Living off the land

I like the forgiveness idea and now that you mention it I think I will go with it. My daughter and son in law are police officers, they tell me that ignorance is not a defense in Canada. Ha ha. Thanks Pony.
Vicb66 do you have a large farming operation? I know what you mean, I would rather scrape by here in the country than live richly anywhere else. It's very important that I figure out a way to make a living here because if I can't I will have to sell my house, I will have to get a job and not being able to drive I will have to live in town.

Ignorance is no excuse here either, but our local authorities tend to use a bit of common sense as long as the people do. I would think you will do ok with selling farm products at a farmers market, or any number of other cottage industry type things. There are a few things that do bite, but most things seem to work out well. Selling alcohol in my county will bite ya, as will growing pot or other obviously illegal activities. I have yet to hear of anyone around here getting in trouble for selling home grown veggies or eggs, live farm animals or craft items. My second wife made pretty good money on goats milk for a long time too. Yep, she knew it was against the rules to sell raw milk, but she was careful who she sold it to, and didnt advertise publicly. She also insisted that she would NEVER sell it for human consumption, but only for someone who was bottle feeding some orphaned critter. Now ifn someone lied to her, and took it home and drank it.... that wasnt her fault.

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

I'm considering beekeeping to have the honey for canning as well as regular use. I am going to a meeting next week to find out more about it. I have an assortment of fruit bushes that I planted last spring and a few fruit trees that are in their forth year. My plan is to grow all of the veggies I need to last for the year, canning and freezing what I can then sell the rest. I've decided to do raised beds to make my job a little easier in the coming years, I'm 51 and don't expect to get any younger. Does your produce have to be health inspected in Kentucky to sell at a farmers market?

Ok, you've kinda given your location, but not your approximate age. If you're younger then 65 then you could babysit or open a day home. There's excellent money in that and usually a shortage of good places. You don't need to be licenced here in Alberta so maybe the same there.
As for food venders there's lots of places on the web -
Gov of Ontario Ag and Rural development is a start. They could give you all the requirements for having a table, or check out these other sites. If that's still not the information you're looking for there's more on the web about Ontario Farmers' Markets.

http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/reg...s_900562_e.htm

http://www.farmersmarketsontario.com/ConsumerLinks.cfm
Good Luck! There's a lot of great opportunities out there!

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http://www.pinterest.com/sanza1/

A wise person speaks when they have something to say but a fool speaks just to say something

Thanks for the links Sanza. What is a day home? I have done a good bit of research but I've found that when we bought the house 15 years ago we were zoned rural but they changed the zoning to rural residential without us being aware of it. The residential part has changed the avenues in which I can go and I've had to go through many different documents and amendments to find out anything. Hopefully your links will help

A day home is daycare in your own home and you can have 6 -8 children at any given time, even zoned residential, but there are some regulations to follow even if you don't become licensed. I'm not sure if Alberta and Ontario regulations are the same but here there are some common sense rules and then some that are rediculous (eg. childrens coats/boots etc must be stored in separate areas and not touching other childrens) duh!....kids play together, touch, hug and kiss, cough and sneeze on each other but their outer clothes can't touch? LOL funny but a true regulation here.
There was one article I read that the people selling homemade jams etc in parts of Ontario have to send them for testing first....costing $300.00 or so for it.

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http://www.pinterest.com/sanza1/

A wise person speaks when they have something to say but a fool speaks just to say something

I babysit my grandchildren 3days per week (I let their coats touch) I thought maybe a day home was for old people to give caregivers a break. I'd rather not have children everyday as it would interfere with my gardening and canning but it isn't a bad backup plan. Thanks for the ideas nice to talk to a fellow crazy Canuck.

We grow a majority of our own meat, dairy, fruit, and veggies. We also grow hay. We have 40 acres and a good river running through it. With barns and shops and a two homes, we could easily sell it for half a million, but bought it for $69K cash 30 years ago. Feeding animals, buying breeding stock and seed, maintaining tractors and other equipment costs - probably more than just buying it all at super walmart, for sure. We don't do this to save money, because regardless of what anyone here says - you don't save money growing your own food, your time is worth something. We do it to be close to what we eat, we grow it to improve our diet, and we grow it because it's better than buying commercially grown food. We grow enough to eat, but we work like dogs too.

Faith, I just saw your post. You have gotten some good ideas, but some haven't read through yours, or they would realize you have a small home and probably not the space to rent a room.

We don't and can't live off our acreage in Colorado as it's too dry to provide good irrigation and many things don't do well here. Not being able to drive would prevent you from taking things to the farmer's market if there is such a thing near you, but you COULD put out a sign near your road and sell your extra produce. Some here have gone on the honor system, once they get a good client base, and put a can out for money with their produce, canned goods, etc so they don't have to be out there all day. Depends on the traffic where you are.

I can appreciate your situation, and am sorry for the loss of your hubby. If I lost mine, I'd be in the same situation. It's pretty scary. I hope you can come up with something to bring in the extra money you need. Are you thinking of property taxes? That's usually a kicker for anyone who thinks they can live completely off their land. You need SOME money to survive.

