Estimated reading time: 14 minutes
Living the homestead lifestyle offers a sense of freedom and satisfaction. However, you may have taken a drastic cut in income to make your dream of self-sufficiency a reality.
Whether you are looking for a full-time salary or a supplemental income, there are many ways to make money as a homesteader. Your best bet is to think about your specific property and your individual talents and then brainstorm how you can combine them to offer a quality service or product to others.
Many urban dwellers are fascinated with homegrown, handcrafted items, and others will pay to live vicariously through your chosen lifestyle through your services and expertise.
We have compiled a list of 50 ideas for increasing your income as a homesteader. Look through them to see what piques your interest.
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1. Become a Beekeeper
A time-honored homesteading profession, beekeeping is more important than ever with the population of honeybees decreasing. You can sell the bees themselves and/or their honey. Beyond honey, many beekeepers also earn money selling beeswax, propolis, and pollen, or by offering pollination services to nearby orchards and farms.
Getting started usually requires only a modest investment in hives and protective gear, which makes it an accessible side hustle for many homesteaders.
2. Become a Livestock Consultant
If you have a lot of experience raising livestock, people will pay you to visit their farm or homestead and give them advice. This can include help with breeding decisions, pasture management, herd health, or setting up fencing and shelter systems.
Building a reputation through word of mouth or a simple website can lead to steady referral business over time.
3. Board Horses
You can earn extra money by boarding horses on your homestead as well. Perhaps you could offer riding lessons, too. Many horse owners are also willing to pay extra for services like feeding, turnout, and basic grooming, so bundling these into your boarding fees can boost your income further.
4. Breed Livestock
An oldie but a goodie. Breeding animals is a tried and true way of making money as a homesteader. Popular options include goats, pigs, and rabbits, all of which reproduce quickly and have strong demand among other small farmers and homesteaders.
Keeping detailed breeding and health records can also help you charge premium prices for well-documented stock.
5. Breed Livestock Guardian Dogs
A livestock guardian dog is a great thing to have. If you like dogs, train them to herd and watch livestock then sell them. Breeds like Great Pyrenees and Anatolian Shepherds are especially sought after by homesteaders who need reliable protection for their flocks, and a dog with proven working experience can sell for a premium.
6. Create Your Own Soaps
If you like making soap, we have several posts on how to make various types including: castile soap, goat milk soap, olive/coconut oil soap, and 3 ingredient soap. Handmade soaps sell especially well when packaged attractively and marketed with natural or locally-sourced ingredients, and many soapmakers expand into seasonal scents or gift sets to boost sales around the holidays.
7. Create Your Own Toiletries
Homemade lotion, lip balm, and shampoo are popular items at farmers' markets and at natural foods stores. Because so many buyers are looking to avoid synthetic ingredients, labeling your products as all-natural or chemical-free can help them stand out on a crowded market table.
8. Cut and Sell Firewood
If you have land to be cleared, you can earn some extra bucks by selling the wood to others. Splitting and seasoning the wood properly before selling it typically commands a higher price than green or unsplit wood, and offering delivery can open up sales to customers without a truck or trailer.
9. Freelance
Offer your writing, editing and/or technical skills online. Many platforms exist to help you market your skills and find clients. In fact, we hired several of our writers on Upwork. Freelancing is especially appealing for homesteaders because it can be done entirely from home on a flexible schedule, fitting around chores and seasonal farm work.
10. Grow Mushrooms
Are mushrooms your thing? You may find a nice income source by selling your homegrown mushrooms to local restaurants. Here's how to grow them. Specialty varieties like oyster and shiitake mushrooms tend to fetch higher prices than common button mushrooms, and chefs are often willing to pay a premium for a consistent, fresh local supply.
11. Host Birthday Parties for Kids
Parents are often looking for new ways to celebrate their children's birthdays. You may find a niche for yourself as a birthday party location. Think about what you can offer. A petting zoo? Pony rides? Apple picking? There are many fun possibilities.
Offering package deals that include decorations, activities, and take-home treats can make your homestead a go-to destination and encourage repeat bookings for multiple children in the same family.
12. Make and Sell Clothing
If you're into sewing and knitting, try making your own clothes, towels, and blankets and putting them up for sale. Handmade, natural-fiber items like wool sweaters or quilted blankets often appeal to buyers looking for something more durable and unique than mass-produced retail goods.
13. Make Your Own Bread
If you like baking, you should know that there are many people out there who would be happy to purchase fresh, home-baked bread from you. You can make breads such as French bread, peasant bread, and Amish white bread.
Selling at a weekly farmers' market or setting up a simple pre-order system can help you gauge demand and reduce waste from unsold loaves.
14. Make Your Own Candles
Everybody likes candles. Heck, they have their own aisle in every Walmart. Here's how to make them. Using natural waxes like soy or beeswax and adding your own essential oil scent blends can help your candles stand out from mass-produced paraffin versions and justify a higher price point.
