Many people choose to homestead because it gives them a sense of purpose and allows them to live off the land while providing their families with the resources they already have. That said, owning a homestead means you’ll need to produce enough money to cover your mortgage, property tax, utilities, and day-to-day expenditures. Fortunately, there are several options, and you don’t need a lot of land. Begin making a living on your homestead or farm by doing what you already enjoy. Here are some homestead project ideas for you to consider.
Food and Gardening
A homestead provides a prime opportunity to make money by selling food you’ve grown and animal products from animals reared in your homestead. Many homestead project ideas can be grouped under this.
Set Up a Produce Stand
When it comes to producing money from a homestead, farm produce is one of the first things that comes to mind. Maintaining a garden or mini orchard is simple, and even small plots of land may provide a substantial output. Begin by placing a sign and a cart at the end of your driveway. Make sure passers-by are aware of what you have to offer.
Start a Garden
If you have a green thumb, one of the homestead project ideas you should consider exploring is producing and selling more garden produce. Once your garden is established, plant more than you require for personal use and build up from there. Plant a variety of perennial foods, and once established, they should continue to produce yearly with no effort from you. Here’s a nice collection of homegrown perennial vegetables, fruits, and nuts. If you don’t want to offer a finished product, such as jams or dried spices, sell your produce uncooked.
Grow Mushrooms
This is one of the terrific homestead project ideas for experienced foragers to earn money from your homestead for an experienced forager. You must ensure that you accurately identify the vegetation you want to grow. People are typically prepared to pay more for unique products such as mushrooms than for everyday items such as dandelions. Mushrooms have a high yield and may be grown in various methods. Growing oyster mushrooms inside growing bags makes sense if you want a more intense mushroom farm that earns most of your money. A garage or small barn can also be converted into a mushroom growth room.
Sell Transplants
You might even sell transplants grown on your homestead. No matter how hard they try, some people cannot start with seeds and prefer to purchase transplants for their garden. This is an excellent opportunity to put your seed-starting abilities to use and sell them to friends, neighbors, and strangers at farmer’s markets and craft events. If you have fruit trees or vines that generate produce consistently, try reproducing and selling them through cuttings or grafting. It takes longer than selling transplants, but the profit is far greater.
Sell Fresh Fish
Fish is probably not the first item that comes to mind when you think of homestead project ideas. The fact is that farming fresh fish may give you a good living year after year. All you need to get started is a pond on your property. You may begin raising tilapia, rainbow trout, and other fish. Fish are also an excellent complement to an aquaponic system. This is where hydroponics (growing plants in water) is combined with animal manure to reduce the necessity for chemical fertilizers and other additions. Poop is produced by the fish, which feeds nitrogen and other nutrients to the plants.
Sell Hay or Straw
Straw and hay have several applications. Other farmers require it as feed for livestock and bedding for horse stalls. Gardeners frequently use it as mulch. Mushroom farmers use it to cultivate mushrooms. Small hay bales can also be marketed as autumn decorations. If you grow it, there will be a market for it. You don’t even need the tools to gather straw or hay yourself if you’re just getting started and wondering how to earn money from homesteading. People will pay to come to get your hay and transport it to you. Alternatively, you could procure an equipment trailer to help you transport straws and hay to a buyer’s destination.
Raise Bees for Honey and Beeswax
If you have bees, chances are you’ll have far more honey than you can use in a year, along with plenty of residual beeswax. Selling honey and making handmade beeswax candles are two simple ways to benefit the bees’ efforts, but don’t overlook bee pollen and propolis. Once you’ve created a healthy beehive, bees will gather nectar and pollen from flowers and do their own thing for most of the year with little to no assistance from you. They need some assistance to make it through the winter. Beehives generate honey, which you may use as a sweetener in your house and then sell any extra honey you don’t need.
Making a Living From the Barnyard
Many homestead project ideas can be developed in the barnyard of a homestead. The options are numerous and diverse, from DIY composting and raising grass-fed animals to making beef jerky and selling animal fur.
Create DIY Compost
Like seeds, your homestead may produce more compost than you can consume, especially if you have the area to produce as much compost as feasible. In such a scenario, you can sell it to make some more money. Don’t only think about items that go in the dirt when considering how to earn money homesteading. You may also sell only the soil! You have power if you own the land! Not every gardener is fortunate enough to have a decaying mound of vegetables in their backyard. Furthermore, farm animals such as cows, horses, goats, and sheep can add significantly to the pile of old manure.
