The most "lucrative" homesteading activities?
 

Since our move to the country, my wife has taken up substitute teaching for extra income, but we are thinking about homeschooling next year, so she will have to be at home every day. We are trying to figure out which stay at home activities might equal or beat the $500 a month she makes substitute teaching.

It's easy to find lists that tell you what your options are for making money on the homestead, but most don't tell you which of those options are most lucrative for the time invested. The two options we are considering most seriously are:

• Beekeeping
• Dairy goats (we have about 2 acres we could fence in. While selling raw milk and raw milk product for consumption is illegal in our state, we could breed them and sell goat's milk soap and lotion)

Which of these would be the best for making money when initial monetary investment and ongoing time investment are considered?

I'd go with dairy goats, but then again, I am *severely* biased.

Bias aside, however, if you are looking at JUST monetary value, then yes, dairy goats. They have easy-to-measure income potential.

With bees, it is a little bit harder to just. You aren't going to have to spend as much of your time with bees (checking in on them once a week is good....more than that, and they might start accusing you of Jewish Mother Syndrome.), but how do you measure their profitable effect on your garden? On your pastures and trees?

Tis a difficult question you ask, me lad!

Let's not kid ourselves here. In the next decade small acreage farmers will make millions in the medical marijuana industry, at least when the legalities get sorted out.

~laughs~ Even the MM industry has its drawbacks. I came from Colorado. Some of the things MM farmers face that doesn't effect, say, tomato farmers:

1. A bunch of kids are unlikely to break into your tomato farm and steal all of your green, unripe tomatoes in the hopes they can get high from them.
2. A bunch of burglars are unlikely to break into your tomato farm and steal all of your immature, unripe tomatoes in the hopes of making a mint off of them on the black market.
3. A bunch of druggies are....well you get the picture.
4. Tomato farmers do not generally have to pretty up and cure their tomatoes before they can sell them. Added overhead in labor.
5. Tomato farmers don't have to worry that someone is going to get upset because there are seeds in the tomatoes. (Added labor in cultivation to ensure all female and all seedless plants.)

I could go on. The reality is that, once the legalities are worked out, a lot of people are going to ATTEMPT to make millions in the MM industry, and in reality, a bunch of people are going to go broke.

~smiles~ I have a friend that runs a gardening and hydroponics store in Denver. Imagine the MM industry being like the Gold Rushes. Who got rich from the Gold Rushes? Folks that sold picks, mules, pans, shovels, etc., etc. In other words, the folks that sold the supplies to people that went off to hunt for gold.

My friend is going to make millions off of medical marijuana....and the raciest thing he sells are net pots and fertilizer. :)

Good luck making money with goats. Only way you'd make money is to raise registered goats, and sell the offspring, for high dollars. Unless your time is worthless, your inputs will nearly meet your outputs. Wanna make soap? Cheaper to buy the milk and go from there.

Most lucrative, is marijuana... but it's illegal, and in most states, the risk of jail time is real. If it's legalized, it'd be a worthless endeavor... the only reason it's profitable is because of it's illegality. Without the threat of jail, anyone can grow it... it'd be a weed needing to be mown down from the bar ditches alongside the country roads.

I can only speak for myself... I do goats and other endeavors, not to make money, but for self sufficiency... or something close to it.

There is a sub-forum here on work at home opportunities.

Maybe online and part time college work to get a degree, so the wife could get real teachers salary, with bennies?

That's a thought. Think they will ever let us grow hemp?

I doubt that Tennessee is going to pas the MM bill. Bee keeping will make you more money than 2 acres of goats. But it will be legal. I know that you used to be a firefighter and with a little money you can start up a business charging fire extensors or making fire inspections. You can do this along with everything else. Let her milk the goats and sell the milk and you do the other on your off days. To make $500 a month is not hard and when you become reedy to retire it will be something to do. Do not go to Memphis but the smaller towns. You may not have much business but it will be plenty to do.

A small goat operation *may* break even, but it will not be profitable, as mentioned above. Keeping ANY kind of livestock is expensive. Fencing, vet bills, housing, feed, repairs to fencing and housing, equipment purchase, minerals, ... the list goes on and on.

