Farmers Earning Money by Hosting Campers

An increasing number of farmers are hosting campers on their property to open up a new revenue stream. There's been a dramatic increase in camping over the last few years and it’s now three times harder to book an available campsite.

Paul, I sent an email with an idea for a podcast episode and was instructed by a volunteer to post here instead. So here I am. Would you potentially be interested in highlighting the growing trend of farmers hosting campers? John Hayden is president at The Dyrt, the No. 1 app for camping, and he can discuss how farmers and private landowners can be successful by meeting this growing demand. The Dyrt also offers a better deal to farmers by providing free bookings. They don't take a commission or charge fees. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

— Mike

Hi Mike,
I have no influence whatsoever over what Paul does for podcasts, but I think it is a cool topic, and I'm glad I heard about it.

I also like the idea of making money from camping.

I know several people who have done this.

It costs money and labor.

This will not be profitable unless there are some amenities and a way to get the campers to the farmer's location.

I feel the best person to do a podcast is someone who has done this type of venture.

I like the way Paul has Wheaton Labs set up though I am not sure that is the way most farmers would like to go.

After posting the above, I wonder if there is not already a Podcast that might talk about camping or something like that.

for those of you that are interested, these came up in a search for "camping":

Tracy said, " Sepp talked about just setting up camping spots at some of the most powerful places "energy spots" on the property. He found a spring up the hill--a remarkable resource.

https://permies.com/wiki/24546/Podcast-Review-Sepp-Holzer-visit#636039

https://permies.com/wiki/143680/Podcast-Radically-Deviant-Financial-Strategies

https://permies.com/wiki/143681/Podcast-Radically-Deviant-Financial-Strategies

I hope this helps.

I've kicked around the idea of a RV park attached to a farm raising livestock on pasture. Enough land to keep the residents fed. Set up microhydro to power it, ideally (because they won't sell me a microreactor, hmph). Set up decent Internet, with Apple Cache and Lancache servers to save bandwidth. If it's too far out to run fiber get Starlink. Maybe a restaurant, proper coffee? Proper food, water, rocket mass heaters. Composting toilets? Not sure TBTB would let that slide...

There seems to be demand for good parks, especially when fuel prices encourage staying put longer. Most such parks in Michigan appear to close down in winter so northern and southern sites referring snowbirds to each other makes sense. Just how off-grid could you make it?

Idle thoughts. Day job's keeping me busy.

Mike Wollschlager wrote:An increasing number of farmers are hosting campers on their property to open up a new revenue stream. There's been a dramatic increase in camping over the last few years and it’s now three times harder to book an available campsite.

Paul, I sent an email with an idea for a podcast episode and was instructed by a volunteer to post here instead. So here I am. Would you potentially be interested in highlighting the growing trend of farmers hosting campers? John Hayden is president at The Dyrt, the No. 1 app for camping, and he can discuss how farmers and private landowners can be successful by meeting this growing demand. The Dyrt also offers a better deal to farmers by providing free bookings. They don't take a commission or charge fees. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

— Mike

As a person who wants to be the camper/laborer I have many many questions! As a person who likes to help businesses develop revenue streams, it also interests me!
I'd love to be part of this in some way! Do you have a connection to the Dyrt's John Hayden to get him in touch with Paul? Would John even be interested in discussing the topic? I'm really glad to know the Dyrt does this. I had not seen that feature but will check it out now for sure!

We talked about doing this, ourselves!!  Or I did; my other half values his privacy too much for it to happen.  But I do have some thoughts:

CHEAPNESS: Not putting in electrical hookups, warm-water showers and water-flush toilets is the way to go these days because it's GREEN.  Dig a few deep holes and cover em with old-fashioned wooden outhouses; make a little path and mark it with solar lights to be findable at night.  Dig yourself an artesian well (if you can do so in your area; this not only improves your own farm but provides excellent, mineral-rich, clean water, cold in summer!!  Put up a bunch of solar showers that can be used warm at end of day.
Let em cook over a campfire if they don't have any solar doodads.  And finally, have fun things to do: horseback riding, collect eggs, help make a wicking bed or pick-your-own salad/fruit etc.  A pond and maybe a  tire on a swing; or fishing, and a couple of rowboats, whatever you have.