Can you grow and dry herbs, and perhaps sell them on ebay? I'll do some more thinking. I'm considering getting bees, too. You'd need hives and supers. Are you able to build those yourself or can your children help?

Faith, have you looked at an old posting by Ken Sharabok called Making Money in the Country? He has a free e-book he's graciously shared with us all, and it might have an idea or two that you can make work in Canada. Good luck! Jan

This year I have joined the co-op that runs several markets around here, so this will be my first attempt at selling my excess. My goal is/was self sufficiency, but I do get an enormous surplus that I end up giving away or wasting ( which I hate ).

I find that just growing enough for my own table is very easy and doesn't take much land.

Thanks Jan. Yes, property taxes and utilities are my main concern.

We are working on it.

With 150 acres of forest and a house, our annual tax bill runs under $1,000.

We can produce most of our own food. We have gone 6-months at a time without buying food. But it requires a huge shift in our diet.

I see other people in this area who are much further along in this process. But it requires a serious and dedicated change in your lifestyle.

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http://www.mofga.org/

http://www.mofga.org/Programs/FarmAp...2/Default.aspx

I have apple, peach, pear, plum, figs, blueberrys, blackberrys.
I can grow a garden year round.
I have chickens, ducks, quail, pigeons, rabbits, and fish.
Pretty much have all I want to eat without leaving home.
Taxes are only $150.00 a year and expected to drop.
No house payment.
No car payment.
No credit card payment.

My taxes are 2,300 per year which is pretty ridiculous considering I'm on a well and have a septic and my house is only 900 sq feet. Since my husband passed I stopped buying meat as I basically only made it for him. I don't care for it. So I only need to buy dairy, coffee, flour, sugar and a few other staples. I've never been a huge consumer and I really hate shopping except at Chrstmas which is my down fall. I will make most of the Christmas gifts this year. Between groceries, tithing and incidentals, I think I only need about 500. I appreciate everyone's suggestions and love to read about how other people are doing it. It's encouraging and inspiring.

My husband & I did this webinar (class on line) on bees last yr and we are ordering bees this yr. It was thru a bee supply place...bushy Mtn bee farm. That is where we ordered our super from & my husband put them together. I really think I could have put them together (maybe not as perfectly as my husband did...LOL).

Doing some elder care or cleaning is a well paid thing here. People are happy to have a little help with a homebound elderly person as opposed to paying a nursing home about $100 a day. This can often be timed to fit your available time.

Every farmers market has different rules and laws: that is why every farmers market (in the states) has a market master. The market master is in charge, and s/he also knows what the rules are! So, decide where you want to sell and then call the city or whatever to find out how to contact the market master. The market master might also tell you if the market is short something like jelly that might sell well for you.

You say that you need $500 a month, which is $6000 a year, which is hard to do at a farmers market as you will have nothing much to sell until mid-summer, and then a hard freeze will shut you down. $6000 would be a lot of sales in a short time!

Many people have multiple streams of income. They would sell vegetables in the summer, and sell hand-made clothing or costumes on-line in the winter. My daughter adores anime festivals such as Naka-con, so she sometimes buys such clothing on-line.

Elliot Coleman lives in Maine, which is in the Northern United States, and he sells vegetables mostly in the winter. You might visit his website and check his books out in the library.

Lastly, you expressed an interest in bees. I have kept bees, and there are good honey years and bad ones.

I never did buy a honey extractor: if the local market was better I might have but then I never sold much honey. Instead I crushed and strained the honey.

A few honey sellers had enough dedicated buyers to keep them content, but they had most of the market cornered. I sold a few jars and I gave some honey away as Christmas presents, and I enjoyed the heavier vegetable and fruit harvest.

A possible income would be to sell the bees themselves, to other interested beekeepers. Where I live one man makes a bee run in the spring and he takes orders as well and so he makes a small profit on his bee runs. But, that is a once a year thing. Queens can be mail-ordered but that gent is about the only source of bees for my area. You might have different conditions. And, because your spring is late, nobody may want to buy from you.

A tip? Try to get some USED bees wax. Set it in a box 3 feet off of the ground. In my area there is a 50-50 chance of getting a swarm of bees. In the summer bee hives often swarm and look for new homes: a box of some kind that smells of old wax smells just like a HOME to a bee! They are strongly influenced by their sinse of smell!

The box can be wood or carboard, as long as the cardboard is protected from rain. I put proper frames in my bait boxes.

Of course I get no honey from a swarm the first year: instead I feed them sugar syrup to help them get started. I was thinking, though, that once the queen had brood that I could sell the contents of the box for $60, frames, bees, and all. It was just a thought!

Sorry to hear about your husband.

One thing that works for us is growing vegetable plants and herbs for sale. A tray of seedlings will provide plants for yourself and many to pot up and sell on.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

I am pretty good at not buying crap I don't need, but what is costing me so much is the books and set-up materials for a homestead. That... IMHO is the expensive part- the set-up.

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Chick with a gun.