I ripped up the rest years ago and put in food production. I find that lawns are such a waste of space, resources and water. However, all in all, I wouldn't have it any bigger and certainly not much smaller and I find that I can manage it in the spare time that I have available. I am very happy with what we have and couldn't want for any more land.  By making do with what I have, we can grow just about anything in the smallest of spaces. 11 comments: Love it! My favorite part of your piece is where you say you wouldn't have it bigger, because that's pretty much how I feel about my space. I used to (and still occasionally, but not often) wish for more land (because I'd like goats), but realistically, at my age, I know this quarter acre is about all the land I am comfortable trying to cultivate and maintain, and really, used wisely, it's more than enough. Hi Gavin, You may have already blogged about this, but how do you protect your fruit trees from pests in your front yard, ie. birds/ bugs/ disease? I use mesh sleeves on our apricot tree, and now on our plum & nectarine, as well as sockettes on the apple trees. We also spray for curly leaf on our stone fruit at bud swell too. In fact, for every different variety we have there seems to be something different to be done to it! I