GREEN-NESS: All of the above is because, The "GREEN" thing appeals mightily to lots of folks, especially of an age that may go camping (younger): for them, it is a shared experience and constant selfies showing them roughing it is just extra icing on the cake.

FUN AND BEAUTY: We have big live oaks here; I was hoping, before my dreams were dashed, to have some "green" treehouses put in with solar electric and composting toilets.  There is even a product now that takes care of the smell of a composting toilet!!  But in absence of big trees, think of beautiful spots on your property.  Put up a deer feeding station maybe.  Get Japanese Bantams, because they are not only Gorgeous, but like to nest under bushes and raise their own young...maybe a "petting zoo" type area where people can go to feed grass and hay to the rabbits and lambs...

Of course, before you let anyone on your land, make sure you get a really good lawyer to help you write up an agreement they will sign, releasing you from indemnity in the case that somebody sleepwalks off the treehouse platform or stubs their toe. XD  Y'all, have fun!  I am aching to do this but it's not worth my hubby's distress.

I've lived in a truck camper for a year and a half (ish), so I figured I'd chime in with my own baseless opinions. As a disclaimer, I'm super cheap, and avoid paying for campsites at all (non-monetary) costs, so I'm probably not the target customer for this type of thing.

Initial orienting thought: Full-time RV camping and "drive out of the city for a weekend" camping are two distinct market segments, and there's a spectrum of everything in between. If I was a farmer / homesteader and I was thinking about hosting people (essentially "becoming a campground", as far as I understand it), I'd define who my target is.

Personally, I would target people who wanted to camp at one spot for a month or more. I don't have any experience in running a normal campground where anyone can just book at any time, but that sounds operationally intense, even if you only have a couple sites. Plus, to Betsy's point above, legal risks are real, and the larger your sample size, the greater your chance of something gnarly happening.

I think I'd require bookings to be 1. pre-paid & 2. longer than two weeks. This way, you've already selected for people who have their shit together (not me) and who aren't trying to scrape by at the lowest possible cost (not me). Plus, with longer stay times, you can actually get to know your campers (if you're into that, which you probably should be if you're doing something like this).

If I were doing this, I wouldn't list my farm on The Dyrt or any sort of AirBnb-type platform. Again, personal preference, but I don't want people rolling in and out of my place all the time, getting their eyeballs all over my address. I would probably advertise organically on websites like permies, vet campers in advance, and see what happens.

P.S. From the perspective of my RV self, my definition of a "good" campsite: I can plug in at an outlet, have a place to dump the tanks (preferably at my site so I don't have to move), and have a hot shower nearby. Anything on top of that is sauce.

Personally I suggest a big fat commercial liability insurance policy. It won't be cheap, but if you're charging money for camping you need it. The last thing you need is to be good hearted and your campers stub their toe on a rock and end up owning your property.

Several folks have mentioned attracting the RV customers.

First, a farmer would need to put in roads to campsites.

Second, water and electricity at each campsite.

Third, a sewer system to each campsite.

Fourth, an office to register campers.

Fifth, two bathhouses with sinks, commodes, and showers with nice steamy hot water.

If just attracting tenters, then that will eliminate the sewer to each campsite.

Or get even more simple, offer rustic camping which would only require roads, a campsite pad, and water to the campsite.

