Starting the homestead lifestyle is amazing but unfortunately, most people learn the hard way that some extra cash is usually necessary to be a modern homesteader. Here is how to make money homesteading, some ways are easy, while others require more skills or resources.

How To Make Money Homesteading

If you need extra money, I made lists of different ways to get an extra income. There are separated in categories so you can skip through to what you prefer. While it is possible to make a full-time income with these ideas, it will be a lot of work so be realistic with your expectations. The best ways to make a good income stream are to have multiple ways of income coming in. Pick a few of these income ideas and be on your way to quitting your day job.

Food

Whether you are selling these through a local farmers’ markets or facebook, these are a great way to earn some extra bucks because you can just double or triple whatever you are already making.

Fresh Produce- Organic produce is in high demand these days. Reach out to a local restaurant or two and see if they want high quality produce.
Preserves- Waterbath canning homemade jams
Home Canned Foods – Spaghetti sauces, beef stews, green beans. The list can go on forever.
Dehydrated – Jerky, herbs, spice mixes, etc.
Baked goods- Breads, muffins, cookies, cakes, etc.
Dairy- Butter, cheese, buttermilk, ice cream, kefir, etc. Sell your extra milk but check your local laws.
Lard
Honey
Maple Syrup- If you don’t have maple trees, this will take some time
Sourdough
Komboucha
Other Fermented Foods or Drinks
Pickled Eggs
What are your favorite foods? Double that recipe and sell it. Sell frozen, ready made meals. Sell ingredients put together with a recipe card.

Gardening

While planting for your own use, assuming you have the amount of land needed, you can expand your garden and have your hard work pay off in an easy way.

Fresh produce- Sell what you don’t use.
Seedlings- Plant a few extra seeds with your own plants and sell the excess
Seeds- Sell heirloom seeds that you saved
Herbs- These don’t take up much land and you can sell fresh herbs or dry them at the end of each growing season and sell. Great for a small homestead!
Orchard – Plant fruit trees or a berry orchard. Start a u-pick or pick yourself and charge more. Start extra seedlings with these plants and sell the saplings
Tree Nursery- Plant some tree seeds, grow for a few years, then sell the trees.
Compost- You can never have enough compost, so make a bunch and sell some while you are at it.
CSA- Community Supported Agriculture, someone pays you at the beginning of the season to give them fresh produce all season long
Flowers- Either fresh cut or make the arrangements yourself
Pumpkin patch
Christmas tree farm- I even recently saw of someone selling Christmas trees and having the customer bring back after Christmas to replant and pick up again the following year!

Animals

Backyard Chickens- Sell eggs for others to eat.
Chicken eggs – Incubate and sell the eggs or sell day-old chicks once hatched. Wait until the chicks are laying age or just passed the chick stage to sell at a higher price. Using a broody hen is a good way to do this, then you are basically hands off.
Meat chickens – For $100, have the customer come out and “learn to butcher” on butchering day. You get to charge money and get extra help.
Dairy Cow or goat – Sell the milk or raise to breed and sell.
Sheep- Either meat or stock.
Cows- Either meat or stock. Grass fed beef will typically give you a higher income but it does take longer.
Goats- Meat, stock, or rent out the goats for weed control.
Rabbits – Either meat or stock.
Stud Services- Rent out male livestock for a few months at a time so other people don’t need to keep them
Dogs – Breed livestock guardian dogs or hunting dogs. Go the extra milk and train them yourself.
Fiber – Sheep, llamas, or angora rabbits are great fiber animals to either sell or use yourself to make high quality clothing to sell at a higher price.
Custom grazing – Rent out your land so others can graze it with their horses or cattle
Bees- Sell nucs if you have the knowledge. Bees take up little space so if you have a small acreage, this is great.
Worms- Selling compost worms is an out of the box way to make some extra money.
Farm Animals- Would you like to own your own petting zoo?

Crafts

Homemade Soaps & Lotions- Goat milk soap is a fun soap to make and one that I sold for quite a few years!
Homemade Candles
Beeswax
Tan hides
Woodworking
Welding/Metal working
Tinctures
Teach local or online “how to” classes

Other

Rent our equipment- tractors, trailers, butchering supplies, tools, etc.
Rent out land for events or RV storage
Rent out space for city folks to garden
Let campers stay the weekend
Hunting Rights- Lease out your property for only certain people to hunt on
Photography- whether just having someone else do photo shoots on your land or taking the pictures yourself
Child care
Pet care
Airbnb
Bed and Breakfast
Blogging
Youtube Channel

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

How to Make Money Homesteading Resources

How to Make Money Homesteading by Tim Young and Joel Parks

Pastured Poultry Profits by Joel Salatin

How to Make Money Beekeeping by Mercy May

How to Make Money at the Farmers Market

Things to Know

Know your local laws. Somethings are not possible for you because of these laws. For instance, you might not be able to sell raw milk to customers at the farmers’ markets, but can they pick up the milk from your homestead? There are some creative ways to get around these laws, for instance, selling “Pet Only Raw Milk” is one way. However, in some states, it is all illegal.
Keep track of all money spent and all money earned. Remember, there are tax exemptions out there depending on what you are doing.
Social media is a great way to advertise for free. Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook can help others know what you have going on.

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