For those of us who live a homesteading life, we'd all (well, maybe not all) like to give up the corporate 9-5 and make our income off of the farm. Realistically though, for most of us that will never happen.
To make it happen, a lot of things have to be in place. For one, you need a paid off homestead. You'll also need your own water supply and off grid power. You'll need fertile land and good gardening practices, and animals that you can raise on feeds you grow yourself.
Even then there are things that are going to require some cash. Insurance (both home and health), taxes, auto insurance, gas and vehicle maintenance items, and the staples that you just can't make yourself (like sugar, cocoa, etc). The modern homesteader must have an income stream of some sort.
Now, there are a thousand articles from a thousand authors that talk about what you can do to make money on your farm. While some are fantastic ideas, some are just about impossible depending on where you live and if you don't want the trouble and expense of having a business license and business taxes. Keep in mind that there are federal, state and local regulations to look into as well, especially when selling fruits, vegetables, meats or livestock.
This blog post came into being as I thought about what we are going to have to do to reach our homesteading dreams. For us, that is going to mean a move out of our current state, into a house half the size of our current one. The property is large (20 acres), has a well, will have solar power to the house and a wood-burning stove.
Because it is so far out of any town, selling eggs like I do now is probably not going to work out. At our present home we live just off a busy road and our sign attracts enough attention to cover most of our chicken feed costs.
Here are the ideas that we are either doing now, or planning to do there:
1. Start my own Etsy store and/or website and sell homemade goods. This is something I am working on right now. Since I love to crochet, quilt, and sew this one is a no brainer to me. The key is going to be word of mouth and lots of advertising wherever I can. Once this gets up and rolling I'll blog about it.
2. Hatching chicks and selling chickens. I already do this now. I usually advertise on CraigsList or go to a local small animal swap. I don't have the expense of a large cabinet incubator and just use two small foam incubators to hatch my chicks. The power draw is pretty minimal, so this is something I can continue to do in a solar only situation.
3. Raising rabbits. There are several potential income streams here, and I'll blog about this soon as I'm getting started on that right now.
4. Raising and selling other livestock. Right now we're doing goats, but with enough space and feed pigs may be another consideration.
5. Offering services such as animal training or shearing. I've been involved with llamas for nearly 20 years, and have worked as a trainer by times and offer my shearing services no matter where I live. This is something I offer now, and while it's inconsistent work, when it comes my way it's a nice way to make a few extra bucks.
6. Online parts. My husband is an avid car guy and is pretty handy with a wrench. For those that know what they are doing, buying and parting out used cars can be a viable income stream and is something he's dabbled with for years.
While these things will cover a good portion of our expenses, we know that one of us is going to have to get at least a part time job for taxes, health insurance and all of those other things that we'll need, like flours, sugars, and supplies for our little "businesses".
I welcome other ideas, so feel free to pass them along!
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