees. We also have muscadine grapes.

I paid a lot of money for these trees, and Greg dug a lot of compost-filled holes. (Around here, you have to buy or make your own dirt.) He staked, tied, and propped, while I read, sprayed, and created charts. Citrus trees are the only edible trees people grow around here, for good reason.

The rains came in with a vengeance early this summer. Being only 3 feet above sea level, we can only handle so much. It poured every day. We lost our orange and grapefruit trees—citrus, the only ones with respectable hope—to drowning this week. It’s quite the let down. For all the time, money, and effort, though, we did get five grapefruit this past winter.

I would’ve chewed slower if I knew each fruit was going to net cost about six bucks.

***

Fundamentally, you must look around and ask: “What am I doing NOW? What can I do NOW?” You see, most folks I’ve dealt with, who really want to farm, have the notion that if they just had some land, or if they just had more land, they could farm. It’s as if an elusive something—land, equipment, buildings, markets—is always just beyond their grasp, and they are just stuck until they can acquire that magic “thing.” [snip]

Chances are if you have no desire to grow anything now, you probably never will. You can grow something, even if it is a plant in a window box. But most folks can get access to a few square feet of ground, even if it is a spare flowerbed around an apartment complex. Quit mowing the lawn and turn it into a backyard market garden. If your more concerned about what the neighbors will say when you convert your lawn into garden beds than you are about getting started in farming, you’re too peer-dependent and would not do things differently enough to succeed even if you did have a larger acreage. Better to find that out now rather than later.

~Joel Salatin, You Can Farm