6 Ways To Make An Extra $1K A Month On A Small Homestead

Earning extra income on your homestead is a very popular topic.

Have you ever thought of making extra income on your homestead?

Let’s look closely at 6 of these popular suggestions that can supplement your income, help pay bills, and fulfill your life dreams… all while continuing to enjoy a homesteading lifestyle.

Growing Medicinal Herbs

You can stock your backyard or windowsill gardens with several basic medicinal herbs to treat common ailments.

One strong advantage in selling medicinal herbs is that locally grown herbs aren’t that easy to find. The herbs sell for approximately $8-12 an ounce while they cost a few dollars an ounce (including a tincture bottle) to make. That translates into a pretty high profit for each bottle.

You can start with a few easy-to-grow herbs: echinacea, chamomile, yarrow, lemon balm, and peppermint. Consider purchasing tincture bottles in bulk, available on many online sites.

Propagating Plants to Sell

Bee balm grows easily from seed and can be divided annually. Look into other perennial plants that can fit in your garden beds. They can provide beauty to your home and yard, and also provide income from dividing them yearly and selling the divisions.

Also, consider fruit trees and grafting them from roots and selling them after a few years. They will grow into full-sized trees for transplanting. Take the time to package the perennials and small trees in attractive packages with creative labels. Look to sell the perennials for a going rate of $10+ each. The fruit trees can sell for about $35-100 each depending on the variety and age.

Selling Baked Goods, etc. at Farmers’ Markets

Summer and early fall markets are more abundant. First, you need to think about what baked goods you will make and sell.

There are several important factors to consider: how much your baked goods cost to make, the time involved to make them, and the top retail prices for similar goods sold in competitive markets.

You should also consider the ease of making the baked goods and the ingredients involved. For example, maybe you have a lot of eggs, then choose baked goods where the ingredients include “a lot of” eggs. Something else to consider is that many customers who frequent farmers’ markets want to buy something to eat while walking around the market.

With that in mind, consider making individual servings to sell like quiche, a cupcake, a brownie or cookie, fudge, and cups of mulled cedar, lemonade, or coffee. You can also make your items unique by adding flavors you have from the garden and packaging them neatly with color or a catchy slogan. Passing out samples to attract buyers is a sure way to attract customers!

Selling Hatching Eggs

Hatching eggs demand a higher price than eggs purchased for consumption.

If you have chickens with great genetics and, ideally, a rare and desirable breed, then this may be a good fit for you. Start with a purebred rooster and hens and look for upcoming trends.

It’s important to invest in good quality healthy chicks which will pay off later. One suggestion for selling the hatching eggs is to leave business cards with local markets that sell pastured eggs. It is a good idea to have a picture of your eggs on the card, especially if you are offering colored eggs.

It’s also important to feature the eggs in a visually appealing way and label your cartons.

Selling Homemade Soaps and Salves

The ingredients to make homemade soaps and salves are quite inexpensive. Basically, you need a small amount of lye, natural oils, and a little home-harvested fragrance.

First, you should decide on what type of soap bars you want to make and then try the recipes to see if they are good enough to sell. The product also needs to look good to attract customers. Most online sites suggest that you can sell the bars at an affordable price, approximately $6 a bar.

After you get some loyal customers, you can consider offering discounts to repeat customers and, in the end, increase your pricing.

Starting a Blog

If you are homesteading, you can write a blog about your lifestyle. It may take about 6 months-1 year to generate customers, but you should be able to pull in a significant amount of earnings once you have a substantial following. This suggestion is especially intriguing for people who like to research and learn things, have something a wider audience would enjoy hearing, and enjoy writing or making videos.

There are several methods to monetize your blog.

You can use online programs which will find advertisers for you. Then you can place the code on your blog to start running ads. Another way to make money is to sell affiliate products. This is a commission-based way to advertise. You must disclose that you are an affiliate of the product. Another option to earn income is to sell your own products and services directly on your blog.

These are just a sampling of inspirational ideas to spark your imagination and creativity in becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Take some time to brainstorm things that you excel at and/or are interested in, whether it be selling any number of homemade food items, beekeeping, growing mushrooms or other items, selling homemade finished items (spinning, knitting, crocheting), sewing clothing, tanning and selling hides, blacksmithing and doing carpentry work, being a freelance photographer, raising worms, creating and selling compost, cutting and selling firewood, selling straw or hay, renting out your land, offering your homestead for events, etc.

You get the picture… the sky is the limit!

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