Do you earn your living from your homestead?

[homemom1fl]

Was curious how many of you earn all of your income from selling animals, meat,milk, eggs, veggies, herbs, flowers, etc. from your homestead? Interested in hearing the details!

[daytrader]

I could at this time. Quit doing what I do and make a fine income with just our farm.

Just I find it much more profitable to do other things. My time is not free.

[Ebowhunter]

Hi, homemom! My dh works full time our farm is on the side and the business that is starting to take hold from it (growing) happened simply but accident. I wanted to raise chickens so that our dds didn't get all the hormones from the chicken in the grocery stores, then someone asked me if I would be willing to raise some for her and it has mushroomed from there. Now we have sheep,pigs,turkeys (which is my Christmas shopping money), pheasants,ducks, and meat chickens. We also sell eggs, but the eggs pretty much pays for the feed we get from the local elevator for them.

Eventually, we would like to be as self sufficient as we can be, and I think we are doing really well in moving toward that goal. I do not buy any meat in the grocery store with the exception of the occasional fish.
We have a HUGE garden and will start selling u pick strawberries here in about three weeks
So hopefully in about five or eight years we will be big enough to support us, but dh's job gives us our health insurance and with the girls there is no way we are giving that up!
But I am home with my girls and the farm, so I look for ways that the farm can help keep me home with them and bring in some income at the same time. I do sell jams and jellies, rhubarb,strawberries, and any extra produce that I have. I have thought of selling shares of my garden but I don't know how to start doing that.

[Beeman]

I earned our complete living from our property but not doing homesteady type things. I built a building and ran an automotive repair shop for years. Even with the business profitable from the start due to an established customer base from my previous job and the fact that we were debt free and the building was paid for I closed it down and went to work for a big company. Insurance costs and lack of benefits were putting me too far behind as I was working without a net with a family.

[MullersLaneFarm]

We make some income from our homestead but we are not self-sustaining.

We consider ourselves self-sufficient not because we don't have outside incomes but because we raise the vast majority of our own foods (meat, veggies, fruits)

[RockyGlen]

all of our income comes from our farm. We irrigate 250 acres and raise oats, wheat, corn, alfalfa, grass hay, vegetables, chickens, 2 dairy cows, 2 beef cows, and sometimes pigs. We are blessed in that we are debt free, so we do not require a lot of income and grow mainly to feed and support ourselves. If we had any debt we would need outside work. Dh does do 2-3 thousand worth of work each year with his backhoe, but that's the only outside work he does.

[Filas are Prima]

I raise Fila Brasileiro guard dogs on my little rancho. It's "feast or famine" whether I have a litter to market, or not. Yet, we all eat daily as I stock up for winter with every spring's first litter of puppies.
So, my inventory is also my best friends/family. And, I love going to work, right outside the door.
It's a niche market for Filas. But folks who REALLY need protection, are learning about the world's finest natural guardian/personal protection breed.

[Jim S.]

Originally Posted by RockyGlen

all of our income comes from our farm. We irrigate 250 acres and raise oats, wheat, corn, alfalfa, grass hay, vegetables, chickens, 2 dairy cows, 2 beef cows, and sometimes pigs. We are blessed in that we are debt free, so we do not require a lot of income and grow mainly to feed and support ourselves. If we had any debt we would need outside work. Dh does do 2-3 thousand worth of work each year with his backhoe, but that's the only outside work he does.

You said the magic word for me...backhoe! I have dreamed for years of buying one, with trailer and small dump truck, and just doing septics with it. With the growth here, I would be quickly covered up in work. But like Beeman says, my off-farm job provides us with insurance and a traditional retirement plan. A backhoe and truck might allow me to do that for an early retirement in a few years, though. It's a dream.

[Beeman]

Originally Posted by Jim S.

You said the magic word for me...backhoe! I have dreamed for years of buying one, with trailer and small dump truck, and just doing septics with it. With the growth here, I would be quickly covered up in work. But like Beeman says, my off-farm job provides us with insurance and a traditional retirement plan. A backhoe and truck might allow me to do that for an early retirement in a few years, though. It's a dream.

Here it seems everyone has a backhoe and a dump truck, most sit idle a lot. If I could make a whole living doing it I wouldn't hesitate to invest. My next door neighbor has a backhoe,dumptruck, and trailer and does septics. His backhoe sits idle a lot and he does other things to make it and his wife has the benefits from a gov't job.

[RockyGlen]

My dh turns away a lot of backhoe work because he does not have time. I think the key is your area. We are only 1.5 miles from a small town of 2000 that is surrounded by larger farms. There are only two backhoes in the area, and to rent one from the city is cost prohibitive. When we lived in Tennessee Valley area there was a backhoe on every farm. Dh also does skidsteer work when he has time.

[Forerunner]

I've made our living here from the beginning, with salvage metal recycling.
I've written several articles pertaining to that industry. Which thread would be the proper one to post some of those in ?
I've also combined the demolition/salvage with materials aquisition for all of our building needs. The two seem to flow well with the homesteading and independence theme.
We're just now getting the soils and larger gardens in shape for potential large scale food production, to see where that might lead.
People finally seem to be coming to grips with the value of real food, which makes it almost appealing to try earning a living by growing it.

[TedH71]

I'm considering going into the lawn mowing business with landscaping and also offering snowblowing during the winters here in Wichita. Problem is: no truck. I have a small car that I'm still making payments on. My fiancee thinks I should go ahead and get a part time job doing landscaping/mowing with a private company and see if I like doing it first.

[canfossi]

TedH71, I have done the landscaping thing with a company I use to work at. Let me tell you it was hard work with long hours in the hot sun. I have done it for 7 years and finally didn't go back this year. Your worn out after 8 months. Chris

[chris30523]

We do hay and raise eggs for a local hatchery.My DH had a "regular" job.He is unemployed now since Nov.He started a lawn and landscape buisness and it is booming (I cannot believe how much people pay to have their grass cut)It will take a while to get back to where we were before several months of "unplanned" unemployment but I am looking foward to having ins. again.I don't know when he is going to be able to get my hay cut?My farm pays for itself though with a little left over ,the chickens pay the mortgage and power bill,the goats and hay pay for the horses and their own feed,the hay if we sell any this year pays the fuel bills to cut it ,feeds the live stock and the rest is money in our pocket.If you need extra income someone almost has to work a job.

[MarleneS]

Responses sure haven't encourgaged your dreams much have they homemom? Sometimes life just gets in the way, the trick is to do as much of the things you love doing on your homestead, and work towards the day when either you can retire, or your homestead produces enough to support you and your family if need be.

Hugs,
Marlene

[pixelphotograph]

sell painted gourds at craft fairs along with vine wreaths cut from wild muscadines that would take over if not kept in check along with muscadine jelly

[MaineFarmMom]

I'm a market farmer. I raise vegetables and fruits. This year my crop changes a little because of extensive work we're having done on the house. We can't have customers here while the work is being done. My income will come from pumpkins and corn this year.

My husband works off the farm but if necessary, we can live on farm income only and still be comfortable.

[Ralph in N.E.Oh]

MarleneS You hit the nail right on the head!!