How old are your children? Are they perhaps old enough to stay home alone a few hours while she subs? Your kids would benefit from a goat soap business but it is time consuming but hey, its life! better to consume your life with goat milk than to have your kids in public school all because of being worried where you would come up with 500 a month :P Your family will grow closer together plus have a lot of fun. My kids miss dairy goats immensely and we are going to work on getting them back in the Spring. There are skills there that could help them later in life. Plus they MAKE fertilizer, reduce the need to mow, are extremely fun to play with :)
Bees are just bees. Dont want to be petting them either. we have a wild hive in a tree nearby and my 9 yr old tried petting bees all summer. She was successful twice and the second time it stung her and she gave up the hobby lol..

I think you need to look at time put in as much as money out. Goats and soap seem like a lot of time for the money. You would also have to do the marketing - though it would be a great business for the kids, I am not sure you could guarantee $500 a month. You would also have fencing and hay to buy, grain, milking equipment, etc.

How about a pick your own market? Blackberries/ raspberries/ blueberries/strawberries. 1 blackberry plant can produce from 6-40 lbs of berries. They sell for $3.86 a pound here. It would take an extra year to get them producing though. They wouldn't keep you at home as much as goats would and most of the work would be done when school is "out".

I would say bee keeping.

Also, by not going to work, your wife can cook from scratch, and possibly make breads, and jams for sale depending on the regulations in your state. She can also raise a garden and can and dehydrate, saving you hundreds of dollars each year. Same with raising meat, feeder pigs and chickens to supply your table with good wholesome food.

By not going out to work she will not be using the gas, or need work clothes. She will be able to search for good deals online and in local stores, using coupons, and save you money.

She will be there for your children all the time. Saving in child care costs.

I agree with berry plants, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, you could have a road side stand and sell, or sell to local stores.

There are lots of LITTLE things that make up the big picture, but having someone at home to take care of your children and livestock and raise chemical free foods is priceless.

BTDT, got the T-shirt.

We found the best way to save money was to not spend it. Yes, we got a little cash in by selling blackberries and honey, but the profit was smaller than the savings from just having Mom with the time to run the house better.

It is easy to buy seeds for a garden, but some seeds are easily saved and every packet not bought is $1.50 saved. Those leftovers can be turned into french bread pizza, and she can make the french bread. there will be less gas burned. There will be more time to comparison shop.

On the DOWN side, the cars will still wear out and the carpet will still get tired and the heater will still need work, etc. If you wish to have a shrp-looking house 8 years from now you will need to be putting money in the bank for it, as actual money will be less available even though you will still have excellent food and drink. 2 gallons of blackberries may be gotten from 2 hours of picking, but the repairman wants cash.

The major cash crop for small farms when I moved here to KY 10 years ago was tobacco. It was labor intensive but brought in a reasonable cash income for small farmers with less that ideal areas ... small plots of "level" land on sidehills and just a few acres of land that could be cultivated.

When the tobacco industry crashed here in KY with the buy-out some years ago there just wasn't anything much to replace it. We've watched a number of small farmers struggle with alternatives ... goats, greenhouses with tomatoes, strawberries or herbs, sweet corn for the farmer's markets, flowers ... and a number of them have gone to marijuana ... legal or not, as that seems to be the only farm "crop" that comes close to providing the cash income that is needed to run the farm/ pay expenses without an outside job.

If she has to be home, couldn't she offer a babysitting service, say maybe 2 kids per day? That would help with the expences.

Carol K

I don't know how much trouble they are to grow, but I have never seen mushrooms cheap.

My wife stays with me, ie, she helps me with my work both on the farm and doing outside odd jobs/handyman. While she may not make $500 a month per se, she enables me to work better and is the third hand when I need one, so it's feasible that I make $500 more a month than I would working myself. Make sense? Plus we have the joy of working, driving, getting materials, etc together along with our son. You didn't mention what you do for a living but perhaps you can team up together to accomplish more than each of you can on your own. That to me is the essence of marriage. We aren't apart for more than 10 minutes a day, I wouldn't know what to do if we had to work separate jobs and do the usual married routine of his/hers hobbies, friends, work. Right from the start we have worked together and I've found that it allows me to be more time efficient as well as being able to do things that I need an extra hand for. Maybe you need to look at instead of 'how you can make the $500 that she is currently bringing in' changed to 'how will her being home enhance the productivity and function of the household and enable my income to be spread farther.'

Other side businesses include selling books/clothing purchased at yard sales/thrift stores. This makes a fun family outing and while not lucrative can often break even, as the stuff we sell pays for the stuff we keep!

Possibly sewing... no experiences there.

