Can You Really Make Money Homesteading?

As you probably know, homesteading is the lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is the practice by which you live within your own means, creating, growing, or nurturing virtually everything you need to live life on your own terms, under your own power, with your own resources. But can you really make money homesteading, or is this more of a pipe dream?

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How You Can Really Make Money Homesteading

Homesteading is an incredible experience. In fact, I’ve done a small ‘stint’ in the homesteading community myself! 

I also have friends who’ve ventured out into this foray… sometimes for good, and sometimes just for a little while. 

The great thing about homesteading is that it gives you almost complete freedom to live the way you want. 

But the downside of homesteading is that the ‘freedom’ comes at a price. 

True, when you live life based on your own skills, and not on the traditional ‘9 to 5’ job framework, you uncover new potential for a way of life… but you also miss out a bit on that ‘income’ you used to rely on. 

Not to say that you cannot have a job and still homestead. Some people do that as well. 

But those in the ‘hardcore homesteading community’ generally want to be as self-sufficient as possible. 

And for many, that means finding alternative ways to make money outside of a traditional job.

But how can you actually make money homesteading? How can you get the cash you need, while still being self-reliant and living life on your own terms?

These are great questions. Let’s go over a few different ideas. 

1… Sell Eggs

If you plan to have chickens on your homestead, you can easily sell raw eggs in your local community and at your local farmer’s market. 

Raw eggs can bring anywhere from $1.50 to $4.00 a dozen, depending on what part of the country you live in. 

It’s easy to do, doesn’t cost much to maintain, and can easily be scaled to grow as your customer-pool expands. 

2… Sell Raw Milk From Cows Or Goats

This is another awesome side-hustle that a lot of homesteaders make use of. 

If you are already milking a cow or a goat, you can easily scale this to sell the extra milk that your family doesn’t need. 

You can sell raw milk for as much as $10 a gallon, though you want to be sure to check your local laws, as some states have rules about how many cows you can be milking at once if you intend to sell the milk. 

But otherwise, this is a pretty awesome side hustle that may not really take up any extra time. Plus, it can give you cash in place of that extra milk you’re not going to drink anyway! 

3… Raise Grassfed Steers, Or Other Livestock, For Meat

Grassfed meat is a huge market. And if you want to get really fancy with it, you can even create your own homemade beef jerky to sell as well! 

One caveat to this is that you really need to have your own pasture area. If you need to pay someone else for the use of their pasture in raising your livestock, the costs of doing that will probably cut into your profits… and will render the venture ‘less profitable.’ 

But the good news is this… grass fed beef (and even goat meat) is pretty easy to sell in local markets, and if you are simply raising the animals to eat for your own family, then selling the extra can be a great way to generate a bit of cash when the time comes to harvest your product. 

4… Sell Your Extra Vegetables

This is probably one of the easiest ways to earn extra money while homesteading, as it doesn’t require you to take care of live animals. 

With this side-hustle, you simply grow enough crops to sell the extra… pocketing the money as your payment for all of your hard work! 

Carrots, potatoes, corn, cabbage, radishes, melons, cucumbers… you can grow, and sell, all kinds of different foods. 

Plus, you can market them as organic and raw if you grow them yourself and use no dangerous chemicals to do so… which can be a huge money maker. 

5… Make And Sell Products At Home

Are you really good at making your own homemade jam? 

Are you exceptional at a skill like refurbishing old furniture? 

Sometimes, the best things to sell are the things that you know how to create with your own skills, experiences, and knowledge. 

Are you a woodworker? Are you an awesome cook? Are you really good at sewing and creating blankets and/or clothing? 

Take a look at what skills you have, and brainstorm ways to make them more lucrative. 

What could you build or create that you could sell for a profit?

I recently met a woodworker who put all of his effort into building wooden cell phone cases! I also used to know a homesteader who hand-built cabinet doors for local cabinet makers! 

These are great ways to leverage the skills and experiences you already have to create something valuable. 

You can even grow a full-scale business out of this type of thing! 

6… Start A Pet Sitting Business

Most homesteads already have pets and animals. So it would be a natural extension of that to start a pet-sitting business, and watch and care for other animals for your friends and neighbors when they need to leave town, go to work, or run errands. 

This could easily be scaled into a bigger business as well, by building extra pens, kennels, or even a dog/cat room in one part of your house! 

This probably isn’t the side-hustle you would want if you don’t like pets. But if you’re already a fan of animals, this could be a super-cool way to make some extra money! 

7… Rent Out Your Pasture

If you have an empty pasture that you don’t have any animals in, then you can actually make pretty decent money renting it out to neighbors who need extra space for their cattle. 

Alternatively, you could also grow hay in these fields, and then cut, bale, and sell it for a profit as well. 

This will obviously require a bit of farming equipment… as you can’t just go out and bale a bunch of hay by hand! 

But if you’re already doing it for yourself, why not make the hay you need, and sell the extra for cash? 

8… Cut And Sell Firewood

If you have some timber on your homestead, and won’t be needing all of the dead wood for firewood, then you can cut and sell extra firewood to make a bit of cash when you need it! 

I used to do this when I was younger, and it always provided me with a pretty decent way to earn some cash in the summer and fall. 

It can be a sweaty, dirty job, cutting firewood in the summer. 

But if you put the task off until it starts to cool down for the year, you can also cash-in on the rush of everyone trying to stock up on firewood before the winter sets in! 

All you need to make this side hustle work is a truck, a saw, and a place to cut wood. 

In some states, you can even get a permit to cut wood in conservation areas! 

Our Personal Feelings About Making Money Homesteading

One thing that most people don’t realize about homesteading is that it is absolutely a lifestyle, and a passion. 

Most people do not choose to homestead because they believe that it will make them a lot of money.  However, personally, I think if you started a YouTube channel or affiliate blog about homesteading, you could make some serious money through advertising. There are a lot of people interested in this topic!

More and more people want to live a self-sufficient life on their own terms, and are passionate about having that freedom to do what they want. 

Our Final Opinion On Homesteading

Should you try some of these methods to make money homesteading? 

Nathaniell

What's up ladies and dudes! Great to finally meet you, and I hope you enjoyed this post. My name is Nathaniell and I'm the owner of One More Cup of Coffee. I started my first online business in 2010 promoting computer software and now I help newbies start their own businesses. Sign up for my #1 recommended training course and learn how to start your business for FREE!