How Homesteaders Make Money - Souly Rested (2024)

How does a homesteader make money? That’s a many-faceted question. These gorgeous roses you’ll see when you scroll down just a tad bit? They’re part of my answer to that question, but more about that later…

There have been mind-blowing wonderful things going on around here recently. I’m talking about the kinda things that make you wanna explode with joy.Nutty, too-good-to-be-true kinda stuff. . . It all boils down to the fact that I took on 3 new bosses.Yes, you read that right.

I took on 3 new bosses, all within about 6 weeks of each other. Granted, one was myself. Let me explain.

And in the process I’ll explain the roses too.

I’ll give you lots of ideas in a minute, but first, let me break down how I personally make money, here on my homestead.

• I write.I guess I’ve been working for myself, so to speak, for a while now. I’ve been blogging here for a while, long before many folks actually read my content. From the beginning it was important to me to write without forking out a lot of money for website design or web hosting.

So I designed this site myself, via WordPress, and I spent a long time comparing hosting services to get a good, reliable one for the best price. I have been very pleased, for almost 5 years now, with Hostgator as my hosting provider, and I highly recommend them for the best bang for your buck if you’re considering starting a blog.

But go here for the full scoop onhow I make money bloggingandexactly how I set up my blog.

And definitely check out my 12 tips for growing your online reach. I mean why not? It’s totally free & you can sign up right here–>

Then I signed on with an agency and had Sweet Maple under contract. (Order an autographed copy & directly support our sugarbush right here: Sweet Maple Autographed Copy) Suddenly I became more of a legit writer with real deadlines and an official manuscript. When I took that on, I was elated. I figured I had enough books brewing in me to write full-time from that point forward. What I didn’t realize then was that an author makes a few pennies when someone buys a copy of her book. Seriously. Not getting rich on that one…

BUT if you’d like to support our family farm and sugarbush directly, you can purchase an autographed copy right here.

•I work locally.Just when I was settling in cozy with the notion of being a full-time published author, a friend here in my small, rural town, became my second boss.

I’ve told y’all the nearest traffic light is 18 miles away, right? Have I mentioned we have a population of 3,300? Yeah, we’re rural. So who’da thought I’d get a part-time job offer, to a job that I can walk to, that’s absolutely perfect for me, here in nowhere-ville? (I say that with sincere affection for my town. I like that we’re in nowhere-ville.)

Just a few weeks after I was knee-deep into my Sweet Maple manuscript, Nate asked if I would consider working for him. I know you don’t know Nate. . . well, unless you’re one of my 3 local friends who follow me here on SoulyRested, then maybe you know him. . . But Nate’s on a mission. A mission to tell folks about Christ from the pulpit in our old, tiny church. . .

. . . And via books he’s written. In fact, Nate’s written lots of books. Before you know it, I’m gonna have as many of Nate’s books on my shelf as there are miles from here to the nearest traffic light.

But before Nate was ready for me to start helping him out, and before I was too many chapters into work on Sweet Maple with my editor?

This is where I mention a person who I’m pretty sure you have heard of.

•I work with an another homesteaderand online influencer.Jill Winger asked me to come on board and help with her aMAHzing projects…When Jill asked me to join The Prairie Homestead team as Marketing & Project Manager, it was like 3 decades culminated into “YES!” This folks is what I’ve wanted to do for years and didn’t even know it. Suddenly all that marketing and writing experience and sometimes seemingly pointless degrees that I’d amassed over the decades started really kicking in.

Right after I joined her team, Jill released The Prairie Homestead Cookbook. So very much to love in those 122 recipes and 368 gorgeous pages.

And P.S. check out the maple sandwich bread recipe on page 158. 😉 See #2 and #3right here if you’d like to know how my recipe became one of the 122 in Jill’s book.

But we do many things to make money on the homestead.

Turns out mom didn’t have to worry.

My sweet mom used to worry about me–the creative dreamer who always had her nose in a book and her thoughts in the clouds. . . Then as a momma myself, I gave my mom more to worry about. I know she sat around loosing sleep wondering how her daughter was ever gonna put food on the table if she only has writing degrees, quits her good-paying editing job to homeschool her 4 daughters full-time, and, oh, has a husband who’s a mechanic.

Side note here, the best mechanics never–in any world–ever get paid even close to what they’re truly worth.

Bill, by the way, is truly the best mechanic that God has ever created in human form. That man can fix, build, rebuild, and troubleshoot ANYTHING. . . well except me, he’s been trying to troubleshoot my shenanigans for 25 years now, totally unsuccessfully. . .

But Mom didn’t have to worry. Sure, we had to scrimp every dime for most of our 25 years of marriage, but we’ve reached a really nice point in our lives, and I’ve figured out how to actually make some money while my two youngest daughters finish up homeschooling high school and while we get to live this blessed homesteading life.

3 Lessons for Homesteaders who want to Make Money

Of course you can lump thousands of people under the term “homesteader,” and you’d probably find about 850 different ways they make money. But overall I feel like there are 3 lessons in my story to help everyone:

• No matter how much you continually fail at this “homesteading” thing, you can find an area of expertise. In fact, it may be something you’ve failed at more times than you can count, until you finally started truly learning how to do it. Let’s face it, it’s in those areas that you know a whole lot. Then you can work at teaching others. In the beginning, no you won’t make any money at that. But eventually you just may find a way, through a blog, through a youtube channel, or through a published book, to make some good money.

