Profitable Homesteading & at-Home Income

happychick · #1 10/19/11, 10:01 PM

I am looking for ways to make our 4 acre farm profitable. I would like to make enough money from home to count as a second income. I have tossed around the ideas of bee keeping, selling eggs, mushrooms, selling plant, vegtable & herb starts, pet sitting, tudoring from home, etc. We have a eBay store that is helping out too.
I know there are many different options for at-home businesses and making money off your farm. I would love to hear what you do, any ideas, etc.
Thank you!

emdeengee · #2 10/19/11, 11:36 PM

Bookkeeping for small businesses, small farms, home based businesses etc.

texican · #3 10/20/11, 12:30 AM

Remember to add up all the costs involved in any home based or homesteading type business. Imho, I've found that people think they're making money, when they sell their finished goods/services, and pocket that money. Infrastructure costs, maintenance, labor, materials, feed, etc. have to be considered... if the inputs are higher than the outputs (costs vs. profits) your better off not doing it in the first place. Most people downplay their labor cost.

Breaking even is imho a better goal to start out with, instead of going for profitability.

About the best thing you can do is specialty farm products.... IF you're close enough to a metropolitan area (or enclave of rich folks with lots of disposable income)... do it out in the sticks, where everyone is doing the same thing (raising their own food) and it's a harder row to hoe.

Good luck!

mabeane · #4 10/20/11, 06:07 AM

I am at the downhill side of life. lol And have so much less energy for this type of thing. Selling takes energy and involves more than just have a product and getting paid for it. Marketing takes time as well. I am trying a different strategy as the home management person here and that is to spend less and economize without compromise here at home. Plugging the little holes (turning off lights not in use etc) has lowered my already low electric bill. Staying put has saved gas money. Using what is on hand is creating a need for less capital. Being content with what I have has helped as well.
We did farm for profit (some of the time)but the physical and emotional cost was high and the time it took was endless. Now we homestead and are enjoy it all!

steff bugielski · #5 10/20/11, 06:13 AM

If you have a farmer's market nearby start there. With mushrooms, eggs, veggie and herb transplants in the spring. veggies themselves after that. Things will then be apparent as to which avenue you should go. I started with raw milk and a CSA now I sell cheese and no time for the CSA.
Seems if you have enough mushrooms restaurants might buy them.
You can do it all at once no need to pick one thing.

jwal10 · #6 10/20/11, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mabeane

I am at the downhill side of life. lol And have so much less energy for this type of thing. Selling takes energy and involves more than just have a product and getting paid for it. Marketing takes time as well. I am trying a different strategy as the home management person here and that is to spend less and economize without compromise here at home. Plugging the little holes (turning off lights not in use etc) has lowered my already low electric bill. Staying put has saved gas money. Using what is on hand is creating a need for less capital. Being content with what I have has helped as well.
We did farm for profit (some of the time)but the physical and emotional cost was high and the time it took was endless. Now we homestead and are enjoy it all!

This is where I am at too. It isn't always about how much you make but how much you don't spend so you are still able to enjoy life.

My brother has a small greenhouse,grows mothers day flower baskets and vegetable starts to sell at their place and a farmers market they helped start in a bank parking lot on saturdays a mile from their house. He has a small repair shop (vehicles and farm) at his house so can watch the farm stand and the gardens. His wife works for the school district and carries their insurance and does a lot in the gardens. They own 4 acres and irrigate from a well....James

Alice In TX/MO · #7 10/20/11, 08:28 AM

I will tell you that it is VERY difficult. We have friends here that started with a CSA, selling milk (legal here), and green houses, but the husband has had to take work off the farm.

The wife now has a website and is selling heirloom seeds and plants.

ai731 · #8 10/20/11, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steff bugielski

If you have a farmer's market nearby start there. With mushrooms, eggs, veggie and herb transplants in the spring. veggies themselves after that. Things will then be apparent as to which avenue you should go. I started with raw milk and a CSA now I sell cheese and no time for the CSA.
Seems if you have enough mushrooms restaurants might buy them.
You can do it all at once no need to pick one thing.

I agree with this. Start with what markets and customers are available to you. Farmers' markets are a great opportunity if you have one nearby. Think about berries & tree fruit, and other perenials such as asparagus that take less daily work than market garden vegetables.

Pelenaka · #9 10/20/11, 11:42 PM

I am looking for ways to make our 4 acre farm profitable ... the ideas of bee keeping, selling eggs, mushrooms, selling plant, vegtable & herb starts, pet sitting, tudoring from home, etc. We have a eBay store that is helping out too.

I really think that for the majority of us it is a combination of many different streams of income much like our great grandparents did. A little of this & a little of that can go a long way. Eventually one or two out shine the rest and the choice becomes clear.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Jolly · #10 10/21/11, 10:55 AM

You have to find your niche.

For many of us, one spouse or the other has a full or part-time job. The remaining spouse tends to take care of most of the home-based business.

