Income.

I'll second the idea of tomatoes. There is an Amish place in PA that we visit when we're in that area. They have a small sawmill operation and have an excess of slab wood. They decided that a good use for some of that slab wood would be in a large "greenhouse" where they do indeed grow tomatoes. It's more like a "hoop house" than a "greenhouse" but they grow tomatoes for probably 9 months out of the year.

The best of their tomatoes is a grape tomato and they have those way, way, way before anyone else has their farm raised tomatoes for sale. And they get VERY good money for them. They grow them well and get a true vine ripened grape tomato that has really good flavor. The prices are well above grocery store prices but people pay it because they really are that good.

Granted, they can't get the huge prices for them once everyone and their cousin has their own home raised tomatoes. But they can, and do, still sell them throughout the season. They also add a few other crops as the seasons roll through. Sweet corn is probably one of their other biggies. (If they can bring it early, it brings very good money.) And of course, they have squash and cucumbers, which don't bring a lot of money, but they still sell some. And then there are usually other things... fresh baked bread, honey, jars of jellies and jams. I'm sure they could add even more things if they wanted to, like berries. (I have wondered whether turning a small amount of really good berries into jellies and jams is more lucrative than just selling the berries but haven't worked really talked to other people much about that.)

None of those things would bring in huge amounts of $$ but all put together, it indeed adds up. That's one thing I like about the Amish mindset, they often do lots of different things not expecting any one thing to be the complete solution to their financial needs. If they are doing only one thing and the year is a bust, they're hurting. If they're doing a dozen things and maybe 3 of them are a bust, there might be another 9 little enterprises that have done well. And the next year, the three that went bust might be their bumper corps and a couple of the others may not do well.

Not only do multiple enterprises provide diversity, they often will give opportunity for spreading things out over more of the year than just one thing. Some of those cold winter days when the hoop house needs very little attention and it's not time to plow or plant or mow or prune, it may be that you'll be busy in your little wood shop building birdhouses or furniture, or sewing a quilt, or baking or doing maintenance on farm machinery or any number of other things you might be good at that might have the potential to bring in some extra $... or at least keep you from spending extra $.

I suspect you'll run out of time and energy way before you'll run out of new things to try.

Good luck!

We absolutely love the idea of making a little on a lot of things. Thanks for input!

Raise earthworms, sell bait. Raise rabbits, sell meat, rabbits, and feed the manure to the worms. Just a coup;e of thoughts.

Can someone give me an idea on how to start a worm farm? How to raise them? What kind of income could it be? Like I said we live right right by a good size lake and really close to main marina. Thanks

Can you do handyman jobs for older people? They will be so grateful. Is there a woman in your household who can do some housework and/or babysitting from time to time? Teens can do a lot of helpful jobs for other people.

Nancy

I heard someone say the other day that meat goats were going for $8 a pound?

I did not check this out, and I dont know anything about goat meat prices. That is because I hate goats and dont want to find out.

Gene

If there is no competing spot, a fishing pond where families can come out with the kiddies and catch and release; Christmas trees; growing flowers to cut on demand for local florists come to mind

Shrek is the single tree moderator. I think he has worm farms. You may want to want to go down to the single tree forum and ask him about worm farming

With 7 acres its hard to generate $800 a month average for 12 months with 'easy' stuff.

You need to be creative with sales to make this work......

Pumpkin patch and corn maze in the right market.

Sweet corn, with free labor from your kids and sitting on a roadside corner with a pickup load a day.

A special crop, for a special customer. Organic hay, or small size barley straw bales, or such. All of which takes extra work, extra attention, and a good salesmanship, connections to find special customers willing to pay extra for your oddball product....

Myself, I don't have the people connections for such things. I can grow a crop; I'm not so good at selling one, or interacting with the community to connect with folk willing to pay extra for a specialty crop.

Then; we are working with mother maturer, and we are dependent upon a few special customers. Mother Nature can crap on your nice crop, or your customer can die, or move, or change what he wants on a whim, and there you are with a year of work invested and nothing to sell, or no one to sell to.

Once in a long while things come together and you get a good crop and great market at the same time and make more than you hoped. Those are the sweet years, but not the average to count on.

But, that is farming, whether 2 acres or 2000, it's what we do.

Paul

It can be done....

First thing i would do is fence all available pasture. 5 strand high tensile, if you do it yourself it's not that expensive at all.

Next, you need to have a direction, we started with eggs. Eggs male selling other types of meat much easier, and layers are super easy.

We went from eggs to beef, to pastured chickens, turkeys and pork. All word of mouth. Chicken tractors are the most inexpensive way to generate income. However it's takes a fair amount of money to raise chickens, until you sell them it's all out of pocket. Turnover is fast, but you always need to have chickens to sell chickens. I sell them frozen so I need to have plenty on hand which means I have lots of freezers.

The pigs are another great way to make money, they don't require the out of pocket up front cost the chickens do but they take longer to finish. We sell finished pigs, but piglets are a commodity these days and can be very profitable. They require a bit more infrastructure.

You can run all these animals in the same pastures, that's the beauty of it. The only animals we keep year round are layers, everything wale is processed by mid October. I start in April and end in October, my farm generates more in those 7 months than your looking to make in 12.

I may try rabbits as an experiment, but no one has ever asked me about meat rabbits. I have a auction house close by so I may try selling them live at auction. Again that's a big maybe.

