Homestead sales

[lcertuche]

I have no critters or garden for profit but I did sell no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies to raise money for our church to buy a van to pick up people who don't drive. Since a few other members have hit me up to help. I didn't take anything for supplies or my time considering it more of an offering to the Lord. So as far as I am concerned it was all profit.

 

[tortoise]

I have one egg customer for 1 dozen per week. $2/dozen is going rate here. I don't have extra eggs with that dozen going out each week. I've been limited in my baking lately for not having enough eggs. When we get to butchering season this fall I'll be keeping quite a few more hens than in previous years. We have more space for them now.

My best seller has been yearling asparagus plants. Asparagus is notoriously difficult to start from seed, but I have a little garden spot that is an asparagus incubator. Sell for $1 per plant bareroot. I get seeds, plant it, mulch it after they get a couple inches tall, forget it for a year, post on FB group for a local swap meet to get buyers in advance so they sell fast. My garden is about 12 square feet, takes 3 seed packets, 1 bale of horse bedding for mulch, and about $100 in sales. I kept my asparagus plants this past year to revitalize our old asparagus bed. I put strawberries in there, but now I'm tempted to do asparagus again!

Cottage laws here allow for sales of certain high-acid canned items. But no baked goods. People do it anyway of course, but I sleep better at night when I follow the rules.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Are folks buying those duck eggs for eating or hatching? I don't even like ducks - but if I could sell their eggs for that much - I'd get some, lol.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Well, we're outlaws so.......

My wife is a hairdresser. She sells eggs to her coworkers.
She sold 6 dozen today. That will buy a bag of feed! And we get more than we can eat anyway. We can't eat a dozen eggs everyday.

I thought it would be a good idea to unload some of our excess okra and what not as well. We have about 80 jars of different pickles from this season.

 

[Hinotori]

I think it's just raw goods we can off farm sell here. I'm pretty sure any food that is prepared in any way requires a kitchen inspection.


I don't do much of anything anymore. Hubby was selling eggs to his coworkers, but then two years ago they started sending him out on the road a lot. I didn't get any replacement chicks that year or since.


This last June he was laid off and got a new job. So no sales and I'm letting the layer flock dwindle.


I sell cull silkie pullets. They bring in enough to more than cover silkie feed cost. A silkie hen eats a third of what a large hen does. (That means I can have 3 times as many, right?) With this current silkie project, I have people waiting impatiently for me to have giants to sell in a few years.


I'm going to get more ameraucanas. If I advertise the blue eggs, I should be able to compete well with all the neighbors selling brown eggs. That's just a side benefit as I like ameraucana and want to show them.


Looking around at what people sell around here, I think I need to get my green houses going. Vegetable plant starts sell well, especially if they are a type that the store don't carry. Neighbor down the road is doing good selling trees

 

[sumi]

When I lived in South Africa we sold eggs from our flock (the demand was so massive I ended up with more than 50 layers and still couldn't meet it). The money from the egg sales and the odd cockerel sold paid for their feed and made a tidy profit. I free ranged them and bought feed in bulk, which helped.

Beside that we cut down trees on nearby land (offered by the owner who wanted them gone) and sold fire wood. I made jam with the extra strawberries from my MIL's garden and sold that. I grew lots of vegetables and sold some of the surplus. I raised and butchered pigs and sold the meat from home (allowed to in S.A.) I also briefly baked and sold bread, but the profit was so tiny, it wasn't worth the hassle.

 

[NH Homesteader]

We sell extra meat birds and the occasional package of pork (legal under certain circumstances in NH, not legal everywhere). Eggs, when we have extra, and I plan to sell soaps and lotions when my goats are in milk next year

I am however, careful about who I sell to. Food lawsuits are very real and I'm not going to lose my farm to make a few extra bucks.

 

[Mini Horses]

Well, we're outlaws so.......

Often I am, too. But your wife has an outlet that can let you go "under the radar".

A good friend owns a shop & she begs me to provide these things to her customers -- many are aging & no longer bake, etc. But, they love to buy for kids, grands, etc. and I've had success with offering holiday cakes, pies, candies, etc. They love the soap gift baskets and I have even offered some custom sewn items in the past. (I made custom clothes for years -- everyday, prom, wedding dresses, plus home décor & pet items, etc. ). I have offered samples @her shop & taken orders for seasonal goods. Worked well.

You just have to watch for a niche & work it.

 

[baymule]

We sell eggs for $4 a dozen, non GMO, the feed costs twice as much as regular layer pellets. I sold a few jars of jam, wild plum and peach, half pints for $5, pints for $8. We are taking 3 lambs to slaughter in a few weeks, pre-sold for $8 a pound, hanging weight, plus processing. Not that we are getting rich, but it helps with expenses.

 

[Mini Horses]

WOW -- so double sized Silkie!

In my area, with a lot of city folk who can have 4 to 6 hens, they love colored eggs! So those are the chicks/hens that can command big dollar. EEs are so very popular due to that, as well as the variety of feather color for most. They want the eye candy.

This years hatches will start laying in next 4-6 weeks, with younger hatches 8-12 weeks out. I can barely contain myself just waiting to see the color of their eggs. Expect a lot of blue and green.... If all goes as planned, the incubator will probably be used for some of the first hatches in 2018, to supply chicks on CL and at chicken swaps.

I'm working on a couple more pens to separate my purebreds for those to be broody hatched. Some are Marans, others Ameraucana & Orpingtons. Prefer broody raised --- they are taught to be "chickens" !!

These will be some of my "farm income" efforts! I have a barn that is basically unused for more than special needs to stall a goat or horse, so I can easily set pens for grow out in there. I still use the tack/feed room for feed. But rarely have a need for stalls now. Even considering removing the partitions in 1/2 of it to more easily arrange things.