Perennials

In the beginning, it is best to get your perennial food-bearing plants in the ground first. Sure, you can plant crops and grow a regular vegetable garden, but plant the following as early on as you can because it can take a few years before they begin to produce food in ample quantities:

• Berries (including strawberries and bush berries)
• Fruit trees
• Jerusalem artichokes
• Rhubarb
• Perennial herbs that are for culinary or medicinal purposes, such as oregano, sage, chives, and rosemary (culinary) and Echinacea, lemon balm, and feverfew (medicinal)

Really, any perennial food-bearing plant you want to plant should be put in the ground as soon as possible so you can start harvesting as soon as possible.
Plant What You Eat

There is no need to get fancy when it comes to planting food. Just make sure you have a good variety and that you plant what you eat. If your family isn’t big on eating Jerusalem artichoke, then don’t plant it. If you don’t like sweet potatoes, then don’t plant them. Sure, you can experiment later on, if you have the space for it, but make sure you get your essentials in there first.
The key is to plant a vegetable garden that will truly feed your family. You can even go the route of setting up a permaculture environment, which will allow your garden to become a natural ecosystem in which your food and nature will thrive together. You can check out these great gardening books:

• Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability
• Grow or Die: The Good Guide to Survival Gardening
• Going Galt: Survival Gardening: Sustainable High Yield Gardening
• The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible

Animals
Living off the land will require that you keep some animals, unless perhaps you are an exceptionally good hunter and have game nearby. Like starting your garden, keeping animals is something you need to research before you do it. You need to decide on which animals, such as chickens, goats, sheep, and cows, would be the best to keep. You also need to know what each animal you choose needs in terms of:

• Space
• Shelter/habitat
• Food
• Winter and summer care
• Disease/illness prevention and care
• Escape prevention and protection from natural predators

Be sure to have all of this sorted out, have the animals’ shelter and habitat set up, and have all the required food, equipment, and medicine on hand before bringing your animals home. Appropriate fencing is a must when you have farm animals. If you are keeping larger animals, such as cows, sheep, and pigs, then you will need a barn, and you will need a chicken coop for chickens. You will also need to be sure the animals are kept warm during the winter months and that you can get water to them at any time of the year.
Check out how to raise sheep and goats here as well as these great products:

• The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals
• The Joy of Keeping Farm Animals
• Building a Chicken Coop
• The Complete Beginners Guide to Raising Small Animals