Profitable Homesteading & at-Home Income

I agree with the "break even" approach. Raise some extra birds, pigs, whatever, for people and have them pay for your eggs, freezer pork, etc. Cutting costs and breaking even is our goal. We are toying with the idea of a FarmStay, sometime down the road.

The were two keys for us making our homestead self-sufficient: being debt-free and being flexible with our income opportunities. Minimizing our expenses was the first step. Paying off the mortgage, minimizing utilities, eliminating any other debt, etc. But the fun part was finding the markets for our "farmstead" products! Found a demand for started poultry and now sell chickens, ducks and guineas. Then went to farmer's markets in our area and ended up selling more granola, jams and jellies then garden produce. As mentioned above several time...its important to understand what is in demand in your community and match it with your talents and interests. Good luck!

Hubby is a mechanic and our shop is here, but he went to school and did his time working for others before it came to what it is now. He's had the shop for 15 years and it is our income. We also have a meat store, sell by the cut and to the school. We also have a meat CSA. It is a LOT of work, and not always profitable. Someday, someday...

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Jodie, you don't live far from me, Down here, 25 miles further south from me is a community made up of mostly people from UNC. Their farmers market gets substantially more for products than the one in Danville. What ya say we come up with a plan and share gas and ideas about what to sell? I keep scrupulous notes about everything, I can walk around every time and note what sells best, then compare that to effort in raising said best sellers. We'll do OK the first year, but should clean up the second year.

Vegetables do not like high altitude shipping... my parents once shipped a box of fresh veg's to me in AK... I got a box full of 'soup'.

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I agree with what's been said above. Raise enough for your own family first, sell the extras. We put all the raised money back into the homestead, in one form or another.

Extra fencing, seeds, that kind of thing.

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Happy, as others have said, at first you might be best served to raise as much stuff as possible for your own family. Here in IL you cannot sell eggs off farm so you won't be able to sell them at farmers' markets. You can sell them on farm but not off unless you're willing to submit to inspections and all sorts of other rules.

Be certain to check laws about selling produce in IL Our rural internet is a bit slow today so I'm not sure if this link covers selling produce but it is about farmers' markets. Check with your extension office. U of I has a lot of info.

http://www.agr.state.il.us/farmersma...DPH_TIBF30.pdf

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Lots of good ideas! We actually have neighbors who have a organic winery 3 miles up the road, have thought seriously about growing grapes and/or raspberries for them. But we don't have the land space to do it right now. I had not thought of selling flowers or lavender, good possibility.
Thanks again folks!

I did not know I couldn't sell my eggs off my farm in IL! I guess I should check into these rules...Thanks for the link Joshie

Usually it is a whole lot of little things which add up to enough to make it worthwhile. Around here we occasionally hatch out eggs and sell chicks, but that's only when the feed stores aren't bringing in mainland chicks. So, chicks are profitable for about half the year. We have angora rabbits which provide fiber to be spun into fuzzy yarn. That sells well at the farmer's market as either yarn or knitted items. A friend sells it for me at a commission so I don't have to go to the market. Bunny manure can be sold but not much money in that. Bunnies themselves sell pretty well. None of this makes a whole lot of money, but it all adds up. I keep records of all expenses plus time and if it doesn't pay enough, then I find something else to do.

Sometimes the rules and inspections are not difficult and worth it.

Serously?!

Seriously. I sold maybe a half-dozen, city addresses as I recall. I would put three layers of white shopping bags inside of a medium flat rate box, fill it with semi-fresh manure and then close each layer alternatively. Entire package sealed with clear tape. Ended listing as I didn't feel it was worth the effort.

One party wanted to double check it was 'organic' manure.

You can buy alfalfa hay and dried corn on the cob for rabbits or such on eBay.

I tried finely screen gravel (as grit) and ground up ege shells for cage birds, but neither sold. Nor did assorted rocks from my creek for use in an aquarium.

I've noted in the comments above that some don't like to sell and market. If you are starting any kind of biz, you'll need to devote lots of time to marketing. Make your business the business of getting more business and you'll have a fair chance of success. It doesn't matter that others have tried and failed with the same product. Lots of hamburger joints go out of business each year, but McD's marches on with a poorer product but better (meaning more effective) marketing than anyone else. I know of 2 farms that profitably sell free range eggs from 1000 - 2000 hens. And I know of people who put a sign out by the road that said "eggs $2" and wondered why they couldn't make enough sales to pay the feed bill for a few dozen birds.

