Living off the Land

Rural living provides the perfect location for gardening. Take whatever space you have to spare and turn it into vegetable gardens and areas for livestock. Vegetables can also be planted in pots and hung to make use of every available space. Foods that cannot be eaten quickly can be saved for winter use. Foods that will be canned should be picked, washed and canned within several hours to preserve as much of the vitamins and nutrients as possible. Fruits and vegetables can also be dried and stored for some months in a root cellar.

When raising animals for food, choose animals that will not require additional store-bought feed and which can be housed easily.

Cattle:

One steer will provide you with enough meat for an entire year. If using cow chips, you'll be able to harvest plenty over the course of one summer.

Chickens:

Let the chickens run loose on your property, but make sure you have a chicken coop for them to return to each evening that is safe from predators. A few healthy chickens will provide more than enough eggs for a family.

Rabbits:

Rabbits can be kept in a hutch, which doesn't take up much space. Pick clover and grasses for them and offer an orange slice and salt block once in a while and your rabbits will be happy and healthy. Make sure they have plenty of hay in the winter months to pad their homes. In the summer fill old two-liter soda bottles with water and freeze to provide additional comfort. They'll love stretching out alongside a frozen bottle and cooling down as the heat index rises.

Fish:

Adding a fish pond to your property is another great way to provide protein. If you already have a pond on the property, chances are it is spring-fed and will be relatively maintenance-free. On occasion a pond will require dredging to remove a buildup of sledge and silt.

Take Advantage of Existing Waterways

If you already have a pond or a stream, take advantage of the Omega 3 possibilities. Dredging an area and diverting a small stream so that you have a body of water that remains year round or that can be drained every couple of years is ideal.
Purchase fish from a commercial fish hatchery. Take care deciding which kinds of fish you will stock together in your pond. Rainbow trout is a good fish for ponds but should not be mixed with brown trout, as they require different water temperatures.
Make sure you have enough room in the pond for minnow, crayfish and water plants, all of which are important to sustaining and growing trout.
Sunfish and bluegills also are not the perfect fish for a pond, as they reproduce quickly and require plenty of food in order to grow. Too many fish means only small fish to harvest and the possibility of fish dying due to lack of food.
Stock about 50 fish to every one acre of pond space, then allow fish two to three years for reproducing before you begin harvesting.