Best Money-Making Options for a Homestead?

I want to develop a plan to live on a homestead in the future. I've learned that there are a lot of different ways to earn money on a homestead, and that it's rare to be able to live completely off what you can grow and sell. Knowing this, I want to determine how I will make most of my money, and build a plan around that. However, the sheer amount of options is a bit mind-boggling.

What are some common activities homesteaders do that can provide a significant source of income?

Run a landscaping/snow removal biz.
Run a market garden/CSA
Run a city youth summer program.

Let's say that you have a giant pile of money and you decide to go shopping for things or experiences that you love. You might say, "Hmm, I'd buy a giant oven for my cabin" or "I'd buy that super sleeked out sewing machine" or "I'd get me one of those giant cider presses and build a shed for juicing and fermenting and distilling." Well, whatever you'd do with all that money, you could work backward and say, "Hey, I could incorporate myself, sell a little extra on the side and call all that cool gear that I want to buy 'assets' and have my stuff depreciate over time and each year subtract it from the money I make."
So, what do you love and want to share with others?

Phil Patterson wrote:I want to develop a plan to live on a homestead in the future. I've learned that there are a lot of different ways to earn money on a homestead, and that it's rare to be able to live completely off what you can grow and sell. Knowing this, I want to determine how I will make most of my money, and build a plan around that. However, the sheer amount of options is a bit mind-boggling.

What are some common activities homesteaders do that can provide a significant source of income?

Have a large nest egg and plan to be in the red for the first year or two. Write off the business expenses for your farm. For the first year or two it might be a good idea to have a work at home job not related to the homestead. Once you have a nest egg or  work from home JOB (notice I said job, not business, not income producing hobby, but job you can rely on a paycheck or direct deposit from) then start developing your farm income.
You do not need to be living on a homestead or small farm to start your farm income and business name. For instance I sell strawberry runners and strawberry jam, I propagate the runners from containers and grow bags. Is it ideal? No, but it gives me the experience and income and networking for when I have a homestead.  Start growing vegetables where you currently live and instead of focusing on just your food and canning, sell some at the local farmers market. See what your customer base is like and what they will want in the future. I sell plants, jam, sourdough bread, pies, soap and candles that I make by hand either on my bus or in an apartment depending on my circumstances. I know my current market is saturated with handmade soaps so I won't be focusing on that as much when I have a homestead, I also know there are multiple egg vendors so investing in a flock of laying hens would not be ideal in this area.
There are a lot of homesteading like income streams that you can do from a city or town to build up clients and a website etc. Do you have any skills or talents that other farmers in your area do not have? Do you see your local farmers market lacking any particular item or items? Is there a home delivery CSA? What items does your market have too much of, if any of these products pique your interest what would you have to do to have customers come to you instead of the other vendors in the area?
One of the best selling items that I do not have the skill set to provide are burl would sculptures, it is amazing to see someone come to the farmers market with a log and carve out an eagle or a bear in front of the patrons! People will leave tips like they are a street performer and other people will pay more for the pieces created on site than the ones in their booth.  

Much depends upon what you mean by significant income.  Some would accept $6000 a year, others would want $80000 or more. Of course. then there are the issues of your skills and education.  I walked away from my first attempt in MN due to neighbors, climate and income.  I saved enough to buy a place in the southern tip of Il ...much better growing season and better income opportunities.  

Some of the most common activities homesteaders do to bring in income include selling produce and livestock, operating a small farm stand, offering educational classes or workshops, providing home-based services like gardening and landscaping, renting out a portion of the property, running a bed and breakfast or Airbnb, and providing agriculture-related services like beekeeping or vegetable growing.

Are you going to have the clients come to you or do you want it to be an offsite or web based store front? having people come to your property freaks some people out and others love it. Web based can be shoehorned in as time allows.
A farmers market for instance requires planning of travel and set up commitments..

You are kind of thinking wrongly on this…

It is not how much money your homestead makes, but how much it has for expenses. Rather than plan for perceived income, work out things now so you have a lot less expenses. That will net you a far greater return in the future.

Why do I say that?

Because to make money means to spend money. So to have something to sell a certain portion of that must be in capital expenses like seed and materials. From that you get profit margin which may be 60% let’s say.

But when you do not have to spend any money at all that is %100 in your pocket.

Budgeting and mustering money is boring, but trying to predict the future is futile at best, even if it is fun.

Keep your expenses down and you won’t have to work off farm. How can I say that? I lived what I said and in 5 years with a wife and 4 kids under 14 years old, we had only on farm income.

