eliminating bills - homesteading

[abigalerose]

Haha that's okay!
And I don't have to run out and get these animals right away by any means, just seeing what might be a good idea to plan for. I don't know which animals are good investments and which aren't. The sheep look like they are. A pig or two would be as long as I eat it. Rabbits? I don't know what breeds are best and if I'd be better off with rabbits to sell for meat or rabbits to sell for pets, or to not do them at all (I won't eat rabbit). Maybe there's something else out there that would work better for me besides pigs and rabbits. I don't know I'm not very creative. It doesn't have to be animals either! It can be useful stuff to put in my garden, farm equipment that would come in handy, etc. etc.
and on the sheep, from what I'm reading it should be easy to rotate them if I've only got 3, maybe it'll be easy with 6 too, like I said I'll just have to see how much they eat!
And I know the bees are expensive lol I'm waiting on those until everything else is running super smoothly, because they're not an immediate nessecity, but I do for sure want them at some point in time

 

[NH Homesteader]

If you go over to Backyard Herds and read up on animals over there, you'll get a good idea of which animals you want. Also check out the farmers markets near you and talk to people. There may be something that no one is doing that would work because it's an untapped market. It also could be no one is doing it because there's no market in your area.

I started small with my goats and produced enough for just us. Now I see that there is a market in my area (and online) for soaps and lotions so I may end up scaling up to make a little extra money. We raise Cornish x meat birds for ourselves and found that the market is tapped out for them here so we only sell to family and friends. Watch what other people are doing and you'll get good ideas!

 

[abigalerose]

Now I remember why I wanted goats! lol I wanted to make goat milk soap. I love using it and it sells for $3-$5 a bar around here.
I'll see if I can figure out what there's a market for.
I know I'd have better luck selling chicks than eggs though

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yeah it sells for $5/bar here. There's a lot less milk in soap than you would think! I haven't gone crazy with colors yet, you can charge more if it's pretty!

To sell meat birds in any quantity you need to invest in equipment for butchering. We have $2,000 into ours. And we bought it used. That's for professional quality, all stainless steel.

 

[Beekissed]

You may get into bees more cheaply than imagined too. There are people out there who have built whole apiaries from luring in swarms and doing bee removals, scrapping together unconventional hives, etc.

 

[Mini Horses]

Honey can be sold for a good price, $8 a pint here. Just have to have that market for it. They do pay for themselves in the pollination aspect. Some effort by you but primarily bees are self supporting for food and good work ethic, LOL.

Think about growing things that may sell well -- certain veggies, flowers, mushrooms (convert part of the dairy barn), garlic, herbs, etc. Again, all depends on the "market" for sales where YOU are.

It's also VERY important that it is something you like and like to do. Otherwise, it is just "a job". Check out the "right to farm" and "cottage" laws in your area. It will offer some consideration, maybe ideas, for what you would/could do. This seems to be a point in your life where you are trying to make choices. Just remember things can change & that's ok.
Good to research it all. Then slowly try it.

 

[abigalerose]

Well I won't be selling any meat birds, just chicks I hatch from my layers. I can probably sell them for $3 a piece. May not do many any good, but at least it's fun!
And I have seen where people get their own bees like that, on homesteading shows, so that's worth looking into when the time comes, as well as building things myself instead of buying, there's lots of beehive DIY on Pinterest.
I am going to look into going beyond what I garden for myself, and specializing in peppers. Or I could do zucchini, it apparently grows REALLY well, like really really well, on my land lol. And they sell for several dollars a piece for tiny ones at the store, I could sell medium-large ones for a dollar each and make a profit and probably have a lot of happy costumers, my family was willing to pay for the ones I gave them this year because they were so big/good and they were saving a lot of money at the store but I wouldn't let them lol. But I really like growing peppers so I'm gonna try that.
And I do want to convert the milk barn! It needs a new roof but I was thinking when I had the money for that I could make it into half storage for canned goods and half green house (it's a big barn!), which also raises a question id thought about before, and it might be silly, but could I put a flat roof on it and double my gardening space by planting stuff up there?
Also, I really love doing this stuff, which is why I'd be totally thrilled with just breaking even

 

[NH Homesteader]

Zucchini? Wow you can't give zucchini away here. Joel Salatin had a joke in one of his books that he lived in the middle of nowhere and the only reason you ever had to lock your car doors was to keep people from putting surplus zucchini in there! Haha sorry it made me laugh, but apparently that's not the case where you are!

I have no idea if that would work. I am a mediocre gardener and my husband is the builder/creative one.

 

[Beekissed]

I wouldn't count on zucchini as a cash crop unless no one can grow it where you live. It's about the easiest thing to grow in any garden, that's why there are so many jokes about giving away zucchini.

I'd definitely examine the market for anything you intend to grow to see if you have an actual market for it. Smallholdings only turn a profit if one is very hard working and savvy on what sells in their area and usually they have to have several streams of income/value added things like a farm store, greenhouse, agritourism, a niche market item or a skill that is needed but can't be found in the area.

One retired fella found that he could make $6K on an acre of land he had just by growing zinnias and marketing them to the local florists at $.50 per stem, which was cheaper than they could get them elsewhere. I'm guessing he lived near a large city with many florists for that to be a viable market, but one never really knows what will sell in any given area without doing some research and sometimes a person just falls into the info or the market by happenstance.

This fella is an example of just growing something from nothing by finding a specific market....

 

[abigalerose]

I probably could have made a couple hundred bucks selling them, but I was just so excited about my first garden being successful that I gave them all to my family, and I didn't want to put in the effort of going to the farmers market at the time either. I beleive they would have sold good though because this summer the price for them at the store was very high, I could've cut the price in half and everyone probably would've been knocking on my door.
Now I have a Facebook page, and hopefully soon a website (for my dogs and horse training) and once they take off I can market other things on there as well. My cousin has a Facebook page for her leather business and her boyfriends fencing business and she's offered to promote me when I'm ready (she's got a few thousand followers).
I really do love growing peppers, but I'll have to find out what the market for them is like here. I'm not sure how to go about it