15. Make Your Own Cheese
Similarly, homemade, handcrafted cheese can command good prices. Here's how to make cheese. Aged cheeses in particular can be sold at a significant markup compared to fresh cheese, though be sure to research your state's regulations on selling dairy products before you start.
16. Make Your Own Grape Juice or Wine
Growing grapes can be a rewarding activity for both your soul and your wallet. Depending on your location, you may need a license to sell wine commercially, so check local regulations first, and consider starting with juice or jelly sales if you want a simpler entry point.
17. Open a Shooting Range
If you have a large property, your homestead may be perfect as an outdoor gun or archery range. Offering memberships or per-visit fees, along with basic safety instruction, can create a recurring revenue stream from local shooting enthusiasts.
18. Open Your Orchard
If you have a large orchard and more fruit than you need, why not try a season as a u-pick destination? U-pick operations also cut down on your own labor costs since customers do the harvesting themselves, and many owners add extras like hayrides or a small farm stand to increase revenue per visit.
19. Raise Bait
If there are a lot of fishermen in your area, try raising your own bait. Here's how to raise worms for fishing. Bait sales tend to be steady and seasonal, picking up heavily in spring and summer, and worms in particular require very little space or investment to raise in bulk.
20. Raise Chickens
Most homesteaders raise chickens for their own use. You can earn a little extra income by selling your surplus eggs to others. You also can sell your chickens. Here are the 8 best egg-laying chicken breeds. Selling to neighbors or through a small farm stand often earns more per dozen than wholesale prices, especially if your eggs are pasture-raised or from heritage breeds.
21. Raise Cows
Consider raising a cow for meat and selling the excess meat. Here's a beginner's guide. Selling meat by the quarter, half, or whole animal directly to buyers can be more profitable than selling individual cuts, and grass-fed or organic labeling often allows for a higher asking price.
22. Raise Fish
Turn your pond into income potential by raising and selling fish such as tilapia or catfish. You also could raise worms to sell for bait. Fish farming, or aquaculture, can be combined with a garden through aquaponics systems, giving you two income streams from the same water source.
23. Raise Rabbits
There are so many reasons to raise meat rabbits. The meat is healthy, they grow and reproduce quickly, but most importantly, you can sell rabbit meat or the rabbits themselves. Rabbits require relatively little space and feed compared to larger livestock, which makes them one of the more accessible meat animals for homesteaders just getting started with breeding for profit.
24. Raise Sheep
Sheep are valuable animals for the homestead. You can raise them for their meat, and/or you can sell their wool or the products you make from their wool. Some homesteaders also offer shearing services to other sheep owners, or turn raw wool into yarn and roving for sale to fiber crafters.
25. Raise Turkey
Because of Thanksgiving, turkey is guaranteed to be a popular food every year. Here's how to raise turkey for profit. Taking pre-orders in the months leading up to the holidays can help you plan how many birds to raise and guarantee buyers before you even start feeding them out.
26. Rent Your Home
If you have a beautiful home on picturesque property, consider listing your home on AirBnB. Guests are often drawn to the novelty of staying on a working farm, so highlighting nearby attractions or offering a farm tour as part of the stay can help your listing stand out and justify a higher nightly rate.
27. Rent Your Property
Offer your acreage as a location for weddings and family reunions or as a campsite. Rural, scenic properties are in high demand for outdoor weddings in particular, and you can charge significantly more for a venue rental than for basic camping fees.
28. RV or Boat Storage
Many urban dwellers will pay good money for a safe place to store their recreational equipment in the off-season. If you have an empty barn, you can charge an increased rental fee for indoor storage.
Offering added security like a locked gate or cameras can let you charge even more, since owners are often willing to pay a premium for peace of mind.
29. Sell Essential Oils
If you know how to make essential oils, you should know there are countless people out there who would prefer to buy them from individuals instead of from giant companies. Building a following on social media or at local markets can help you educate buyers on the sourcing and quality that sets your oils apart from mass-market brands.
30. Sell Home Remedies
Make your own home remedies for common ailments and sell them. Here are 5 homemade painkillers, and here are 5 homemade healing salves. Be aware that regulations around making health claims can be strict, so it's wise to research labeling laws in your area before selling these products commercially.
31. Sell Homemade Crafts
Make crafts, pottery, jewelry, birdhouses, or anything else you like making on Etsy or at Famers' Markets. Building an online shop alongside in-person sales lets you reach buyers well beyond your local area, which can be especially valuable during the off-season for farmers' markets.
32. Sell Homemade Furniture
If you're into woodworking, consider making furniture. People love having a piece of furniture that wasn't mass-produced in some factory. Using reclaimed or locally sourced wood can be a strong selling point, and custom or made-to-order pieces often command a significant premium over standard designs.
