Using Your Homestead to Bring in a Steady Income

Using Your Homestead as a steady income source can help you achieve your life goals.  Homesteading, in general,  is trending right now for plenty of reasons.

• People want to live independently and not rely on the government for their survival.
• Growing your food and provisions is exciting and enriching!
• Homesteading provides extensive educational opportunities—for children and adults!
• Living more simply brings us back to our roots and honors traditions.

Another reason people choose to homestead is to save money. However, you still need money to work your own land. So, here are several ways you can bring in additional steady income while continuing the homestead lifestyle you love.

On a side note, this interesting article from Crisis Equipped points out the top 12 states in the US for homesteading; it just so happens that Tennessee is considered number 2 (only behind Idaho) on the list!  Glad to know Tennessee is considered one of the top favorites for homesteading even though you can homestead anywhere!

Share Your Bird Bounty

Most homesteads have chickens or other fowl. Not only are they fun, but they’re a great way to use your leftover scraps to provide feed that turns around and provides eggs and/or meat for your family. Homesteading at its finest!

To make a decent amount of money from your chickens, though, you need a fairly large flock. Think about the number of eggs your family uses daily, and then subtract that from the amount you’ll have laying.

Organic, farm-fresh, free-range eggs sell for much more than they do in the grocery store. People will keep coming back for more when they’ve tasted your hens’ eggs! Just make sure that the feed and scraps you’re giving your flock are all organic if you’re going to advertise them that way.

You can also sell chickens for meat. You’ll need even more birds, to begin with. Then, keep eggs incubating at regular intervals so that you always have hens ready for butchering. People will come back for more, so you want to be ready!

Think about ducks, geese, pigeons, quail, and turkeys as options for raising meat and/or eggs, too.

Want another option that doesn’t involve butchering your flock? Sell their feathers! You can create jewelry, crafts, or artwork when you collect beautiful molted feathers. Or, if you aren’t crafty, sell the feathers to someone who is!

Fruits and Veggies and Flowers, Oh My!

There’s nothing better than produce and flora from a local farm. Who doesn’t love stopping at a farmstand booth or perusing their local farmer’s market for some delicious, healthy fare?

If you have the space, take the crops you love growing and expand the space. If you’ve figured out the kinks for growing squash, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, lettuce, berries, and more, you’ve accomplished the first step.

Once you’ve got the hang of a particular produce item, grow more and sell what you and your family can’t consume. Then, when that’s showing promise, add on more, such as:

• Plant starts (great for people who are just learning to garden)
• Heirloom seeds (these are hard to find in a traditional store!)
• Pickles, relish, jams, and baked or canned goods (these are a lot of work, so people will pay top dollar!)
• Propagated young fruit trees from when you thin out your orchard (similar to plant starts, but an even bigger money maker!)

Remember that seasonal fare brings in much higher prices. Plan to concentrate on what’s thriving at that particular time of year.

If you have enough space, you can also allow people to pick their own produce and flowers. This is doubly profitable because they actually pay you to do part of the work and they have fun, which brings them back year after year.

Herb gardens are a great way to increase income if you only have a small amount of space, too. Dried herbs last a very long time, so you can stockpile them to sell throughout the year.

Fresh-cut flowers are a wonderful addition to any homestead income. Flower bunches and arrangements are always in demand. If your flora crops are big and beautiful enough, you could even begin a business making small seasonal centerpieces for local events.

Reach out to local restaurants, coffee and tea shops, and artisan cafes to create a partnership that helps sustain you both.

Spread the Love of Learning as a Steady Income for Your Homestead

Homesteading inevitably teaches you all the things you never knew that you never knew. And the more you learn, the more you want to keep learning! These skills aren’t valuable just to your and your family. They’re marketable to your entire community!

Make a list of all the things you’ve learned since you started living off of your land. What are the practices that excite you the most or that you love talking about with other people?

Create and offer a class to your community members. Word-of-mouth helps these experiences fill up and people will continue to ask for them. This also helps spread awareness of your farm and the products you sell!

You could also teach an online course, which spreads your reach even further. There are so many options for online courses that allow you to bring in passive income, which grows exponentially as people talk about how enriching your classes are.

Another fun way to teach people about what you do is through farm-to-table dinners. Partner with other local farmers and chefs to serve an array of dishes that incorporate your unique offerings. These bring in even more attention when you advertise in your local paper or on the radio. Sell tickets online with the option for attendees to share on their own social media pages. Then, they can share pictures on Instagram, which brings in even more excitement for the next dinner.

The Possibilities of Steady Income for Your Homestead Are Endless

There are so many ways that people all over the world bring in an income through their homesteads. Depending on whether you just want to offset some of the costs of your thriving farm or if you need to bring in something to sustain you for the long haul, there are options for your farm.

Start small and get your bearings about yourself. Then, as you begin to get a feel for what works and what you’re passionate about sharing, get carried away! This is a wonderful way to make your homestead even more sustainable.

If you want more ideas about how to make your homestead work for you, check out Stoney Creek Farm Sustainable Conference, beginning on October 1, 2022. Learn about bringing in a homestead income, networking, pesticide-free food, the purpose of farm animals, and more! We’d love for you to join us on this educational and income-building journey.