In a small biz, no marketing works better than the owner making face to face contact with the consumer. Share your story of the love you put into your efforts. And be concerned about the things that concern your customers. At a farmer's market, city folk want fresh, environmentally friendly, sustainable, happy critters, and they are willing to pay more for it than they do in a big box grocery store. If your customer is a restaurant, he wants fresh, reliable supply and delivery, and perhaps something a bit different than his competitors. Maybe I'm wrong and your customers want something else. Find out what it is and differentiate yourself and your product.

Selling honey? Walmart sells watered down Chinese honey (or so I've heard) and they will sell it for less than you. But you can sell apple or orange or wildberry blossom honey with your farm name and your little hamlet and Walmart can't. You might not think your little village is special, but some people in the next big city down the highway who are nostalgic for the simple life might just think HappyChick's Smallville Happy Honey makes them happier than Walmart Honey or even HONEY as sold by one of your local competitors.

Think about the basis products that are not available in your area and see if you can fill that need. For example, I have a grape vine and several people have asked me for those grapes to make home wine. Couple pear trees in the yard produce well and because it is difficult to find pears around the area I've had people ask to buy pears. For the hobby woodworker, rough sawn wood, sometimes folks want to start from scratch. I recently had a red oak log quarter sawn and have had two woodworkers express an interest in buying some of the lumber. Look around and think in terms of what people do as a hobby and try to fill that need. It's hard to find fresh grapes if your a home wine maker, pear trees are scarce around here as are several unusual fruits that are not commonly cultivated and available for sale, elderberries, and such. Finished lumber from a big box store is a joke if your a woodworker not true 3/4" that kind of thing. Regular eggs are available everywhere but the colored shell are popular especially folks with youngsters. The grapes and pears are "you pick" items.

How about getting into growing fruit trees for transplant? I've been mulling that idea myself. Plant a bunch of fast growing trees for root stock and then graft a branch off an apple tree. Where I am at there is no one at the farmer's market selling fruit trees plus the effort versus profit is better than livestock.

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Walmart's honey is a joke, (however, bees are extinct in China, because of overspraying they now have to hand pollinate so it must come from somewhere else). we buy ours from local beekeepers only, and boy can you taste the difference. 'HappyChick's Smallville Happy Honey' - that made me laugh out loud! I like it

All good ideas folks. I agree with you CesumPec, marketing is a strong point. We are quite good at it too, developing our eBay toy and hobby supply store is great practice.

I'm thinking of doing plant starts instead of produce, as good healthy plant starts are hard to find in the spring around here (Walmart's are pathetic, imagine that) I have thought of doing trees as well, PhilJohnson. I have a good sized White Pine windbreak that drops hundreds of seedling pine trees every year, which people snatch up for sale at the Water Conservation once a year. I have just planted 2 apple and 2 peach trees (northern variety). Have a old apple that is going out, had a great huge pear tree at my place in town. Might plant a few of those again too. Jams and apple butter are another thing I'd like to do one day, once my trees are big enough. Plant/tree starts seem to be easier then getting into all the produce like a CSA (which I'm not interested in, nor have time for!).

I really like the idea of veggie transplants. Maybe things that you can not find at a nursery. Like heirloom varieties or organically grown. There is one farm here that sells tomato starts for $5 each. All sorts of fun varieties.

We have a you pick apple orchard. People pay us perfectly good money for the privilege of picking their own fruit. It doesn't always work. These past two years, we lost our entire crop to late frosts. One thing out little commercial orchard has done for us, is give us tax deductions for our costs related to the business.

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I know of someone down in Southern TN who sells something like 50,000 tomato starts a year. Restricts it to eight varieties. Each year she likes to add a new one and drop an old one. All are tested in her garden before hand.

She then becomes somewhat of an expert on each new varieity, able to offer planting and growing advice.

Her husband built her a trailer with sides which open upward and shelves inside. So she just has to pull in and open the trailer.

She has a greenhouse and starts planting in January. All new planting soil. If one seeding in a four- or six-pack looks sickly, the entire pack goes on her compost pile. She is quite selective about what is finally offered for sale.

In addition, she offers some herb sets.

She sells at only one fairly large flea market, one day a week and has built up an excellent reputation. Folks know her as "The Tomato Lady".

By something like April she has shut down the flea market.

They also offer seed sets at home and produce fresh out of their garden. During the vegetable off-sea they do artistical stuff, such as stained glass.