Now I understand, I was coming at it the other way. Cute. "Keep those costs down!"

It took me a couple of reads to catch that little joke too. Really enjoyed your post, it was good having an engineers honest assessment of such a project. I tend to find calling this 'practice' for what the future may bring a little fanciful as the situation most believe would send folks back to the small farm would upturn the cities so horribly that any kind of order being maintained in lands accessible to the large population centers seems a remote possibility. But I could well be wrong.

What you have truly highlighted is that it takes the dedicated work of an admitted workaholic to make a small scale food growing profitable and that is only profitable from and energy in energy out of the immediate crop standpoint. The energy input that allowed you to begin your operation free and clear was substantial, and of course would not have been possible without the greater economy generating a large surplus (at least in the short term).

What really impressed me about your operation was the necessity of irrigation in an area getting 40 inches of rain a year. Intense cultivation requires more input than most imagine. Enjoy your 'easy' months, I've noticed the energy level nearing 60 isn't close to what it was at 50.