• No matter how remotely you live, you can find a real skin-and-bones job, if that’s what you want. It may take a while, but if you really get to know folks and find out where there are needs in your community that you can help with, you may very well stumble upon your dream job.

• No matter how much of a “nobody” you start out as in the homesteading social media niche, if you decide to start a blog or a youtube channel, definitely get to know your peers. Follow the folks who are doing it “right.” Not only will you learn from them, but, who knows you may one day wind up calling them “friends.” If you’re truly blessed–and I consider myself to be on the the top rung of the “blessed” ladder–you may even start working with them.

There are many ways homesteaders can make money.

Nope, none of them are get-rich-quick schemes. Heck, most of them could never be profitable enough to be a full income. But nothing about this homesteading lifestyle is easy; I wouldn’t expect the money to come easy either. But there are plenty of very practical ways homesteaders can work towards making some money. Consider just these few:

1. Selling anything that your homestead produces. Maybe start with garden produce.There are lots of gardening tips here on SoulyRested. Start here and then download my free gardening book.

2. Write about what you’re doing and learning. I explain here how I personally make money blogging.

3. Finding buyers for your extra eggs. Here are 10 Fowl Facts for ya if you haven’t started raising chicken yet.

4. Getting ducks and selling their eggs. We can earn twice as much for duck eggs over chicken eggs in our area. But go here for Everything You Need to Know About Duck Eggs.

5. Hatching and selling baby chicks or ducklings. But don’t make this huge mistake I made.

6. Making butter. I tell you exactly how to make butter here.

7. Tapping trees and selling glorious syrup, sugar, candies, and cream. Grab a copy of my book, Sweet Maple, and you will know everything you need to know.

8. Selling photography at a local touristy type of general store. Folks love adorable farm pictures. I’ve written many posts with photography tips. Start here if you’re interested in that.

9. Offering gorgeous, useful handcrafted products, like gorgeous farmstead soaps.

10. Making your own kombucha and growing and selling the extra SCOBYs that result almost weekly. Start here if you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about.

11. Making instructional videos and ebooks and setting up a membership community. I like how Kate, of Venison for Dinner, has set one up, which she calls her Insider’s Club, go here for information and listen in as Kate explains more when she guest starred in my podcast, Season 2, Episode 2.

12. Renting out land for others to camp on during vacation season in your area.

13. Documenting your homesteading life on a youtube channel. Once you gain enough followers, you earn advertising money. Al Lumnah is a great example of a homesteader here in my own state who is doing this well. His channel is linked right here if you wanna check it out.

14. Growing and selling plant seedlings. I really enjoy selling seedlings for profit, you might want to give it a try.

15. Start an instagram page about your homestead. Found out how to grow an online platform that will allow you to sell your own products, or others that you endorse as an affiliate.

So, I promised a list of a dozen ways, but came up with a few extra.

So, why the roses?

I couldn’t help but think of my sweet mom when I took a few pictures of my roses. She would have LOVED this part of my story. (I wrote about the pain of loosing mom and dad in this post.) Because mom adored flowers. While zinneas she hand-picked from her gardens were her favorite, she loved when someone used a vase full of gorgeous roses to commemorate a special occasion.

Mom would never believe this though. That crazy nose-in-her-book daughter has figured out how to homestead, quit the 9-to-5 life & homeschool her daughters, make gallons of delicious maple syrup every year, and even make a decent living to boot.

And both of my bosses respect the fact that I’m my own boss as well. After I hit the “send” button on my final manuscript for Sweet Maple, I sent a picture below–summing up my excitement–to both Jill and Nate.

Jill immediately offered me kind accolades, just short of singing me a victory song, and Nate walked into my office with these gorgeous roses in hand.

Let me tell ya’ folks, there’s nothing better than being your own boss, with two other bosses who go out of their way to encourage and congratulate you on your exciting accomplishments–even the ones that are happening apart from your work with them.

As I near the 5-year mark of when our family moved to this little rural, rocky, rural corner of New England, which was followed rather closely by the 5-year mark of when I started SoulyRested, I can truly take a moment to stop and smell the roses.

Simple doesn’t mean easy.

Life’s been hard. I’ve failed miserably at this homesteading thing. I’ve burnt more pans of syrup than I dare admit. I spent years writing here with about 10 people reading it, and they were mostly related.

But let me tell you folks, simple doesn’t mean easy. And boy am I glad I’ve put in the work. Go here to check out my Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy podcast.

Cause sometimes simple joys come in threes and are really quite beautiful.

If you’re more of a visual person…

Hop in and join me chatting live about this topic. In fact, please join me every Tuesday over on facebook at 9:50 a.m., Eastern Time. I seriously love meeting new readers on Tuesdays! Oh, and (random note… cause sometimes I am random…) check out my Daddy’s little (very old) wood stove and why I love it!–>

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Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31