I love the *principle* of offering camping on your property, but I fear it may be fraught with future headaches.
* Amenities? Depending on the size of the operation, the size of restrooms needs to be revised, also parking lot? maybe special permits?
* Injuries? In spite of a person's best efforts, someone can always twist an ankle or fall off of whatever. Also, if someone gets in contact with products that cause an allergy?
* Unattended children venturing on neighbors' properties? Parents come often with children, especially if "camping" is mentioned. My neighbor, for example brings underprivileged children from Chicago. They are usually good kids but we've had 2 or 3 who came on our property as we do not have fences. They were pleasant and didn't cause any trouble but they could have fallen down, gotten hurt...
* Lawsuits from campgrounds who will feel that such a venture is biting into their share of revenues?
* bad weather? Can it be done indoors? I attended a grafting class. It was cold and we took refuge in a small building. It was a bit cramped but it was a great class and I would do it again.
As I appear to throw cold water on the idea, don't get me wrong: I think it is a great idea, but it is a different *business* that brings with it different challenges [legal, especially] and skills [Interpersonal skills for one].
If it were billed as an *educational* venture, that might work. In so doing, it would allay possible lawsuits from neighboring campgrounds since we would not be doing the same thing/ appeal to the same kind of folks.
Working it as an educational venture allows for an additional revenue stream since you would be offering to develop skills, so camping PLUS hands on lessons.
For example, there is near me a gentleman who plants garlic. I could see him offering "working visits" at different times of the year: Planting, harvesting, sorting the bulbs and replanting could be one visit, maybe spread over a weekend.
I'm sure there are ways to make it work but one should not engage in it nilly willy with dollar signs in front of their eyes to guide them.
In my situation, I would stay away from overnight camping as this seems to me like the part of the operation that is the most chancy. [plus I do not have the real estate to do it anyway.] If a person were to give demonstrations of permaculture skills, that is something that could be offered multiple times during a year and not involve camping. Those non-campers could also accomplish tasks while they visit, so win-win-win.
A one day visit [repeated a few times during the year] with the noon meal could extract the most revenue with the least headaches IMHO.

Aren't there already a few podcasts related to the trials and tribulations of hosting campers/people at Wheaton Labs?

https://permies.com/wiki/sepper
https://permies.com/wiki/rentals

John, those links were my first thought.

Though the OP (original poster) was suggesting a Podcast thus the link to the Podcasts.

This thread reminded me of a trip we made to Arkansas a ways back.

This campground was named "On Golden Pond" which sounded so inviting.

We travel out of our way to reach this campground, as the picture looked so enchanting.

When we were directed to the campsite, the road was just being built and was not well designed for an RV.  The owner was at the bathhouse and I asks directions.  Yes, that was the campsite.

We decided to find somewhere else to stay.  Dear hubby asked if I wanted to ask for a refund.  I said no as I thought they needed the money more than we did.  Pitiful place.

We've been listing our forest on Hipcamp for three years now. It's booked solid weekends in the summer at $57 a night, and we could rent it more but we also run our own programs there. The ease of payment and people finding us makes Hipcamp's 10% commission totally worth it. We started with two sites at $20 each but had lots of people traveling cheap and it was double the hassle and coordination. We halved the sites and more than doubled the price, and as I noted, we're full most any summer days we care to rent it. Mysteriously the rentals drop off steeply in the winter... Though we do have a great covered yurt. Certainly covers the property taxes and the fire wood people use. While renting space doesn't scratch my "I'm a real farmer" itch, we do connect a lot of locals and travelers with a groovy permaculture-esque experience. It helps get more mileage out of our big raspberry beds, rabbit pens, cute goats and ponies... All the stuff we have anyway. And with 7 people living here full-time keeping an eye on things, having visitors has been manageable.

I second calls for good insurance. Hipcamp provides some, but only if you already have a solid homeowner's policy in place.

My husband and I have traveled across the rural parts of the western states and camped when we were in areas without regular forms of lodging.  I mainly used Airbnb to do this, but only because at the time it was bigger than those other sites.  

I've also camped on my own this way.  I love using sites like this because they offer a lot of legitimacy (reviews are wonderful), I wouldn't (and haven't) camped alone at typical forest service campgrounds.  I know it's statistically safe enough, but it doesn't feel safe enough to me for numerous reasons.

