There is no rule that once you start homesteading you have to rely only on the produce from your homestead. There are plenty of side hustles you can do, along with running your homestead to make extra money.
Here are 10 of the best side hustles to make money while living on your homestead. And the best part? Most of these go right along with running your homestead and living off-grid!
Take a look at the list and choose a few that fit with your skill sets and interests. You may not mesh with every single suggestion here, but a few of them are sure to suit you and your homestead.
- Blogging & YouTube
I mention this first because it’s a popular search and something aspiring homesteaders ask about a lot.
The good thing about Blogging and YouTube is that they are both free to start. You don’t need to have any money to invest in order to begin, except maybe a camera.
Here’s how to make money doing something fun like making YouTube videos:
In order to earn money off of YouTube account, you need 1,000 subscribers and a minimum of 4,000 watched hours within a year’s time. (Alternatively, you could also have 10 million public ‘short views’ within 90 days, but I think that’s more difficult to obtain).
In order to earn money via a blog, you need several thousand pageviews a month, or a high number of subscribers for your blog, in order to sign up with ad companies.
Once you do have that regular readership/audience, then you can join the YouTube Partner’s Program, start advertising on your blog or do sponsored posts to start to see a profit.
One thing I will suggest is that you create unique content based on what you know and/or are learning (It’s okay to document your experiments with gardening or irrigation systems! Go for it).
I get a pretty decent payout from my Youtube channel, ads on my blog, and affiliate sales. However, the real gold in having a blog or a Youtube channel, Youtube especially, is that it delivers credibility to whatever endeavor you are trying to pursue.
If you like growing plants, start a channel about growing plants and watch your nursery sales go through the roof. Like installing water tanks, same thing! Start a Youtube channel and clients will be coming to you.
You may not get rich directly from Youtube, but other opportunities surely will come your way because of it.
- Seed Business
I’ve been running my own seed business for over a year now. It is one of my favorite side hustles, but it does take work.
I mostly like the idea that I am taking what is normally a waste product to most people, the seeds from fruits and veggies, and reselling them (for pretty good money) to people who want to grow more fruit trees!
What a noble endeavor.
I specialize in tropical fruit tree seeds, you may have unique flower varieties, or specialize in plant cuttings. One thing I do know, there is a lot of business out there, if you want it.
Etsy has been a great place for me to market my seeds to people across the country, and with the Youtube channel, my sales do even better.
If you want to learn more about setting up your own seed business.
- Nursery Business
Hand-and-hand with a seed business is a nursery business. I love doing these two together because doing both at the same time doesn’t add to the work. If you have excess seeds, you set some aside for selling and then plant some for seedlings, too.
Plants are in high demand in many areas, especially if you are able to find the right market that fits you and your customers.
Once again, I like growing fruit trees from leftover seeds I do not sell. These trees I let grow for a year and then I sell them for $10-$15. It turns out to be a pretty good income generator for my farmstead.
- Poultry
Raising poultry is not difficult and comes with a host of benefits: you can sell the eggs, chicks or meat. And there are so many types of poultry besides just chickens – quail eggs bring in a nice profit, and organic, farm-raised turkeys get a great return during holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The thing with poultry though is how and what you are selling. During peak egg season, everyone seems to have eggs for sale. While their price goes down around this time, it seems most people are able to sell all the eggs they can get.
Selling the meat can be a pretty lucrative endeavor, but you have to find the market. Pasture raised chicken can fetch top dollar, but the only ones willing to pay that price may be located hundreds of miles away.
Something to think about.
- Consultations
If you have any sort of expertise, you can offer to share it with others in the form of consultations. Consultations are a great way to help others just starting out in what you’re already knowledgeable in, while making a little bit of money at the same time.
I often get asked by people to help them fix a problem they have on their homestead, and for a couple hours of my time, I get paid to share what I think possible solutions can be.
The solutions I come up with are based on years of experience, having been there before. Often times my simple suggestions save homeowners thousands of dollars and countless hours from having done things wrong.
My consultations help them skip that step, and yours may too.
Consider what your area of expertise may have, perhaps it’s in solar power, gardening, or simply keeping the books, and use it to generate income for you and help others as well.
- Workshops
Along with consultations, you can offer organized, topic-specific workshops on anything you are an expert in. Know how to trim a sheep’s hooves? Give a workshop!
Know how to make butter, cheese and ice cream from your goats? Give a workshop!
Do you sun-dry your own banana chips? Give a workshop!
Don’t limit yourself to your own community, either. If you have gained a good number of followers for your blog or YouTube channel, offer a special workshop over Zoom.
Many people don’t know how to do these things and offering a virtual or in-person workshop is a great way to spread the knowledge AND get a little extra money.
- Wood Products
Many of the homesteaders I know are pretty handy with wood. Even if you don’t think of yourself as “crafty” if you can make a basic kitchen shelf or tool rack, that’s something you can sell.
Here are a few other ideas
| Item | Sale Suggestions |
| Chicken coop | Hardware stores/Farmer’s market |
| Rustic office desk + chairs | Etsy |
| Stools, children’s chairs | Etsy |
| Reclaimed wood picture frames or framed mirrors | Etsy, Christmas Festivals |
| Carved Christmas decor | Etsy, Christmas Fesitvals |
| Small boxes (tea boxes, spice boxes, jewelry boxes) | Etsy/ Craft Markets |
| Carved items | Etsy/ Souvenir shops/ Craft Markets |
- Vacation Rentals/Hip Camp
Renting a portion of your property or a room or small cabin can be a great way to make a little extra income. Buying property with the sole purpose of it to generate income from short term rentals is not.
One is helping small homeowners make a little extra income, the other is destroying local communities. But done right, this could be the easiest way for you to make money from your off grid homestead.
Airbnb
Takes a 3% commission from hosts and another, separate fee on the guest’s end. Free to start and ratings are based off of guests reviews.
FlipKey
Flipkey is just like Airbnb (and they take the same 3% commission from hosts), but this company is under the umbrella of TripAdvisor, so you may see a more adventure-seeking clientele from this site.
If you’re like me and have a homestead on a tropical island, you already have an awesome platform for listing your property.
Imagine this: a solar-powered tree house with an ocean view, overlooking a fruit orchard for a nature-inspired stay. Sounds pretty fab, right?
Outdoorsy & Hip Camp
HipCamp and Outdoorsy are two other sites that allow you to rent your property to travelers.
However, you are more likely to get folks camping or traveling in RVs from these sites. If you’re renting with HipCamp, you may be able to simply rent a spot on your farm for travelers to set up a tent or park their camper van.
If you’re renting to RVs or folks with camper vans, have a plan for grey water disposal, so they don’t end up draining into your garden without your permission.
- Fiverr/Upwork
If you have tech skills, then look at making Fiverr or Upwork your go-to for sidehustles. Here are just a few of the jobs available on these (free-to-use) sites:
- Marketing
- Digital Design/ Graphics
- Photography and videography
- Writing and Editing
- Translation
- Website design and maintenance
- Virtual Office Assistant / Administration positions
You don’t need to pay for any jobs you apply for, but if you do get hired, the sites will take a small commission from your pay.
- Landscape Drafter
This is one of my favorite side hustles, especially for homesteaders living on a smaller plot of land. If you’ve had the challenge of making a garden, orchard and grazing land all fit on 4 acres (or less) then you have already proven that you have the skills of being a landscape drafter.
This gig allows you to design beautiful outdoor spaces, ideally using easy-to-maintain plants that are native to the area. Sounds pretty perfect for a homesteader, right?
There you go, 10 of the best side hustles homesteaders can do today to start earning some extra money.