You won't be able to completely feed 7 people on 2500 square feet, but you can certainly supply a lot of their needs.
Concentrate on high volume, high nutrient foods. Grow winter squash instead of zuchinni, for example (much higher in calories and vitamins, and stores well)
Potatoes will produce an amazing number of pounds in a good year. Carrots, onions, beets, parsnips, turnips... all good storage foods which can produce a lot of stuff.
Beans- snap beans- will give you a bunch to can in a single row.
Peas are wonderful, but don't really produce as much as I'd like given the space they take- and more to the point- the WORK they take. But they may be worth it as an early crop, to be followed by a later crop of something that likes the summer heat.
Tomatoes can produce a LOT of fruit in a season.
Although a lot of folks like the square foot gardening idea, I'm not sure I'd like it for a large plot. I strongly suggest that you look into finding a copy of "Joy of Gardening" by Dick Raymond. It's likely out of print, but it's a GREAT resource.
He uses "wide rows" for many crops, and I've used his methods for many years. They work- and they are very similar to the "square foot" methods I've read.
I plant carrots, beets, radishes, leaf lettuce, many of my annual herbs, and occasionally peas in wide rows.
I plant tomatoes, peppers, all my cole crops (cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower) on plastic mulch, and only the tomatoes are in single rows. The rest are in various patterns (the peppers do well 3 across about 1 foot apart on the 4' wide plastic, cabbage is planted in a 3, 2, 3 pattern, etc). I also plant all my vines on plastic, in single rows, but only 1-1 1/2 feet apart, instead of the traditional 3-5 feet apart. They grow beautifully.
Consider using pole beans instead of bush beans to save space... grow your cucumbers, squash and other vines up trellisesm cage your tomatoes- do everything to keep stuff growing "up", not sprawling.
If you have any space for animals, consider getting a couple of geese. They mate for life, raise their own brood (and almost always lay a couple dozen extra eggs more than they can set on - and one goose egg is equivalent to 4-5 chicken eggs) and they live almost solely on grass. You'll have to fence them out of your garden (although it took the ones I had almost 8 years to discover my lettuce and cause trouble with the garden- I guess they had plenty to eat other places), and they WILL sh*t up your lawn if that's where they live. But they produce delicious meat- and valuable down and feathers- on no grain at all. (although they need some feed during the winter months)
Rabbits are another possibility- raise them on pasture, using a modified version of a "chicken tractor"- a movable cage that you put over fresh grass every morning.
Again, you'll have to feed them stored feed during the winter, but the practical way of doing this- and the geese as well- is to only breed them during the warm months. During the winter months, cut back to only the essential breeders, who can be fed on a limited amount of feed. You can do that with chickens as well- unless your family eats a lot of eggs, half a dozen laying hens will produce plenty for you, on less than 3# of grain a day. And that is if all they get to eat is grain- if they free range, it's entirely conceivable to keep them on less than 1# a day during the warm months.
The thing about animals- especially some of the ones I mentioned- is that they are capable of turning grass and weeds and insects into usable protein for us humans. We either don't have the digestive system to do that, or we don't appreciate the finer points in eating ants! (believe me, I'd probably try it if I was starving, but unless and until- I'll let my hens turn them into nice, tasty eggs!)
Check out the Raymond book, though- you'll get lots of good ideas!
Summerthyme