Raise Grass-Fed Animals
If your homestead has enough acreage for cattle and you’re willing to get your hands filthy, go for it! This is a potentially successful contemporary homestead project if you love raising meat animals. It can help you earn money for your homestead. People will part with more money for meat farmed humanely by someone they know than meat purchased at a grocery store. You may also make raw, unpasteurized milk. This has grown in popularity in both urban and rural settings. A homestead, fortunately, is ideal for breeding, nurturing, and training milk cows and dairy goats. They are not only a terrific source of milk for domestic consumption, but you can also sell the extra to neighbors and consumers in your area. It will require some understanding of rotational grazing, selecting the appropriate cattle for your area, and dealing with such enormous animals. Again, it is a fantastic fit if you are enthusiastic about it. Lastly, it’s important to ensure that your livestock is secure from livestock rustlers and thieves. Ensure your homestead is properly fenced and secured with security cameras and barbed wire.
Making Money Off Value-Added Items
Making money while residing on a homestead calls for ingenuity and creativity and exploring homestead project ideas that might seem flimsy at first. One of such homestead project ideas is creating and selling value-added items such as a used appliance, handmade furniture, soap, and candles.
Make Soaps
Make soaps, salves, tinctures, and other products from the plants you produce or collect. These things are simple to manufacture and will make you more money than selling dried herbs. Some individuals prefer handmade soap and are ready to pay a premium for it to avoid using chemicals. As a result, many homesteaders establish handmade soap companies to supplement their income. To mass-produce handmade soap, you could procure soap-making equipment and get movers to help transport it using an equipment trailer to your homestead.
Sell Handmade Furniture
Making furniture can be a fantastic way to generate money on your homestead if you have carpentry abilities, especially if you need the wood on your homestead. Purchasing all of the necessary tools and equipment raises the cost of this alternative. You’ll probably have the necessary equipment if you’re already into woodworking. Using timber wood, you could create custom timber frames of different shapes and sizes as directed by your local coterie of customers.
Make Handmade Candles
Handmade candles have a distinct feel to them than mass-produced candles seen in stores. While it might be hard to pinpoint what makes homemade candles special, many agree they feel different when burned. It might be just a placebo effect, or it could be real. People value the additional love and work that goes into making handmade candles and are more ready to part with extra cash. As a result, it’s one of several homestead project ideas worth considering. If you’re having trouble selling candles and other things locally, you should start an Etsy account and sell them to customers all over the world.
Other Miscellaneous Ideas
Sell Firewood
You may have some land that you wish to clear to grow crops. You might also be maintaining an existing forest on your property. Any trees you chop down can be turned into firewood to help families heat their homes throughout the winter. People who have fireplaces will buy large amounts of firewood at once. During the summer, you might build smaller stacks of firewood to sell to campers that pass by your homestead.
Offer Storage Solutions
People and companies (for example, a local auto body shop) require a winter storage facility for boats, RVs, motorbikes, and pricey vehicles. If you have additional room in your homestead, it can be a passive method to make some extra cash. You’ll only have to interact with each individual or business representative once, when they drop off their car, and again when it’s time to pick it up.
Rent Out Your Homestead
If you’re just starting out on your homestead, you may not be able to use all your property immediately. That doesn’t mean you can’t profit from it. Other farmers and businesses in the area could rent the land from you. For example, a scaffold rental could rent your homestead to store scaffolds. Local farmers could also choose to graze their livestock or cultivate crops or hay. They will supply all of the equipment and handle all of the harvesting. All you have to do is allow them to use your homestead.
Start a Campsite
If you own hundreds of acres, you could build a modest campsite in a forested area of your land. It will be far enough away from your house that you will most likely not see or hear it. It’s similar to having an AirBnB but without the expense of owning and cleaning a residence after each guest.
Raise Worms for Bait
If you reside near a lake or a famous fishing site, you may sell worms as bait to passers-by. Gardeners enjoy adding worms to their gardens or compost bins. Raising worms requires relatively little effort. You only need a worm bin, old newspapers, and kitchen scraps to start.
Organize Workshops and Classes
Is there something you’re very excellent at? Inform folks and see if there is any interest among locals. Spinning classes and workshops on baking bread, fermenting foods, and culinary classes are examples of events that could interest locals interested in learning such skills. Professionals from local businesses and occupations such as gravel delivery and steel siding might also provide lectures during workshops. Perhaps you are a skilled gardener, and your garden demonstrates that. You could give talks on best practices to maintain a garden. If you have homesteading abilities to share, charge for them rather than giving everything away for free! This is one of the many homestead project ideas that could help generate income if executed properly and local inhabitants find it valuable.
Making money from a homestead takes time and effort. Don’t give up if you have a setback. Take a step back, examine the issue, and decide what you can do better. What is the payoff from all of your sweat and hard work? The delight of generating income from your homestead.