I've found the private spots way better anyways.  Thee privately owned ones are often (though not always) smaller, they tend to have owners involved, and they tend to have rules people have to follow.  At some of the public campsites in California, there are people playing music late into the night, sometimes dogs running around loose (which was a real problem for my leashed dog when I would have him with me), and often people on ATVs or other loud vehicles.  And you never know how to get hold of a ranger.

I'm not against kids and dogs ad ATVs or people having fun - it's just that the amount of activity going on at public campgrounds sometimes can be troublesome.  I've only noticed this in Southern California though.  The more rural the location, usually the more chill the people in my experience.

Contrast that with my experience at private campgrounds... almost always an owner/caretaker to call if there is a problem, and most have pretty strict rules for pets, noise, and vehicle use. So when I'm alone I pick the small, private campsites that aren't the normal public access places.  Like the ones on Airbnb, etc.  I would totally enjoy staying on an organic farm.

If you are fortunate enough to be very near a major university… especially southern…., explore providing camper sites on football weekends.   I know an individual that only rents out space maybe 20 days a year. He makes nearly 6 figures off of it.  Electricity is the only utility he provides.  He does have a single water spigot for common use and a large number of 55 gal barrels for trash. Oh yeah, you can see the University of Alabama from his place.  

We considered it until we found out how much the county would tax us. When we bought our farm our daughter made friends with the county assessor’s daughter (unbeknownst to me at the time). When the assessor mom came to pick up her daughter we had a friendly chat about our dreams and aspirations and after I told her all of our secrets she told me the county would tax us 60% of the revenue. Totally not worth the pain of developing the campsites to county standards and dealing with people at that point. And you know this lady is going to be checking out our property to make sure we’re not doing it on the down low. I learned a good lesson though, be careful who you tell your plans to. Most rural folks have been here for generations and everybody knows everybody.

Agreed, it's very important to do your homework before committing to this. It's a business. Insurance, neighbours, and the local municipality will all have a say -- and take a cut, or set their conditions. You can't hide a campground with people coming and going. Best to be up front.

We’re supposed to be buying another couple acres soon and my wife had the idea of putting a tiny house on it and renting it out as an air bnb. Seems like a good idea, even if it’s only for 3 seasons (winter would add complications and expenses).

The biggest issue I can think of is the simple fact of having strangers come and go from out property as they please. Could be hard to get used to.

To give you some inspiration from abroad. Here in the Netherlands there are a few organisations for 'camping at the farm', the most known is SVR. Organic and biodynamic farmers who have a campground are organised in ECEAT. And then there's Campspace, for people who have a few spots for tents, trailers or RVs (or a B&B), including some farmers too.
Their websites are all in Dutch only ...
SVR https://www.svr.nl/home
ECEAT https://groenevakantiegids.nl/
Campspace https://campspace.com/nl

This has become a great revenue stream for us.  Our property is just west of Missoula, Montana, and we have a section of the property that is more difficult to farm, but is perfectly fine for tent campers and small rigs.  We have about ten sites (dry sites with a fire ring) that we rent out for $27 a night, and we sell firewood, beef, pork, etc. that we drop of with campers when they check in.  If you’re interested in doing this, check out our site: https://www.hipcamp.com/en-US/montana/primrose-meadows/primrose-meadows-unfurled I think we have probably 600 positive reviews in two full years, and the camping revenue is pushing 30k a year.  It’s not completely passive, but it’s low overhead AND a lot of the people that stay with us are local, so we get the added benefit of meeting people in our community and acquainting them with our farm.  If anyone is interested I’d love to chat about Hipcamp, setting up the sites, liability, revenue potential, etc, it’s much more interesting than talking about alfalfa…

Alton Helm wrote:This has become a great revenue stream for us.  Our property is just west of Missoula, Montana, and we have a section of the property that is more difficult to farm, but is perfectly fine for tent campers and small rigs.  We have about ten sites (dry sites with a fire ring) that we rent out for $27 a night, and we sell firewood, beef, pork, etc. that we drop of with campers when they check in.  If you’re interested in doing this, check out our site: https://www.hipcamp.com/en-US/montana/primrose-meadows/primrose-meadows-unfurled I think we have probably 600 positive reviews in two full years, and the camping revenue is pushing 30k a year.  It’s not completely passive, but it’s low overhead AND a lot of the people that stay with us are local, so we get the added benefit of meeting people in our community and acquainting them with our farm.  If anyone is interested I’d love to chat about Hipcamp, setting up the sites, liability, revenue potential, etc, it’s much more interesting than talking about alfalfa…

Alton,
Welcome to Permies!

