Making Money on the Homestead

[Kathy]

I've been thinking that this next gardening season I'd like to sell at the farmers market. If things work out the way I hope, I could devote my summer to growing, selling and then canning up the extra/leftover produce. ;D
The closest farmers market opens in mid April and closes the last weekend in Oct.

Does anyone else specifically grow produce for their farmers market? What have you found sells best or if you dont' sell at one, what items would you love to find at your local market?
I hope to also sell eggs since I'll be getting chickens.

From what I can figure, I'll have about 2 acres of fertile ground to work with so I can grow multiple items.

Suggestions & opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Kathy < who's already received 2 garden catalogs for 2008

[Deleted]

I tried the farmers mkt. in my community one yr. It was mostly dominated by people who traveled from one mkt to the next daily. Everyone had the same things to sell, everyone charged the same prices and shunned you if you undercut them. I just had a surplus of tomatos, peppers and cukes and wanted a few bucks for seeds next year, I was not well received by the professional marketers. One thing I noticed was a lack of fresh herbs, probably because you can't hold them til tommorrow if they don't sell.

[Kathy]

Roger, I thought about herbs since you don't see much besides Dill at the markets. It's good to know it's something that might have a market.

This farmers market is run by Arkansas State University so it's all locally grown or made stuff and each person seems to set their own prices. It's not huge; maybe 15 vendors is all and some sell woodcrafts or bakery items but the crowd of buyers is always large and steady from the time the gates open until they close the place at noon.

[Deleted]

I have thought of trying a CSA. Maybe sell to 3-4 people the first year to see how it goes. I don't want to drag things to the farmer's market to sell.

[Deleted]

There are many ways to make money off of the farmstead. Depending on what you have and what you want to do with it.

If you have good insurance coverage and extra pasture/stall/barn space and good fences....offer boarding for horses...but get it all in writing before you start and make sure the papers state who is repsonsible for what.

Stand quality stallions, bulls and rams at stud; there are lots of people out there who have just one or two mares, cows, ewes, etc. The cost of AI and farm calls make it hard on them to have their stock bred each year.

You can sell eggs...but the flock they come from must be blood tested for Typhoid and Pullorium...to be legal. I tested poultry for several years as I was certified with my state. Once the flock is blood tested and found to be negative....the test papers are good for one year.

Sell fresh produce, herbs and other country crafts from your farm; a small sign at the highway with times and days open works well. Throw away nothing! Make some sort of crafted item from it and sell it! Birdhouses can be make from about anything! Use the brain a bit and try to be very creative! You can dry colorful (large) leaves and paint pictures of birds or other animals on them...they sell well and the cost of the 'canvas' is free! Frame them in barn wood or scrap lumber frames and make the profit even greater!

Learn about beekeeping (after you find out if you or anyone in your family is allergic to them first!) Start out with a few hives and go from there. Honey sells well and the bees pollinate the crops (fruits and veggies) that you plant. The wax can be made into candles with also sell well. Make lip balms and other natural items from the honey and wax; honey soaps are great sellers for the holidays and sell well throughout the year.

If you have a few sheep or angora rabbits, you can sell the wool to weavers and spinners.

Cut and sell firewood if you have the excess timber or very many downed trees on your property.

If you live in rocky areas, you can sell the bigger rocks for landscaping purposes. Charge them extra for delivery...ditto with the firewood.

Have gentle horses? Show experience? Offer riding lessons or trail rides...but check on your insurance first.

Have lots of different animals? Open a small petting zoo!

Grow fresh herbs for sale at your farm...plant strawberries or other 'pick your own' crops. I sold lots of pumpkins over the years and offered horse drawn wagon rides to and from the fields...it soon became a family tradition for many!

There are lots of ways to make money from the farm or homestead. Homemade soaps, cakes, pies, the list can be endless as your own imagination.

[dirty]

i remember reading a magazine article on selling veggies at farmers markets.

i only remember two suggestions. one was to start early with a green house. their theory was that you want to be there from the start with variety. they felt that the customers they got at the start of the season tended to come back all season long.

the other thing i remember from the article. was that they planted in succession. starting plants of the same kind week after week. so that once a plant started ripening they spread the ripening over a spread out period.

i'm not sure how well planting in succession would work for canning.

[Kathy]

I do successive planting on a personal scale so that makes some sense as far as market sales also.

I am collecting the building supplies to erect a green house. I have the very expensive roll of 8mil plastic and the black water barrels-left overs from a previous life. Now I'm debating if I should go with a hoop house that uses cattle panels arched or if a wood framed unit woul be better. I have a couple of months to decide but it's amazing how fast that time goes.

The other thing I was considering is making simple herb gardens-just a 4 or 5 herb colllection with a theme. The Poultry collection would have rosemary, thyme, sage, tarragon & garlic chives.
The Greek collection would have Greek oregano, mint, marjoram & savory.
There would be other collections but those are a couple I have already researched.
I thought maybe including a few simple but tasty recipes with each collection as well as growing instructions would increase the interest and add value.
I love talking to people almost as much as I love gardening & cooking so I'm thinking this would be a way to combine them all.

[kyosa]

Kathy, I think your idea of the 'theme' herb gardens with recipes thrown in is a very good one. I'm not experienced in selling things like that, but it just seems like something people would be drawn to. It doesn't seem like it would be a big expense to try it out and see. You just might be swamped with buyers!

[dirty]

yea i also like the idea of theme bags of herbs.