If she has a background with teaching perhaps she can spend one or two afternoons a week tutoring other homeschooled children in areas they are lacking? Again not lucrative but might bring in a little extra especially if the other children come to your house. I know of a former high school chemistry teacher that did this; got tired of the hs attitude so quit teaching and got a chemistry job, then taught chemistry to high school age homeschoolers. She got the joy of teaching which she enjoyed, without having to tolerate the bad attitudes etc of the normal High school crowd.

A large garden may bring in $$ if there is a market in the area.

We have raised goats for many years and it takes a lot of land, growing your own hay and feed, and lots of time to make a profit. We made a profit, but when we figured time spent (staying up nights during birthing, feeding, checking fences, getting them unstuck, etc), we were making maybe $4-5 an hour. Not worth it from the $$ standpoint alone, though if you have lots of brushland it is worth it from an improvement standpoint.

States are directed by constitution to not interfere with the obligation of contract. Maybe your neighbors would like to make use of her teaching background for their kids? A simple contractual agreement should keep the state from squawking about interfering with their monopoly in education.

Thanks for the suggestions. I asked a pointed question, but got a much broader range of advice (which is good) and I've gotten some good ideas. I figured that with more info about our family, I might get even more good advice, so here goes.

I am a firefighter for a living, so I work 10 twenty-four hour shifts a month. I have a B.A. in Psychology (which means I am qualified to make a dog slobber when a bell rings) and I went to seminary for a couple of years.

My wife has been a stay-at-home Mom and still is, but she will work a day or two a week subbing while the kids are in school. Prior to our marriage, she was a vet tech for six years and a zookeeper for two. She had a very successful garden this past year and she likes gardening.

If we do the homeschooling (and it looks like we probably will) our kids (ages 12, 10, and 8) will help with whatever side business we start as a part of their education. All of our kids are helpful and responsible. The oldest one, in particular, would be very industrious.

If this gives anyone any more ideas about how to make (or save) an extra $500 a month feel free to chime in or expound on what you've already said.

Thanks,
Jim

Do you have the room to raise any livestock? I save a lot of money each year by being able to raise our own meat.

If you don't have much room, there is always meat rabbits and chickens.

Sometimes it's not about making the money, but saving money.

goat milk soap is not a money maker around here. Sure individual bars at the stores are priced high, but I've seen a lot of them hang around till they had to be marked down over half to get them to sell.
We tried it, moved on. But we did save money when we had 2 teens and a younger boy drinking the milk. We burned through about a gallon a day before we got the goat.
After the initial cost our first goat cost less than that gallon a day for upkeep.

Beekeeping would be OK.
Berries have been a big one for us.
We usually do OK with chickens as well. Grow them out in tractors so you can decrease your outlay for feed and they can be good money.
Haven't had much luck with rabbits in any form. Made a lot of freezer filler but can't seem to get traction for a meat market around here. Have sold a few for pets or for breeders but not enough to get any where near even.

Honestly there's not much you can do that's a "homesteading" activity that will make you money. Bees will cost you just to get started and it will be a year or two before you get any honey to sell. Then you will have to try and sell it and make money. If you got going you might clear $500 a year from your small time honey operation.
I'd look at food laws and possibly try wedding and other specialty cakes.

I think you're going to have to diversify. It would be really hard to come up with just one thing that would bring in that kind of money dependably - while DW is engaged in homeschooling AS WELL as the normal household things she has to get done. Do not underestimate how much time and wear and tear schooling will take on DW.

With two acres, I am not sure if you CAN generate that much income from the 'farm'. I am not sure I could come up with $500 a month for income for myself .....

Raise your own chickens - and grow some for others too. They sell here for $2 a lb processed at about 5 lbs. they would grow out about every 6-8 weeks. I raised a batch in a stall in my barn. You will have to process them yourselves to make any money. Raise egg layers also and sell eggs. You won't make much, but every little bit counts. That's about 60 chickens a month? If you did 100, you could take a couple months off.

Raise more garden produce and run a stand at the end of the driveway - or take orders from people you know.

Raise a calves from bottle to weaning and then sell them. Jersey bull calves here are $20-25. Milk replacer is about $60 (per calf). Or course, expect the bottom to drop out of the meat market about the time you get them weaned. We were getting $1 a pound.

Grow pot plants - flowers and veggies to sell. It isn't that common to find heiloom plants already started in six packs.

Get a bread baking route set up and weekly make and deliver loaves of bread.