It took me two years to start generating the money your talking about. I don't think that's bad at all. The only issue is when you start with nothing you have nothing. I stared with a metal barn that's really an enclosed carport and a acre and a half of pasture fenced with t posts and hot wire. Because of the low cost I was instantly profitable. The first year I grossed just under 7k, that completely covered all the costs for my barn and fence with plenty to spare. That means I owe nothing on infrastructure and now have it to use for years, everything else is now 100% profit.

As long as you keep your expenses in line and only expand as needed you can be very profitable

Located right by a lake? Depending upon actual location you may have limitations on a livestock operation, especially the pig part. Tobacco also presents some issues with allotments.

You might consider a lakeside concession for boaters. Barbecue pork and chicken. Sandwiches, sodas, commercial ice cream bars, ice. Grow tomatoes, onions, lettuce. Make your own pickles and sell them by the jar, too. Coffee to fill thermoses. Keep the worms a distance from the food.

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Scrap metal fills in all the gaps, for me.

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“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Muskrat is got you building a commercial Kitchen, DEHEC inspected---LOL, But if it was a busy landing---you can make some money----make alot more if you put in gas at this location.

I ran a store next to the boat landing rd----nothing between me and the river landing-----River business was about dead-----hardly anyone stopped. I started talking with people that I seen riding by my store heading to the river-----same story from most all of them----I did not have gas or beer-----might as well close they said----they stop at stores before mine----fill the boat with gas, get the beer iced down, buy their snacks, bait etc---then ride right by me-----they had a point.


I did not even try last year and made some money(around $1000 in 2 months) selling my extra vegetables out the garden-----I really believe If I tried I could have made several 1000 dollars.

This year I been selling chicks and chickens and was doing decent till the bird flu started getting everyone worried.

As far as worms and crickets----I have raised both---still got my worm beds somewhat going. You could make a little money with them if you can retail them.

I think a you-pick garden is a money maker once you get set-up-----that is if there is not one all ready in your area. We got a family friend that has been doing the you-pick garden for about 40 years-----he is so busy---he hires pickers to pick for him--they sell from their air condition road side produce "house" to the ones that do not pick their own. He is only planting a few acre---most all on plastic.

Are thought at first was produce. Last year a u pick it produce place popped up 2 miles feom us. Put up 2 huge high tunnels and are selling like crazy. We were to little too late on that.

[QUOTE=Bubbas Boys;7493490]Are thought at first was produce. Last year a u pick it produce place popped up 2 miles feom us. Put up 2 huge high tunnels and are selling like crazy. We were to little too late on that.[/QUOTE

I don't think you would be late to the party. There's always a home depot next to lowes, a mcdonalds next to burger king, a motel 6 next to a super 8.

Boat storage would be worth looking into also.

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I have never been lost! (feircly confused for a month or two) BUT NEVER LOST!

Sounds like there's a market for produce. Have you checked out what they're selling, and what they're not selling? Might there be something that they're not selling that could make you different? A friend of mine that has about 3 acres in market garden likes to try to "compliment" the other people selling at the farmers market more than "compete" with them. Might or might not be something that could happen but worth checking out if you haven't already.

Thanks everyone. Really appreciate everyones thoughts.

Although this thread is a month old I thought I would give it a reply and a bump since it may be useful for others and its a nice early evening for sitting in the shade in the yard.

IMO - For making extra money you really need to go with what you are good at. If you garden then increase the size of your garden and sell the extra at the farmers market. If you have a woodworking hobby then try to make custom furniture for other folks. Have chickens then sell eggs. Breed dogs or train them as hunters. You get the idea. There are some good ideas on this thread. Give them some thought

But as they say think outside of the box also

For myself I raise extra produce and sell at the farmers market and extra eggs at church. But I'd starve or have to work really hard if I thought I could support myself on that.

But I made my living sitting at a desk and for for the last 15 years I have made extra money sitting at a desk. For me since I've been doing it for awhile now it only takes me about 3 hours a day with that being mostly on mondays, tuesdays and fridays. I trade stocks, selling covered calls and puts. My goal is $400 a week which is what I call my walmart money which means what I would make if I worked 40 hours a week for $10 an hour at walmart. I keep $50k invested into this business and I treat it like a business. I have rules that I follow. And I never touch my savings and I never increase my working capital. Directly 50% of earnings go into savings/investments and the other 50% 'total' goes into the business bank account for an if needed. After the 1'st year, meaning the last 14 years I have never touched the overflow.

I'm not suggesting that people trade stocks. I happen to be decent at it so its what I do. I have the mindset for it my friends say. Just like I have green thumb when it comes to plants in the garden. I just turned 55 and it allowed me to FIRE, financially independent retire early, on 22 acres in the N-Ga mountains awhile ago.

But maybe you were a bookkeeper in the past or even keep your own books. Could you take on another homesteaders books or income tax filings. Did you install your own security system in your house and could do it for others. Are you or is your kid good at building computers. I have gotten my last 2 media severs custom built by a neighbors now college age son. I buy the parts off of newegg and he puts them together. Takes him about an hour for which he gets $75 and I get a $1k pc for about half price.

My point is that don't think that just because you live on a farm or homestead the only way you can make extra money is on that type of stuff. Go with what you are good at and treat it seriously.

My 2¢

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Allotment days are over . Big growers get a contract from one of the big co's .Other wise you can twist it if it is fire cured .There are 50 acre and bigger fields near me all pre contracted

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Last thing in the world I would suggest is a dog kennel--Do you know the cost's to set it up to regulations? Ready for inspectors?

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