One niche that my neighbors occupy, is a portion of the high-grade registered cattle market. And they do it on about a 50 acre place. Over the period of a few years, they purchased some of the best brahma heifers they could find. The heifers were artificially inseminated with a top quality bull.

The calves were farmed out to local 4-H and FFA kids, and were used as show stock. My neighbors shared the feed costs, while the kids kept the ribbons and shared any profits that occurred from the sale of of the winning cattle.

That got their my neighbor's name out in the broader cattle buying public and eevntually led to premium prices for their livestock.

No, their business has not allowed the one working spouse to quit their outside job, but it has led to a decent enough revenue stream that one spouse can successfully stay home and still make good side money.

motdaugrnds · #11 10/21/11, 11:27 AM

I would start by walking around and doing a little local research. Finding out what the local restaurants are using that could be grown locally just might be an avenue of profit for you.

Farmers markets are good too, except that you must keep whatever you're selling in good shape over a lengthy period of time. A "permanent" set up at one can be profitable for crafts and homemade items.

When I first arrived in this area I met an elderly gentleman who profited by filling his "van" with veggies and fruits he had grown himself and traveling. He was situated near 3 cities. He talked with the managers of different apartment complexes in those cities where low income people lived and made arrangements to park on their property under shade trees one day out of each week to sell his produce to the tenants. (I helped him awhile just to see how it all worked and he made quite a bit of money that way and the people living there who had limited access to shops benefitted. I remember how he would add extras to what they purchased and it was a wonderful feeling...plus it stopped the produce that was starting to get too ripe from ruining.)

David and I are talking about herbal remedies and a roadside stand for home grown produce.

hiddensprings · #12 10/21/11, 12:58 PM

I would say to find something that you enjoy as well. I tired a CSA on our farm and ran it for 3 years. HATED IT! To much pressure, too much stress. I now only sell at our local farmer's market and sell what other farmers don't: garlic, shallots, herbs, eggs, pasture chickens, and goat's milk soap. Garlic, shallots, and herbs are easy to grown in my area and I have a large enough herb garden that I sell wholesale to area resturants. So much less stress for me.
Our farm is not "profitable" yet, but we are working in that direction

**Terri** · #13 10/21/11, 02:20 PM

Are you allowed to e-bay vegetables?

Ken Scharabok · #14 10/21/11, 05:16 PM

Terri:

I highly doubt it. For example I did a search on apples and it only turned up osage oranges/apples. Horseradish only root cuttings.

USDA has pretty strict standards on interstate sales of perishable items. Some states even have their own rules.

eBay tends to go the safest route - thus my no.

Ken Scharabok · #15 10/21/11, 05:18 PM

Added: I use to sell semi-fresh cow manure for making manure tea. Don't remember my price, but something like $5 for what a medium flat rate box would hold.

Jokarva · #16 10/21/11, 08:02 PM

House/farm/pet sitting could be fairly profitable, and has pretty low overhead.

Joshie · #17 10/21/11, 08:18 PM

Heavily research your market. Here, everybody and their brother sells eggs. We couldn't give them away, let alone sell them.

happychick · #18 10/22/11, 12:30 AM

Thanks for all the great feedback & ideas folks!
To clarify: My husband works a full time job w/ insurance - though I would like to become more independent from that - I'm not trying to pay for everything just off the farm quite yet, just attempting to help the farm pay for its self and give us a little extra for maybe solar or more land in the future...I also have NO desire to do a CSA, already ruled that one out.

I absolutely agree with making your time and labor count in your equation. I have done a lot of thinking about the needs in our area, vegetable plant starts are hard to find healthy for sale in the spring around here, I am going to start providing them for myself & others while I'm at it and see how it goes. I think the plants would be easier then the produce.
I also agree that having multiple streams of income at any given time is a good thing. Many things are seasonal, that's why I'm thinking about starting up more than one thing.

Thanks again!

Tricky Grama · #19 10/22/11, 07:14 AM

Disclaimer: I've not tried any of this!

Read about-
Flowers-seems restaurants will buy for $1/stem. (but your gas $?)
In our suburb, folks buy farm eggs for $4/doz.
Lavender sells great too.
Vineyard?

Cindy in KY · #20 10/22/11, 07:18 AM

I have always wanted an acre of Zinnia's. Wow, how beautiful that would be. They are easy to grow and you'd have like a gazillion butterflies. I think you could charge admission.

Make and sell butterfly houses too. Cut flowers sell great in town, and are not for consumption, so you are totally safe there. They last a long time once cut. Zinnia's attract all the beneficial insects to your gardens too. You just pull the dried seed heads for seeds for next year. I have them come up on their own a lot.

We tried the garden produce selling, and it didn't work for us. Everyone grows tomatoes out here in the country and the rest want theirs from Walmart. Selling garden plants would be safer and better $ here. I made some tomato juice and threw the skins-seeds out in the compost area, and now I have hundreds of beautiful tomato plants, like a little forest. Sad it's the wrong time of year. But I am going to freeze baggies full of the skin-seeds and see if that works next spring. I always have tomatoes come up in the garden but not like this.