That's fantastic information you've shared.  Those are gorgeous pictures in your listing.  I think the price is very attractive as well. I stayed at a private campground in AZ for a similar price, and it wasn't nearly as picturesque.

You certainly seemed to have hit on the magic mix of lower maintenance, attractive site, and working with others.  Thank you for sharing.  I'm hoping to do something similar someday.

Kim Goodwin wrote:

Alton,
Welcome to Permies!

That's fantastic information you've shared.  Those are gorgeous pictures in your listing.  I think the price is very attractive as well. I stayed at a private campground in AZ for a similar price, and it wasn't nearly as picturesque.

You certainly seemed to have hit on the magic mix of lower maintenance, attractive site, and working with others.  Thank you for sharing.  I'm hoping to do something similar someday.

Thanks Kim!  We really got lucky, our farm is close to the interstate, close to the airport, and close to a decent sized town, but the topography makes it feel pretty remote.  I hope you find a way to do the same thing, it’s a great stress reliever to try to develop a farm/homestead knowing there is this other income stream to mitigate risk.  Good luck to you and if you ever have any questions let me know!

anyone else have experience with this? are you booked up? what kind of accommodations do you offer?

I started renting out campsites over the summer on Hipcamp and Airbnb. I live in the house on the property, and allow use of a bathroom and some other stuff like a microwave and coffee. It has been awesome!

I'm trying to entice people to come here, and maybe they'll want to help make it more magical 😃🧚

It is very much a work in progress in every possible way, but I love it. 😍🤩


https://flamingoridge.org/pages/book-your-stay

Every now and then I toy with the idea of having campers to stay. I have to admit it is the intrusion into my personal space that would stop me, so I'd probably limit it to such an extent that it would be rather expensive in order to cover the annual costs (insurance etc.).
Our site wouldn't have RV access, as it is too sloping, so it would be people in tents, or 'glampers' with pre-erected accommodation. I think the key is providing enough information up front, so that only the campers that will appreciate the facilities you offer will book. So whether it is hot and cold running room service, or barefoot, solar showers and composting toilets you get happy campers either way.

photo from unsplash

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the god-awful generators and the noise from ACs that are typical of many RCs. Feels a bit opposite to the permaculture principles, and has the potential to be very annoying unless the camping area is really in a secluded part of your property.

There's been a very successful glamping venture in my area where they went the opposite route: catering to people who want a sustainable alternative to traditional camping/cabins, and who want to "play house" at living off grid for the week-end (guilty!). They're solidly booked year round, and have been for more than a decade (some of their fantasy-themed cabins book more than a year in advance).

They built off-grid cabins with composting toilets (some indoors, some outdoors). They provide wood, large jugs of water and candles (for the wonderfully romantic wrought iron chandeliers that are made by one of the owners). They also have a camping with large secluded spots (they have a fairly large wood property, and since they don't provide any water/electricity, places that are far apart are not an issue). I'm not sure they accommodate RCs, and if they do, I'm 99% sure you're not allowed to use a generator or AC.

They do have a central location with showers and flushing toilets (2 of each), so that required a significant investment in a large-sized septic tank I assume. And they've also setup a few low-key activities so that the whole place has a resort feeling (there's a labyrinth in the woods, a treasure hunt for kids, a few hiking trails).

But once that was done, they were able to slowly add a new cabin every couple of years (the venture is a project made by three semi-retired brothers, and they've been building the whole thing mostly by themselves, using wood from their property... it's really gorgeous).

