Hey mini G you are on point with this article. I would say my garden produces fairly successfully but at the end of the day it is merely a fraction of what we actually consume in our house. Homesteading is not just about feeding yourself entirely from your own land, there are very few who can accomplish that. Rather it is a desire two try to achieve that goal and it is the journey towards that goal that is homesteading. So do not get down on yourself you are a homesteader. We recently lost another chicken to a raccoon and now we have one lonely chicken giving us one egg every 2 or 3 days LOL. I lost more tomatoes to Insects this year than I put in my fridge, and I produced a ton of jalapenos that I will never use and so I gave almost all of them away. I have gotten good use from my squash and zucchini with a few bags in the freezer for later. You are right however it does take several years to develop really good garden bed soil if you are starting with bad soil. The best advice I can give is to continually mulch your garden beds whether it's grass clippings leaves or wood chips, just keep feeding the soil. If you can find it in your schedule to begin keeping rabbits they are an excellent source of manure that is super nutritious for your garden. Go to my YouTube channel and watch my video titled Black Gold. God bless you and have a great day.