Small farm hobby ideas for profit

[tarajane]

Thank you..Dummy Books are the best!!

 

[Ole and Lena]

Small scale forestry. I've got more money in my woodlot than in the 401K. Scraped up the money to buy 1.5 acre adjacent to my parcel last fall. Price was low, sold as untillable wetland. Spent the winter on inventory and some targeted harvest of low value timber for firewood. Large amount of 6-12" walnut in the understory, also some mature burly white oak targeted for harvest next winter pending specialty buyer. Under intensive management, I'll retire in comfort in 20 years if a windstorm doesn't get it. Managing for gunstock and high grade furniture lumber.

Add that to my hunting land up North managed for short term pulp cuttings and it covers the property tax with some left over for improvements.

 

[shoelby08]

Don't poo-poo the idea, but organic potting soil is a good seller, comes readily from the chicken coop and my horse pen.I am in fl too, muck everything to a corner of the yard till and it's $20a truckload.

 

[LeroySouthpaw]

You can make anything into jelly!! Flowers, herbs, berries, fruits, tomatoes, teas. Flower jellies are interesting novelties and extremely cheap to make if you get the flowers free. I have wild violets all over my yard. I'll be collecting those tonight. LOL!

 

[1cock2hens]

we got dandelion jelly last week at the farmers market and it was surprisingly good!

 

[Mini Meat]

I'm not looking to make a living but I would like my hobbies to fund themselves.

My goal is to do a little bit of a lot of different things, and hopefully sell off the surpluses and help pay for the next year.

 

[Flock Leader]

Lots of great ideas here!

The key, I guess, is in hitting upon what people in your area want and trying to meet that want. Last year we had a big surplus of eggs, far more than we could eat, and we gave ads around the neighborhood trying to sell, but people just weren't interested. It surprised us, frankly, but you can't argue with facts. I suppose it was less of a hassle for people to just pick up a dozen eggs at the store while doing their grocery shopping that step down to our house just to get eggs. So we had plenty of eggs to eat, which was nice, and plenty to give to family, which is nice too, but ultimately it didn't justify the price of chicken feed and we had to reduce our flock - and were surprised by how many people contacted us about buying our surplus hens! So we're going this route now, hoping to have some extra chicks/pullets to sell this season.

I've also started experimenting with making soap in my kitchen. If I succeed in making nice soaps perhaps I could sell them at a stand at an artisan market, or give an ad in a local paper.

 

[ldawntaylor]

Lots of great ideas here!

I've also started experimenting with making soap in my kitchen. If I succeed in making nice soaps perhaps I could sell them at a stand at an artisan market, or give an ad in a local paper.

I know this is someone else's thread...but, around here there are several places that carry home made soap. The feed stores, the hair salons and manicure places, as well as the local coast to coast. It seems to have a pretty good market value.

 

[Kyanite]

Great ideas here. Hubby was just mentioning bees to me the other day. I had considered alpacas. My sister spins her own yarn and knits like crazy. She buys a lot of her raw wool on ebay or other sites, and she says alpaca is in high demand. I figured it warranted further investigation. I don't know if you could use the meat or milk from them.

 

[Flock Leader]

Great ideas here. Hubby was just mentioning bees to me the other day. I had considered alpacas. My sister spins her own yarn and knits like crazy. She buys a lot of her raw wool on ebay or other sites, and she says alpaca is in high demand. I figured it warranted further investigation. I don't know if you could use the meat or milk from them.

What I'd really love is some goats that would work for both milk and fiber. Maybe some crosses? I've tried looking up information but couldn't find much.