Entre Cimes et Racines

My family and I full time RV traveled in our toy hauler for 3 years. We started with 3 kids in ’21 and had 5 by the time we bought our property here in MS. We are still living in the RV while we get our animals and garden stuffs and general property improvement and observations done. Maybe next winter we will worry about our accommodation.

While we traveled, we would drive about 3-5 hours per day and be set up for 14 days at a time once we got to our destination. The highlight of our travels was “Harvest Hosts”. We stayed at a multitude of farms, wineries and breweries.

Many hosts did not have hookups at all (water sewer electric) and just provided a place to park. It could be a driveway, in a field or parking lot. We would patronize the host and buy some of their products. Eggs, soaps, whatever they had on hand. We usually would spend over $20. I think they encourage you to spend at least $20. When my wife oversaw the patronizing, we would spend closer to $50 or $60.

The places that had hookups would charge a fee to park in those spots with hookups. Those spots would get a premium price. Most would not have sewer, some had water. Electricity was most commonly offered. Again, most of our stops had no hookups. We were very rarely alone (several campers) at a place and the hosts would tell us that the program did provide a lot of customers for their products that would never have found them otherwise.

We just installed a large 900sqft concrete parking pad at our property, and I am running full hookups to it. We so enjoyed that part of our traveling that we want to offer the same for others and will probably just charge a nominal fee to cover our costs on the electricity and water because we lived the lifestyle.

Anyway, you never know who will spend a night and the impact you or you and your children will have on a nomadic traveler. The program has become much more sophisticated, and you can rate the people that stay with you now. Many thousands of hosts all over the USA. I would highly recommend looking into it. We stayed twice at Whippoorwill Farms in SC. Below is a link their place. They have improved spots with hookups but they still have “boondocking” sites and started with only those type spots. It became a revenue stream, so they invested in developed spots. This is just to give you an idea of the possibilities and we are not affiliated with them, we just enjoyed our stay there so much we visited multiple times. https://whippoorwillfarmssc.com/visit/

This is so interesting and exciting to read about.  I'm very into passive income streams so yet another advantage to having property.  I think it would work a lot better for us to allow RVs to stay in our driveway, or allow tent campers in the backyard than to do an air b and b room in our house, even though a room would generate more money potentially, it wouldn't be worth it to put new sheets on the bed every other night, cook and visit with the guests all day, etc.  Obviously some visiting would be great, but I have to have time for my other projects/jobs.

Would like to hear from anyone with direct or anecdotal (not speculative!) knowledge how local governments view this land use alternative, and what ordinance/regs might prohibit it outright or where the fertile gray areas (edges!) might lie for those interested in pursuing. Commercial campgrounds per se are not readily encouraged without substantial, costly, lengthy rezoning campaign. Short term rentals are increasingly discouraged in desirable locales. Are there ways to characterize this activity ("agritourism" etc) that help make it palatable to relevant authorities and, of course, the all powerful NIMBY next door? Asking for an anon ethical scofflaw who'd like to help bring the bureaucrats up to date.

A southern Oregon Hipcamp
My young cottage tenant, Vanessa, and I (an 85 yr. old widow with a life long passion for gardening and nature) set up a Hipcamp last May on my 5 acres of woodland that includes an acre of gardens.  We started with 3 rv sites that I had created back in 2022 to bring in some extra income.  I had originally planned to rent the sites monthly to long term renters with RVs, but the county restrictions kept me to one.   When my last tenant moved on last spring, Vanessa suggested that we might try doing a Hipcamp with the sites instead. I liked the idea of sharing my 17 yr. old permaculture project and beautiful woodland with people, so that is what we did.  

