6 Unexpected Ways to Make Money Homesteading
Today I'm talking about 6 unexpected ways to make money from homesteading!
"We ain't out here to get rich, but it'd be nice to subsidize the feed bill." ;P
The other day my family was sitting around the dinner table teasing me after another trip to get feed. We laughed as we discussed the many ways that I could spend the monthly food budget that wasn't on corn or hay. We talked of friends that are passionate about a good time and have large monthly payments for the latest Razors and RV trailers. Friends who go to country music concerts, or trips around the world.
Homesteaders, however, we're a different breed. While I adore razor rides and would LOVE a Jeep Gladiator to go rock crawling and camping in, (someday) I (like you I'm guessing if you're reading this) find those desires are far surmounted for my passion for self sufficiency. And...let's be honest...food. Really really good food. While us homesteaders are often not out here to get rich. It sure would be nice to supplement that feed bill. Am I right, or am I right?
Many homesteaders I know would LOVE to be able to Homestead full time, and earn a modest but comfortable living from their Homestead! Whether that be through selling products produced on their farms, or through online courses, books, etc. That's why today, I'm sharing 6 unexpected tips I've found for making money from your homestead!
Make Money Homesteading Tip #1
Rent Goats/Livestock Out to Eat Weeds
This is one of those businesses that I didn't hear about until I started seeing funny videos and news articles pop up on Facebook! Honestly, it's genius! Do you know very many people that truly enjoy mowing their lawn regularly? Or clearing weeds and brush? I'm not talking about that one person who has the perfect yard and truly finds pride and joy out of mowing their acreage themselves. No. I'm talking about the every day Joe, Janet, or Bob. No? Me neither! I don't know about you, but I PASSIONATELY despise pulling weeds in all its forms. I don't care if you hand me the coolest machete in the world to swipe that brush down. I ain't gonna do it.
Okay, I will... but I ain't gonna enjoy it. So with this snazzy business idea in mind, I took to the internet and did some research to find Homesteaders that truly rent out their livestock to clear land. While I couldn't find any Youtube videos that went into a lot of detail on the topic, I did find THIS great blog post about it. Click here to read. I've also included a video below to help you decide if goats would be a profitable investment for your own homestead!
Is Clearing Land With Goats Profitable? | Arms Family Homestead
Do you want to get goats to help you clear your land? Today I talk with Daniel Arms from the Arms Family Homestead!
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Tip #2
Sell Rabbit Manure for Gardens
Who knew that rabbit manure is SUCH a miracle for the garden to the point that avid gardeners will actually PAY MONEY to purchase it? We've been putting manure from our New Zealand meat rabbits on our plants and have seen such great results in our own garden! When I found out that there are homesteaders out there making money packaging the waste from their rabbits and selling it locally, I admit I wasn't that surprised. We homesteaders are resourceful like that! If anyone could make money off of sh*t it's us! ;P Below I share a video from a homesteader doing just that!
My buck Peter, and my farm dog McGee.
How to make easy money with rabbit manure | NWRedworms
Cut down on your feeding cost, selling the rabbit manure from your rabbitry. The way I see it I can get back up to 33% of my food cost by reselling the rabbit manure.
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Money Making Homesteading Idea #3
Make & Sell Dogfood
I admit, this was one idea that hadn't ever occurred to me! I really had to dig around on the internet to find some good information on this, and I stumbled upon the SUPER cool video down below! I must be a TOTAL homesteading geek! Because my family can attest to the truthfulness of my words, when I say that I literally called them up and launched into a (perhaps overly) enthusiastic happy rant, about a company that literally sells goats milk and bone broth for DOGS. Leave it to Texas y'all to come up with the brilliant ideas! I feel like this would be such a game changer for urban homesteaders, or homesteaders that live within driving distance to big cities! You can watch the video below, and I also included a video from some awesome butchers who sell their own raw dog food blend in-house!
Saturday puppy snuggles in the sunshine.