Other ideas - as a firefighter - is your schedule set ahead enough that you can almost depend on what day you will have off? If so, perhaps DW could only take sub jobs on that day. Around here, they call subs the morning they need them - not before. How much would it cost to pay a sitter to watch the kids for a day while she subs? Would she have anything left? Could you trade the sitting for something? Tutoring might bring in some extra funds also. If she will have the time to do it.

Writing might be a viable opportunity for a teacher. There are lots of magazines and websites that are seeking content. There are even sites devoted to producing content like Demand Studios and Textbroker. This is something that she could do around the homeschooling activities.

ditto! i do not bring in much per month, but by my staying home, i help our family keep much more than if i was out working.

when i was working full time, and we had started getting just a few chickens, rabbits, and before the kiddos, i could sell those dressed out chickens for $6 a piece, and couldn't keep up. that was easy money for us. we'd butcher as they were ordered, so veyr littel cost in storage. that was 16 years ago. (egads, where did those years go????)

when i am working 12-14 hours a day at the lodge, i noticed i buy bread, rice mixes, etc. where i ususally will never. those add up. after it closes for the year, i dont' get the income but i feel better cuz we eat better and i save by making everything myself.

i sell soap and some other things from our place, and it ends up that we get 'our milk for free' so to speak! barter helps too--we move your cows, you give us a bale or 2 of good hay. i LOVE love love bartering!!! there are no taxes, gas, travel, nice work clothes, or eating out with this stuff. but it adds up and help us keep our money. buying older cars and drving them til they die, and then maybe a little more, helps too! no car payments for us.

there are tons of money saving tips on here, and just doing a few will help you too. i think maybe if you could save half and earn half of your goal would be feasable. in other words, the less you spend the less you gotta make!

and, i know if you do a search, there was a guy giving an online guide to making money in the country somewhere here. some ideas won't do much good, depends on your area, but some were great.

Are there any planted stands of pines nearby? It would be easy to make the $500 per month and more by baling pine needles for landscaping use. For less than a $100 you can make a hand baler and within a half day bale a 100 plus bales that can be sold for $3 up for each bale. The work is not hard.

It was brought up earlier about 'Pick your own" berries. A point to remember if you do strawberries this way: unless they are in neat, widely spaced rows, people WILL trample your plants. Other seasonal crops for pick-ur-own could include watermelons and a pumpkin patch. It can be a real joy to watch dozens of kids searching for the perfect pumpkin.

If you decide to raise pigs, do NOT raise one. Pigs are very social animals, and do much better in 2's or more. Besides that, with competition for food, they will eat more than a single pig will. If you raise one, after 9 months you will have one 200 pound pig. If you raise 2, you will have two 250 pound pigs. It takes no more time/effort to raise 2-4 than it does one...figure the math...one for the freezer, and 1-3 for sale.

I'm a homesteading, homeschooling mom of four. I don't see how you can make money on the farm end of things. We end up getting our food for nearly free from the farm, but not enough to generate an income. I teach piano, voice, and music theory to other homeschool kids at $40 a month each. It adds up quick. Maybe she can offer tutoring services? Also, you have a 12 year old. Can she/he babysit a couple days a week so mom can sub? Or can she switch out babysitting with another family?

Just some thoughts...
Tilly

How far out of the city are you, knuckledragger?

It seems to me that whatever you can grow, brings better money and faster sales if you can sell them in a town or city. You know the old adage, location, location, location.

In other words, honey might only bring $5 when sold from your home, but set up at a farmer's market in a big town, it could easily bring $9.

so far my dad has lost more money on bees than I have lost on goats - but he bought a lot of fancy equipment and doesn't rent hives to farmers.

as a homeschooling "stay-at-home" - LOL! mom of 3, I have made money selling blackberries and jam at the farmers market (but only about $6/hr figuring in all time and expenses) and teaching classes to other people's home schooled kids. (it sounds like she could do biology - many homeschoolers are intimidated by high school subjects) otoh, kids are cheap blackberry labor.

I do not make $500/month. from either of those.

could she still sub on days you are home?

honestly - if you can mostly feed those kids off your land - you are almost there.

