When people think about how to make money on your homestead, they often come up with the same ideas. Their immediate thoughts are probably selling fruits and vegetables, as well as homemade jams and preserves.
However, there are many different ways you can make money on your homestead. Some of them are a bit more unusual than the standard ideas. Whether you’re trying to make a full-time income or you’re running your homestead while working another job, you can choose ways of making money that works for you. There are suitable options for you, whatever you’re interested in.
In this next post of the Getting Started Series, we will discuss some great but unusual ways to make money on your homestead.
Unusual Ways To Make Money On Your Homestead
Open a Petting Farm
Many people choose to have animals on their homestead. Some might be there for food or other resources. While others could be pets. If you love animals, why not consider the option of opening a petting farm or zoo?
There are all kinds of animals that you might have on your homestead that could double up as appropriate animals for a petting farm. Sheep, goats, pigs, llamas or alpacas, and even cows can be great choices.
You might have small and furry animals too, such as ferrets (check that they’re legal in your locality), guinea pigs or rabbits. Visitors can pet, feed and groom your animals.
Make Your Own Electricity
You might have considered generating electricity on your homestead to save money. However, did you know that you could also make money on your homestead with renewable energy?
A company like Big Dog Solar Energy could help you set up a solar farm. You might be given a government grant or loan to help you set it up. You can also make money from the energy that you generate.
Even if you don’t have enough space for a whole field, a couple of solar panels can also help you make money. Another possibility is wind turbines, which need plenty of space.
Use Your Land for Parties and Events
Have you got lots of spare lands that you don’t need all the time? Maybe you never use it. You could rent it out on a permanent basis.
But another way to use it is to offer it for events and parties. It could be used for anything, from weddings to community events. You’ll have to think about whether you want to provide any services or products along with your events.
Do you want to set up a marquee or even provide catering? Or are you going to simply rent out the land and leave it up to your customers to arrange everything?
Keep Bees
It’s not all that unusual anymore, as more people have started doing it, but keeping bees is a great option for your homestead. You can produce honey and also make use of the wax.
Of course, if you want to keep bees, you need to learn how to do it. You’ll need to buy the right equipment, including protective clothing to keep yourself safe when tending to your apiary.
Keeping bees is good for your homestead and the environment too. Your bees will go off and pollinate plants, helping with biodiversity and eating things that will make your honey taste delicious.
Raise Worms
For another type of small animal to keep, give worms some thought. It might seem odd, but if you’ve ever had a worm farm, it’s not too different. But it can be done on a much bigger scale.
So what do you do with worms? Firstly, you can sell them to anglers for bait. Wiggly worms are great for attracting fish. In fact, if you have a body of water on your land, you could also consider hosting fishers and running a fish farm.
Another purpose for worms could be to sell to other people interested in raising them or using them for compost. You can also use them to make your own excellent compost, which you could then sell.
Board Dogs or Other Animals
When you have plenty of both indoor and outdoor space, becoming a boarding place for pets is a good idea. If you know enough about dogs, you could board them and give them plenty of space to exercise.
You might also consider boarding other pets, or perhaps even larger animals like horses. This idea works best if you’re knowledgeable and perhaps have some training in how to care for these animals.
Owners want to know that their pets are being looked after by someone who knows what they’re doing. While it’s useful if you have some professional experience with animals, taking a course can be a good idea too.
Start a Llama Trekking Business
Llamas and alpacas are great animals to have on a farm. Many people use them to protect their sheep. There are several uses for them, including using them for their wool.
However, one idea is to start a trekking business. If you’re in an area where hiking, walking, and trekking are great outdoor pursuits, the addition of llamas or possibly their smaller alpaca cousins could work out.
Llamas can carry people’s bags, making it possible to trek longer distances without having to either carry bags or ferry them from place to place in vehicles. Llamas are more environmentally friendly and could accompany people for several days.
Rent Out Your Animals
Another idea to consider if you have animals at your homestead is to rent them out. There are a few ways you might do this. Firstly, you could rent your animals out for breeding. If you have some particularly good specimens, others might want to benefit from breeding them with their own animals.
Another way to rent out animals is to offer them for an event or filming. You can make sure someone is always with your animals to ensure they are treated correctly. This could include anything from hiring reindeers for Christmas events to using horses for photoshoots.
Sell Wool and Wool Products
Many people think about raising animals for meat or dairy, but another possible moneymaker is different fibers. Wool can come from sheep, goats, alpacas, or even the muskox or angora rabbits.
If you have animals that produce wool, you could sell it on its own to people ranging from crafters to natural insulation manufacturers. You can produce yarn from your wool so that it can be used for knitting and other crafts.
Another option is to make things from wool, such as clothing, blankets or other items. There are other options for fibers, such as down from ducks or geese.
Host a Pick-your-own Experience
Another type of event you could make money on your homestead from is a pick-your-own experience. If you grow something that other people could have fun picking, why not invite people down?
This is likely going to be a seasonal idea, and could even tie into certain holidays. For example, if you grow pumpkins and squash, you could have a Halloween event. During the summer, you might grow berries.
You can tie in other things, such as offering horse rides or selling food and drink or other farm products. It’s a great way to get people to visit you and then sell them the other things you have available.
Make and Sell Candles
Candles are a fantastic homemade product to make money on your homestead. In fact, if you decide to keep bees, you can use their wax to make natural candles. If not, you can buy wax and melt it so you can pour it into any molds you want.
Try out different shapes, scents, and colors to produce a wide array of candles. Of course, many people sell candles, so think about how yours are different. Are you going to create them in fun shapes or perhaps some unique scents, or just try some fun branding?
Make and Sell Beauty Products
Another line of products you might consider making is some kind of health or beauty product. It’s easy to get started making soap, or you might want to make things like lip balms, body lotions, bath bombs and various other products.
It’s another great way to use beeswax and even honey. Again, it’s important to consider how your products are going to stand out, as well as how and where you’re going to sell them. You can sell online or at local markets, or even get your products in local stores.
From essential oils to CBD oil, there are a vast number of opportunities to make self-care and healthy products from your homestead. It is easy for the current homesteader to find a great source of wholesale CBD and essential oils on the internet.
Both of these options allow you yet another opportunity to make bath products, massage oils, and various other products to help other homesteaders treat things such as stress and anxiety.
Teach Your Skills
You can learn a lot from running a homestead. Why not pass your skills onto other people who want to learn? You can do this in lots of different ways. Teach a class in person, either at home or another location. Or perhaps start a blog that you can monetize.
You could write a book or create an online course that people can buy. If you have any specialized knowledge, there are likely people willing to learn from you. Consider whether you want to spend time teaching or if you would prefer to put some resources together and sell them instead.
You can make money on your homestead in a large variety of ways. It’s not all about selling jams. What are your plans to make money on your homestead? Tell me in the comments below.
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