The husband and I are retired now and just moved to his grandfather's 60 acres 4 years ago so we are sort of starting over again.  But, we had two very successful homesteads before (one in Missouri and one in Texas) so here are some things that proved successful for us.  We also found your location has a great deal to do with if you have customers or not.  The products that sold well in MO did not sell well in TX and vise versa.

Rare animals - we researched and started breeding a rare heritage pig and then I ran an article about the breed in a homesteading magazine and the whole thing took off.  We loved that breed and are so happy we had a hand in saving it, not to mention it was very lucrative for us.  We had a nation wide waiting list for our registered breeding stock and a local waiting list for our processed pork.  We met some wonderful people and even ended up sending an entire herd to the country of Haiti to start a breeding program over there.  After 10 years or so of this, the hubby got sick and we sold our place to move to a much warmer climate.  

There we started a much different breeding program, Guernsey dairy cows.  We did artificial insemination using sexed semen so we had almost all heifer calves and had a waiting list for those as well.  I miss those cows so much.  They are as loving as a hound dog and are smarter than a horse.  We also loved raising and consuming our own dairy products.  

Other things that proved profitable, hatching and raising poultry and selling locally; making crafts and selling at craft shows, and writing homesteading articles.  

Here we are seniors and find ourselves starting again.  I thought I'd be happy with just a small personal garden but I have decided to keep doing what I love as long as I can still get up each morning.  So, here's what's in process now:

Orchards:  I have planted semi-dwarf apples, peaches, blackberries, blueberries, which have been so successful, I've now decided to put in a much larger berry orchard for a U-pick operation to be operational in a few years.  The hubby is an amazing woodworker as a hobby and I love designing beautiful pieces for the home so together we've come up with some beautiful pieces that we want to sell at craft shows.  He are almost finished with his new workshop.  Next, we will build my workshop next door to his.  I make brooms using his grandfathers 100 year old equipment and I do well at craft fairs.  We have a building that is already there so we are doing all three buildings lined up and designed to appear to be a little Victorian village.  This will be my office where I weigh up the berries and will have our crafts on display.  I also plan to have fresh berry hand pies and other baked goods made from my own berries, topped with ice cream, for any who might be tempted (for a cost of course).  I'll have a case full of cold drinks for them to purchase also.  

I am also in the process of building cages to start raising rabbits for our own consumption but I've read about people being very successful with making and selling dog treats with all parts of the rabbit.  One woman sells on line and clears, after expenses, $65 per animal.  She also sells bags of poo as fertilizer.

I still have my incubator and growing equipment so I might like to get back into raising my own birds and selling them again.  

I've heard of people making money off of plants, both garden plants as well as flowers and bulbs.  Of course, you can sell extra things you grow at the farmer's markets.  Then, there is always agritourism with pumpkin patch, Christmas tree farm, corn maze, etc.

I'd love to hear about what works at your homestead.        

There are some really great suggestions given here.

I just want to say do something that you love.

If you love animals and decide that is your niche then check out the local auction scene.  If there are none how will you sell your animals?

Most locations have farmers' markets so maybe that is the direction you will choose.  What are folks not selling at your local farmers market?  What unusual edible items would make a hit?

Just some things to think about when considering the best money-making options for a homestead.

Hi Anne,

Excellent point.  Many people may have dreams of raising livestock or having a large garden to make money off of, but they are short on the specifics of turning those dreams into hard cash.   I never planned to make money off my homestead.  That is not to say I have not done so more by accident than anything else.  

Anne Miller wrote:

If you love animals and decide that is your niche then check out the local auction scene.  If there are none how will you sell your animals?

We don't currently have a good farmers market nearby and I've not sold animals at auction.
I sell my rabbits (mostly breeding trios under 12 weeks old) through networking on Facebook and Craigslist.
Yes you have to be cautious with CL and animal groups is about all I do on FB now.
Also talk to the long time employees or managers or owners of feedstores in the area.
They often like to have folks to recommend to customers.
Make use of their bulletin boards as well.
Word of mouth will grow over time.
Look for websites that list your animal breeders, some are free.
I also keep a Google Map of rabbitries and this has helped with my networking.
I do it completely for free and it generates a lot of goodwill in the community.
Many animal "breeder worlds" are smaller than is intuitive.
You can do a good deed for someone the next state over and it will come around again.
Be honest, be fair, be informative.

Posting my map to generate ideas. Start where you are and seek to help others - that works for me.
Though I don't generate a big income off my rabbits, it helps feed them and they also put meat
in our freezer. When we move to GA, my feed costs will go down a lot and I might actually be in the black!

The Rabbitry Map