We already had an "outhouse" with a built in sawdust bucket toilet and compost bins for the waste, and each site had water and electric hook-ups.
https://hipcamp-res.cloudinary.com/f_auto,c_limit,w_740,q_auto:eco/v1721884422/campground-photos/mys4xlfq3e28e4l8txfn.jpg  

We added a firepit sitting area to one site, and I bought a propane firepit since most of the camping season here is also "Fire season" so wood fires would not work.  We added an outdoor table and chairs that I had and wasn't using, to the site, and Vanessa painted some signs to help guide people from the road to the sites.  We had 66 bookings our first 7 months. Most of them were couples and families, often with a dog which we allowed on leash.   The guests were nearly all really nice folks who were grateful to have a nice peaceful place to camp.   Many were traveling and used us as a simple place to park for the night.  A few stayed a bit longer and enjoyed the area... We got some wonderful reviews!
https://hipcamp-res.cloudinary.com/f_auto,c_limit,w_740,q_auto:eco/v1721884661/campground-photos/vdflq0eszvqdjmrk30gs.jpg

In mid-summer we created a tent site on a level area in a very private part of our 5 acre woodland, with a picnic table, two hammocks, a firepit and a combo outhouse and cold water shower that we built with recycled materials I had on hand.  Campers had the whole site to themselves with no other campsites nearby.  This immediately became our most popular site.   I really think if you have space to do this one type of site - totally private - that it could be a simple way to make extra money from your land.

I did a couple garden tours early on (for a small extra fee), but then had to stop after a fall that I took several months to heal from.  

I am now working on turning a small storage building next to the rv park into an overnight rental, with a combo shower (this one will be a hot shower) and bucket toilet setup.  This will increase the work a little but bring in a whole different range of guests - those NOT camping. The building already has water and electric brought to the outside.  

All in all I would say that this has been a positive experience for us as well as for our guests.  I have wanted to find a way to share my "permaculture" project with people who are interested, and this was a very nice way to do it. And I love that we are giving people a truly peaceful camping experience.   The guests always left things tidy, and we had no unpleasant experiences with any of the perhaps 150 or more people who stayed here.   I think Vanessa meeting them and talking to them for a few minutes - making sure their needs were met - made a difference.  People didn't see us as a faceless entity. We were a couple women sharing our space with them...      

If you would like to look at our Hipcamp website to get an idea of how they set things up - here is the address:  https://www.hipcamp.com/en-US/land/oregon-wild-azalea-eco-camp-mxvhxz95?adults=1&children=0&srid=b3d966a7-8c17-4c2d-908b-12070920492c

One of the things we found especially nice about this experience was HIPCAMP!  They brought the people to us - they collected the fees, and took a small percentage for themselves (10%) - and sent a payment to my bank account every Tuesday.  They will even send out a professional photographer to help you get good pictures of your site.  AND they have wonderful insurance to cover you if anything goes wrong!    

Although it's a bit of a learning curve getting the whole thing set up - they are nice to work with and really make the whole thing doable!  I highly recommend it if you have the space and the desire to share what you are doing on your land with others - as well as make a bit extra from your land.   Keeping it natural and rustic is appreciated and no one gripes about using the bucket toilet.. It's part of the experience!  :-)

Ben Brownell wrote:Would like to hear from anyone with direct or anecdotal (not speculative!) knowledge how local governments view this land use alternative, and what ordinance/regs might prohibit it outright or where the fertile gray areas (edges!) might lie for those interested in pursuing.

Yes -- even though regs are locally specialized, effective strategies would be helpful! And more specifically, how do you bring your neighbours on side if you are in the grey area of local bylaws? Usually it takes a complaint to awaken the bylaw monster.

(Also, to flog this again - hands-on experience with liability insurance would be of great interest.)

I was a Harvest Host - same sort of idea, except that visitors do not pay directly, and they are only allowed to stay for one night.  The "payment" was supposed to come from visitors buying what you sell at your location, or, in my case, they were encouraged to pay for my time to provide a farm tour, as we don't sell anything to the public.  

It was way more trouble than it was worth - people don't read directions (CALL PRIOR TO ARRIVAL) and they got lost, stuck in small spots and destroyed parts of our parking lot.  Nice concept, but not worth my time.  

I absolutely could do it as an income-generating source, however, I am only one person and I have too many other things to do.