How do you suppose so many people get out to their dachas and back home with produce? I wonder really what percentage of the urban population has dachas and dacha gardens.

Two to five acres sounds amazing. When I was young I have might have worked that up to something, but by now I would have to scale it back, perhaps offering space to someone healthier. But then, the trees I would have planted in my younger years might just be ready to give me some fruit, nuts, and wood, not to mention leaves for mulching my now small garden.

It took me years to realize that in the U.K., allotment gardens can far surpass the amount of space that it seems USAmericans usually get in community gardens. America seems very taken with raised small bed gardens bound by wood planks, whereas I see garden plots in the U.K, and Netherlands big enough to build a little shed and still have plenty of growing space. On the other hand, plenty of Americans could use the lot on which their home sits.

Personally, I've never come anywhere near providing 40% of my diet from my own garden.