Dairy goats make a great addition to any homestead. They are a small, easy to manage dairy animal that most moderately-sized homesteads can support. There is a wide margin for profit with dairy goats. Below are some ideas to get you started.   The Obvious…Dairy Right?   It might seem obvious that the way to […]

I’m very fortunate to live on a beautiful property that has been farmed continuously since just after the Revolutionary War. We tend 50 acres and have a barn that dates to 1894 as well as numerous outbuildings. For those trying to homestead on just a few acres (or less!), this may seem like plenty of […]

I would raise fiber goats whether I made money on them or not. I love our goats, and I love working with fiber in all its forms. It is incredibly interesting to me to work with a product from its very roots (the goat) to a finished usable product, (a pair of socks, sweaters, blanket […]

Going to the fiber mill is one of my favorite things to do. We always go to the fiber mill after the second shearing in September. We bring our fiber to the Woolen Mill in Frankenmuth, Mi. There is a large chicken show held the second weekend of October, so we try to make a […]

The first rule of marketing is that the customer is always right. It’s a wise rule because customers who have good experiences are much more likely to return to your business. And in the age of the internet, people who have a bad experience are likely to share it. Sometimes it’s a Facebook rant, other […]

If you have lots of extra goat milk, and you’re tired of just feeding it to your pigs and chickens, what can you do with it that would also bring in a little extra income? Most people immediately think of selling milk, ice cream, yogurt, or cheese, but those types of businesses require a big […]

It’s hard for me to quit things. I always feel like I’ve failed somehow. But I’ve learned that commitment isn’t true commitment if you can commit fully. Eventually, if you spread yourself too thin, all your endeavors will suffer.   I’ve read somewhere that successful people “do one thing at a time and they do […]

As another year draws to an end, it makes good business sense to take some time to reflect on what we’ve done with the past 365 days. Many times as homesteaders we’re used to plowing ahead. This life can be hard at times, so if we quit every time something wasn’t easy we wouldn’t be […]

Excerpted from Market Farming Success by Lynn Byczynski Scheduling After you have completed the exercise of figuring out how much to grow in order to meet income targets, you can get to work filling in your planting calendar. You can do this with a pencil on a big paper calendar or use a computer. First, […]

Excerpted from The Farm to Market Handbook by Janet Hurst. Finding laborers is often one of the most difficult obstacles for a farmer to overcome, but there are means to assist with this ongoing problem. Farmers often bring apprentices onto the farm. Although they are usually not paid, apprentices can learn valuable skills from the […]