Wanting or Trying to be “Off the Grid”

They are Options !!!

The trouble is, we can’t get completely away from needing some money.

People who try to live “Off the Grid” or “Living Off the Land” still must buy things.  Even the pioneers of old had to get supplies from the trading post!

Either you must:

• Growing a lot of crops to sell
• Raising lots of livestock to sell

OR

 Someone must hold down a day job

You will need money to buy the things you can’t produce: for example, gasoline.

Chores are largely focused on the production and preservation of food and livestock. That doesn’t leave much time to work a 40-hour work week.

We know 46 ways of how the overworked homesteader can make extra money

They are listed below.  BUT –  none of these 46 ways will make enough money to support ALL your needs, you need a big-ticket product that you can make in the “Off Time” (winter) and sell at any time.  

Our products are “Do It Yourself” products and can be manufactured with material that can be purchased at your local hardware store.  The prices listed on the web site are suggested.

How to make money in the following six (6) areas:

1.  Chickens
2. Earth Pizza Oven
3. Yurt Cloche
4. Tomato Barrels
5. Rain Harvesting
6. Other Money Making Options

There are numerous combinations of how the overworked homesteader makes things, but regardless if you homestead as a hobby or a lifestyle, there are many things you can do during your normal chores that will help bring in a little extra money here and there.

 46 Ways to Bring a Little Extra Money

1. Sell eggs — someone is wanting farm-fresh eggs!
2. Sell extra milk from your goats or cow.
3. Start a cow\goat share program – check your state’s raw milk laws
4. Sell cheeses or other homemade dairy products.
5. Sell broilers or meat birds
6. Raise and sell grass fed steers for beef
7. Raise and sell heritage turkeys, ducks, or geese.
8. Raise and sell tilapia or other farmed fish
9. Grow extra vegetables and herbs to sell at your local farmer’s market
10. Collect heirloom seedsat the end of the season, package, and sell.
11. Plant an orchard, berry bushes, or fruit trees, sell fresh fruit
12. Make homemade baked goods & sell them at your local farmer’s market.
13. Make and sell homemade jams, jellies, and preserves
14. Keep bees and sell local honey and beeswax
15. Become a mushroom farmer
16. Incubate eggs and sell day-old chicks
17. Got old chickens? Sell them asstewing hens
18. Raise chickens to laying age and sell them as
19. Raise worms — raise red wigglers to sell as compost worms
20. Breed, raise, and train family milk cows or dairy goats to sell
21. Breed sheep or meat goats
22. Keep a ram, buck, or bull and charge for stud services.
23. Start a dog boarding service or pet-sitting business.
24. Raise bottle calves, sheep, or goats.
25. Keep fiber animals and sell wool
26. Make and sell homemade soaps, lotions, and balms
27. Make and sell homemade candles
28. Put your knitting or sewing skills & create homemade hats, gloves, etc
29. Use your carpentry skills to create rustic handmade furniture
30. Use metal-working skills to create personalized signs
31. Cut and sell firewood
32. Have land that needs clearing? Cut and sell firewood.
33. Rent out your pasture or land for others to graze their livestock on
34. Become a compost-master and sell the best garden fertilizer
35. Use your greenhouse to grow and sell bedding plants and seedlings
36. Create a U-Pick Farm and allow others to harvest for a fee
37. Turn your house into a Bed & Breakfast
38. If you have the room, open up a corn mazein the fall.
39. Grow a pumpkin patch, and create a fall farm experience in October.
40. If you live in an especially picturesque location, rent out your pasture, barn, or land for weddings, parties, photo shoots, or other events.
41. Rent your space- if you haveacreage rent it out for pasture or hay
42. Start a Community-Supported-Agriculture program (CSA).
43. Start a blog or website — Blogging is work and takes a lot of time,
44. Teach Workshops — Cheese making, fiber arts, meat processing, soap making, candle making, beekeeping… If you have mastered an aspect of homesteading, there’s a good chance others will pay to learn from you!
45. Make and sell your own farm cookbook
46. Write and publish a book — Self-publishing makes becoming an author easier than ever.

The common problem all of these ideas have in common is that they take a lot of time and effort with a small pay back.

What you need is a big ticket Sustainable Living Product that you can do when you cannot do anything else.

The Key – Big Ticket Items

The key is to build a money making big ticket products in the off season (down time), that will provide income at a later date.  Something you could build during the winter when the weather is bad and sell during the summer.

An added bonus is that use the product yourself and make your life as a homestead easier.

The Sustainable Living Center of Oregon has developed a line of big ticket money making products.

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Start a Rent a Chickens Business – $495/5 months RenttoOwnChickens.com

Raise Special Breeds ie. Silkes – $20 \Chickens – $5\Chicks

Sell No Waste Rodent Free Chicken Feeders\Waterers – $20-$100 NoWasteFeeder.com

Roll-a-away egg nesting boxes – $30/each – http://www.RollaWayNest.com

Develop a year around pasture raised Eggs production by the use of special lights, fodder, No Waste Chicken Feeders and automatic door opening\closing. – $4 – $5/dozen – HiDensityFood.com

Conducting Chicken Sanctuary Workshops – ??

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• Build an Earth Pizza Oven© It is portable and uses the store heat from a wood fire to bake pizza. http://www.EarthPizzaOven,com

• Income from Earth Pizza Oven© can be:
  • Make pizza at the Farmers Market – $4 – $5\pizza
  • Sell Earth Pizza Ovens – $400 -$500\each EarthPizzaOven.com
  • Conducting Earth Pizza Oven Workshops – ??

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• Build a Yurt Cloche© It is a mini greenhouse.  It uses the “Hugelkultur” concept to store water and heat.
• Income from Yurt Cloche© can be:
  • Sell Yurt Cloches $400 – $500 – http://www.YurtCloche.com
  • Grow and market vegetables year around
  • Conducting Yurt Cloche Workshops – ??

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• Build a Tomato Barrel©
• It is portable and uses the heat storing capacity of its water reservoir and uses less water.  This enables a longer growing season and minimal need for watering.

• Income from Tomato Barrel© can be:

  • Sell Tomato Barrel – $90/each – http://www.TomatoBarrel.com
  • Market tomatoes earlier than others
  • Market tomatoes later than others
  • Raise tomatoes on your deck – $90/each55
  • Conducting Tomato Barrel Workshops – ??

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• At the workshop, you will build a Rain Harvesting System using two different methods. They can be used to store 55 gallons of water or 550+ gallons of water.
• Income from Rain Harvesting© can be:
  • Sell Water Storage Barrel – $90/each – http://www.SaveRainDrops.com
  • Conducting Rain Water Harvesting Workshops

An additional advantage, is, that you will be able to use these products at your own Homestead to reduce the labor required to run your Homestead.

There are other options

• Bokashi Machine© – http://www.BokashiMachine.com is a Japanese term meaning ‘fermented organic matter.’ The juice from the Machine will make your plants grow better than fertilizer.
• Kratky Tub© KratkyTub.com is a carefree technique that allows you to grow hydroponically without electricity, pumps, or wicks of any kind.
• Slug Zapper© SlugZapper.com is a way to build and electric fence to stop Slugs.
• Worm Module© WormModule.com fertilize your garden with worms.
• Organic Food Bed© OrganicFood.com Beds that have raised beds using fabric beds.
• Veggie Sacks© VeggieSack.com uses fabric bags to grow vegetable and flowers
• Pots of Water© PotsofWater.com how to use water is the dry climates. It provides automatic watering.