What do you do for income?

Husband does commerical a/c start up full time. I work at home in real estate part time. I also grow most of our meat and food... even if I never make a dime "profit" at farming, the money it saves me in groceries and taxes, it still "pays" me.

Did somebody say "Wwwworkkk!!! (in my best Maynard G. Crebs voice).

There was a tiny farm in California that grossed something like half a million a year on less than 1 1/2 acres. They sold specialty lettuce to restaurants.

As an Ag instructor once said, "MARKETING, MARKETING, MARKETING!"

Where is this market farming forum? Didn't find it with Google.

Well, I suppose you could live on less. We do. Everything we earn is made from here at home. Most of our income is from our livestock and wood cutting - that's farming. My wife also draws a few pencil portraits a year and I do a little sales of something I made that is not farm but it is all done from home. Almost all of our income is from our small farm. Just have to live within our means.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

We rob banks.

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I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.

I am retired AF and sell heavy equipment, truck engine and marine engine parts. Getting into land speculation also. I work hard for my money.

It's here on HT. Go to Gardening & Plant Propagation. It's a subforum at the top of the page there.

http://homesteadingtoday.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

The price people are happy to pay for mixed salad greens is incredible. They're paying for our time to mix the greens for them. We choose the greens that taste good and look appealing. An 8 oz bag of salad (open the bag, put it in a bowl) sells quickly for $4.

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Robin

Can't believe I never noticed.

Thanks

I wonder how much Elliots workshops are? and how much they bring in....

I get by on a little remodeling (electrical/plumbing) and my gas royalties. Donna makes her income off of ebay.

I pass up more work than I can take on... gotten to the point where I won't take on low paying projects. My reasoning is I can take on a small high paying project and have time to work around the 'stead, instead of working 'all' the time off 'stead, and just getting by and having no time for the important stuff....

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

H works for a non-profit and I sell on ebay a bit or make items to sell at local stores.

We grow most of our own produce and live a simple joyous life.

Do you get more money in cold weather? (pun intended)

I might try that except have people pay me to put my clothes back on.

I have hit that $100k/acre once. God, it was awesome! Everything had to gow right because I had no employees or interns, just me.

As I said in a post in the Market Farm forum, in my area, I'm not the biggest market farm nor the one with the highest sales. I am jsut the on willing to talk about it.

I know one grower who grosses right at $1million in sales on 10 acres. His costs are in the neighborhood of$30k/acre, most of it in labor. I prefer to use machinery wherever I can, and use labor where I have to.

Gross vs net--gross does just mean you can move product.

net doesn't mean that much either.

I own my property personally and lease it to my business which is a corp. I make a profit on the lease, and that is passive income. I loaned the corp money to buy equipment and cover operating expenses for the 1st 3 years. The corp pays me monthly--10 year amortization at 12 % interest. The interest is again passive income to me. I currently don't draw a salary. Next year I believe I will draw a salary, and I will start either a SEP or 401k plan which I will fund to the limit and match with comapny funds pretax. When I have a eally good year, I will draw the salary, have the retirement funded, get my lease and loan payments and declare myself a stock dividend. I try to be the largest expense on my business's balance sheet.

You take off what the business is paying me for the lease and loan and depreciation on equipment and it has a net loss currently and I am happy with that. All of my needs are getting met while losing money. This year I should make a net profit, slim at best.

I don't really want to have a large net profit, because that all passes through to my personal income tax return.

Sometimes, a business with a low net is good for the owner.

Back to the original post--I make my living exclusively from farming 18 acres of fresh veg. Haven't worked off farm since I started on 1 urban acre in 1989. I am probably unemployable.

We do not live off of our land but we don't have jobs. We have an online business, own rental property, and I sell soap at craft markets and wholesale. We are in Canada so healthcare is not the same issue but I have recently found a health plan that self employed people can contribute to and use as a business deduction, we also have our own retirement plans set up. Hubby has been working "online" since 1994, in the early years I supplemented with out of the house work as a tutor.

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I receive a check for being disabled.

I also provide my wife all the time she needs
to go out and work at a job.

You go girl.

.

I paid $15 last spring.

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Robin

My husband has a great paying job - 7 more years left to go before retiring.

I stay at home and market our farm. We are doing 2 Saturday markets this summer season, did 1 during the winter season. We are also doing our county farm tour this spring and fall to introduce ourselves as we are a new farm.

We sell eggs, chickens, veggies, plants, herbs, and freezer meats. This year with 2 markets we are really hoping to pay down some of the extras we purchased to get this farm running.

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Dana
Chicama Run

I dont have a farm yet...
I have a part time delivery job, and this up and coming business

www.coolkidscanread.com

I hope to be making significant $$ in a year, and as soon as I find a place to move, within a year I will be fulltime farmers market with veges, rabbits and chicken products.

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www.infowars.com
www.angorafiber.com
Licensed ARBA Registrar

I live rent-free as a property caretaker, and don't need to worry about a job! It's a great lifestyle. Mike