How about a greenhouse, sell hanging plants for mothers day and veg starts. Can you raise a garden and have a roadside stand? Berries bring good money at a roadside stand. The kids can help with these....James

With her extensive knowledge working with animals, I would look into some sort of animal sitting. whether you take in pets so the owners can go on vacation or go directly to farms. There are a lot of people I know that would love to have a person with her knowledge look after their animals so they can go to weddings/funerals/vacations etc... Most farm animals just need a feeding/watering in the mornings and the evenings, which would leave the rest of the day for school studies. She could even bring the kids with her to help and would be a great learning experience for them.

Have a friend that is into bee keeping, they sell their product at the end of the driveway. This year they sold every bottle they put out. I don't know what he net on the deal, but I know he was excited to just recoup some of his investment.

I agree with someone else, I think baby sitting a couple of kids might be the biggest bang for your buck.

I like the greenhouse idea, you have the ready labor that need to learn a trade. If you are in the right location, there is some money in selling plants in the spring. Maybe specialize in heirloom.

And as mentioned, look at the savings, raise everything you eat and eat everything you raise.

This is what I was thinking!

Cindy

We used to have a goat dairy. Not anymore we just run a few brush-goats in our forest now. We know a lot of goat people.

Among the local goat herdsmen we only know one who is able to earn a living from goats. They make artisan cheeses, a different cheese with each season of the year. They got into an elite niche market where they sell organic blue-berry goat cheese spread for $10 a 1/2 ounce [in season]. And maple flavored in that season and cranberry, and ... [you get the picture]. I have toured their facility [he was trying to convince me to get into making goat cheese again] He is actually a RN and has a complete lab setup where he does fecal exams everyday for every nanny. He charts their worm counts and rotates between various herbal dewormers. He also takes blood samples weekly and god-knows-what. Their cheese facility is a single-wide-trailer purpose built to be a sterile cheese factory. She works full-time in there between cleaning / milking / curding / mixing ingredients / records keeping for every batch and every container / being at market. They hire summer help, but none of their helpers stay. They have not seen a 'day-off' in many years.

We have bees. I have been a beekeeper for about 10 years. It is a good hobby and tax write-off. I know a bunch of other beekeepers. In the group I only know one guy who is able to make a living from bees.

Back where I grew up [the Central Valley of California] there are full time beekeepers who generally can earn a living from bees. But not here where I retired to homestead.

I also think her vet tech. experience may be a good lead for pt. time work. Either on-farm or off-farm, maybe weekends. Interesting thread to get us thinking!

AS stated above: Pet boarding is a very lucrative business. Of course, it depends where you are located. Close to a city or a wealthier grouping of homes/people makes a big difference. TO charge a premium you must offer a premium service. But, it does pay better to offer boarding in your home as opposed to a stark, concrete kennel, which in my opinion is a crappy way to board a house pet. You can even go so far as to build small "cottages" for pets if you have the land/time/resources. This is our future plan when we sell our current home and buy our few acres. We do this as one of our services, and I will say I make a LOT, LOT more than 500 a month. Infact it is the easiest of all the pet services we offer and very rewarding personally as well. It is also a great teacher of economics, responsibility, pet care and, sometimes, emergency response training. Drop me a IM, be happy to share my knowledge.

Great advice!

Regarding dairy goats, I've been keeping them for 12 years, and have not made any money on them. I keep a notebook of what I spend and what I make. So far this year, I am several hundred dollars in the red. I'd be okay if I didn't have to buy hay,but I do.

I don't even include fencing expenses.

I know some make money by selling their registered goats at unheard of prices, and selling milk. We don't do either. I'd have to make an awful lot of money on soap to make up the deficit.

I guess you could say I just keep goats because I enjoy them and like having all the fresh milk I can use.

But before you bring them in, consider that they require good (expensive) fencing, at least adequate housing, feed and feed cans, and hay, not to mention wormers, meds, and the occasional vet visit. Oh, and a disbudding iron is a must. And good hoof trimmers. Then there's the milking supplies. The list might be endless.

We make an average of $1,200 a month off selling baked goods and vegetables at our local Farmer's Market. Add in some meat (poultry or pork) and you won't have any trouble making far more than $500.

Knuckledragger - the best job for your wife would need to be one she enjoys doing....
A good registered dog will generate some money every year from her litters, and some breeds have up to 10 or 12 puppies,
Custom sewing is another idea ( I have a friend that makes beautiful little girl dresses and they are irresistable even priced at close to $100)
Babysitting toddlers or preschoolers is another great way to make money.

Rosewoodfarm - I'm just wondering if you help your wife with the household chores and cooking since she's always helping you?