True Story: Dog Food Start-Up | The Bones & Co.
Watch the story of a raw dog food start-up, based out of Austin Texas.
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Raw Dog Food Butchers Blend Ingredients - Medford | ButcherShopInc
Cam at The Butcher Shop has been making their Butchers Blend of raw dog food for years. In this video, you will see the ingredients that they use and the process that is used to make their raw dog food. WE DO NOT SHIP OUR DOG FOOD. Our blend can only be purchased at our store.
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Unexpected Way to Make Money Homesteading
#4 | Selling Meat Via Email Lists!
I really had to do quite a lot of research on this one, as selling meat isn't something we do yet! I placed a video below that does a GREAT job covering technical and legal requirements, but I will share what I've found from the business side of things!
What I’m seeing lately is a combination of an almost email list system, and a pre-order system. Unless you have a lot of animals you are raising, it’s recommended to sell meat by selling the whole animal instead of cuts. OR selling cut “packages” basically you split the cuts of one animal in half or thirds and sell in bulk to 2-3 customers.
Homesteaders will create an email list or waiting list of customers in their CSA that are interested in pork, beef, cattle, lamb, rabbit, etc. and ones that overlap. The customers say whether they are interested in purchasing a whole animal, or cut kits/bundled packages (decide ahead of time what cuts are included in the bundled packages)
They encourage people to get on the list ASAP at the beginning of the year. Then they breed their animals. With what is born, a pre-order is done for them whether it’s kits of cut meats split between people or to purchase the whole animal.
The customer puts down a deposit. If the animal dies before being butchered the deposit is returned. If the person backs out, the deposit is kept and the next person on the waiting list is offered the animal/meat at a very slightly discounted price. Bigger companies that have lots of animals, do cuts and do subscription boxes, and even ship with dry ice!
A few of our lambs from this year's lambing season.
How to Sell Meat Legally as Part of Your Homestead Business | The Grass-fed Homestead
I recently received viewer questions inquiring what the process is for being able to sell meat legally from our homestead. I address how the options for selling meat within the legal regulations. The only legal way to technically sell meat is through the USDA inspection process. There is a way to indirectly sell meat but selling a live animal and using a USDA custom meat exemption. If you have received any value from this video, please consider supporting our work through our amazon affiliate link and/or through Patreon
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Tip #5
Microgreens
I have heard a lot about Microgreens over the past few years! While we don't really live in an area where microgreens would market well, there are many homesteaders making full time incomes with their microgreens businesses! There are even courses, books, and more available exclusively on the topic!
Microgreens Business: Best 5 TIPS FOR STARTING OUT | Donny Greens
Microgreens Business: Best 5 TIPS FOR STARTING OUT /// Looking for microgreens advice and microgreens tips? This microgreens video reveals my best microgreens business tips when first starting to grow microgreens for profit. This may be even more important than a microgreens business plan because this information is based on real experience from microgreens farmer Donny Greens. Use this content to learn how to grow microgreens and start your microgreens farming career. Suburban farming can be very fun and profitable, allowing you to live your best farmlife growing indoor microgreens. Whether growing microgreens, or doing organic farming in general, make sure to watch microgreens how to videos with donnygreens to grow amazing micro greens!
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Unexpected Way to Make Money Homesteading
#6 Growing and Selling Mushrooms
Growing mushrooms is something I would LOVE to try on our homestead, even if not commercially! Mushrooms are one of the most profitable crops that you can grow, but of course as with anything there is a bit of a learning curve! I included an interview that Curtis Stone (author of The Urban Farmer) did with a small scale mushroom farmer.
DIY, SMALL and PROFITABLE MUSHROOM FARM! | Urban Farmer Curtis Stone
There we have it folks! I hope some of these ideas got those wheels turning for y'all! Whether your goal is to cover your monthly feed bill, or create a full-time income from your homestead, if one of these ideas helps you reach that goal be sure to drop a comment and tell me your story!
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