33. Sell Homemade Jams and Jellies
Another use for all that fruit is to make and market your own jams and jellies. Unique or unexpected flavor combinations, like a spicy pepper jelly or a mixed-berry jam, can help your products stand out on a shelf full of more traditional options.
34. Sell Homemade Maple Syrup
Do you have maple trees? Then you have a source of some extra income. Make some syrup and sell it. Maple syrup has a long shelf life and strong year-round demand, and selling in bulk to local stores or restaurants can move product faster than relying on individual retail sales alone.
35. Sell Homemade Pickles
Making your own pickles is fun, and they are really good for your health. Here are a couple of ways to make them. Fermented pickles in particular are gaining popularity for their probiotic benefits, so marketing them as a gut-healthy option can appeal to health-conscious buyers.
36. Sell Your Arts and Crafts
Whether it is woodworking, macramé, needlepoint, or you name it, you can reach potential customers for your handcrafted wares through online sites such as Etsy. Good photography and a clear, personal brand story can make a big difference in how well handmade items sell online, since buyers often want to know who made the piece and how.
37. Sell Your Compost
You are already making your own compost, right? Why not sell some of what you don't need to other gardeners? Bagging compost for easy transport, or offering bulk delivery to local gardeners and landscapers, can turn what would otherwise be a waste product into a steady source of income.
38. Sell Your Flowers
Market your beautiful fresh flowers at your own stand or at a farmers' market. Don't forget that dried flowers are popular too. Offering flowers by subscription, sometimes called a flower CSA, gives you predictable income throughout the growing season instead of relying only on one-off sales.
39. Sell Your Heirloom Seeds
Harvest your best seeds at the end of each growing season and dry them for sale. They can be a nice addition to your produce stand or you could sell them online. Heirloom and open-pollinated varieties tend to be especially popular with home gardeners who want to save and replant their own seeds year after year, which can turn first-time buyers into repeat customers.
40. Sell Your Herbs
Plant more herbs than you need for your family, then sell the rest in fresh or dried form. Culinary herbs sell well at farmers' markets, while dried herbs can also be bundled into teas or seasoning blends for a higher-value product.
41. Sell Your Milk
Fresh, unpasteurized cow's milk or goat milk is a sought-after commodity by many urban dwellers. Raw milk sales are regulated differently from state to state, so it's important to check your local laws before selling, and some homesteaders find it easier to sell shares in a dairy animal instead of the milk itself.
42. Sell Your Produce
If you harvest more than what your family needs, sell your bounty at your own produce stand or at a local farmers' market. Offering a mix of common and less common vegetables can help you stand out from other vendors, and building relationships with local restaurants can create a reliable wholesale outlet for your surplus.
43. Sell Your Rabbits' Poop
Who would want to buy that? Lots of people. It actually has many uses. Rabbit manure is considered one of the best natural fertilizers because it can be applied directly to plants without composting first, which makes it especially appealing to organic gardeners.
44. Serve as a Bed and Breakfast
Do you have a guest cottage or a spare room? You may find income potential by posting it for rental on Airbnb or other online sites. Adding a homemade breakfast featuring your own eggs, produce, or baked goods can make the experience feel more authentic and justify charging a higher nightly rate than a standard rental.
45. Start a Blog
If you're living the homestead life, there are countless people out there who would love to hear about your experience. Document your day-to-day life and the lessons you've learned, and publish it on a blog where you can earn money from ads.
Beyond ad revenue, many homestead bloggers also earn money through affiliate links, selling their own guides or courses, or sponsored posts once they build a loyal readership.
46. Start a Pick-Your-Own Farm
If you grow lots of food, save yourself the work of harvesting and let people come pick fruits and vegetables on a pick-your-own farm. This model works especially well for crops like berries and pumpkins, and adding family-friendly extras like a corn maze or petting area can increase the amount visitors spend per trip.
47. Start a Youtube Channel
There's even more opportunity on Youtube. Get a camera and start documenting your life on the homestead. You'd be surprised how many people will watch. Beyond ad revenue from YouTube itself, successful homestead channels often earn additional income through sponsorships, merchandise, or by directing viewers to their own products and online shop.
48. Teach What You Know
Host in-person weekend or online workshops on the art of homesteading. You can teach farming, gardening, raising sheep, or your specific area of expertise. Recording your workshops and selling them as an online course afterward can turn a single weekend of teaching into an ongoing source of passive income.
49. Watch People's Pets
If you have the space, set up a kennel to board dogs and cats while people are away. Offering extras like daily photo updates, outdoor playtime, or pickup and drop-off service can help you stand out from larger commercial boarding facilities and justify charging more per night.
50. Write a Book
If you've been homesteading for a long time, write a book about your experiences and the lessons you've learned. Nowadays, it's easy to self-publish on Amazon. People will find your book through the recommendations feature. Pairing your book with an email list or blog following can also help drive initial sales and reviews, which in turn boosts its visibility in Amazon's search results.
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