Franny’s Good Advice on Getting Started in  Agritourism Enjoy this advice on getting started in agritourism and don’t forget to be nice and be safe! For more Homestead videos and good advice visit The MOTHER EARTH NEWS and Friends Youtube. Visit Franny’s Farm at www.FrannysFarm.com

This past weekend saw a big change in how we do business. For many years, our farm stand has been a cash-only business. We would also accept personal checks, but did not take credit or debit cards. However, sales were lost because of this. Local folks know to bring cash, as many small businesses in […]

The internet is a wonderful tool to advertise your homemade products. Whether you have your own website, sell through social media or online classifieds, or run a shop through a site like eBay or Etsy, making the sale is only part of the process. You still need to find the best way to get the […]

Pumpkins are for laughter — for Jack-O-Lanterns and Halloween — during the cool, overcast days of autumn. Pumpkins are for pies . . . all winter long. And pumpkins are for extra cash: their sales bring in dollars when most other money crops are gone. A fellow homesteader put it this way: “Pumpkins are our […]

We all like to think that we are too smart to be influenced by marketing. So it’s easy to think that when you set up your first farmer’s market table or open your homestead farm stand all you have to do is offer quality products and courteous service, and sales will happen. However, there is […]

It’s all in a name, right? When you are shopping, what do you look for? It’s those tried-and-true products that are the go-to items on your list. What do you look for as you’re racing through a weekday shopping trip, before you have to get home and make supper (and attend to the other dozen […]

Spring on a farm can be stressful as you try to fit everything that needs attention into the time you have available, and it’s often equally stressful to look at your bank account. It sometimes seems that all you have are expenses, with very little income before crops are ready. One way we diversify our […]

How to Use Skill-Teaching as an Income on the Homestead Teaching classes on your homestead can be a lot of fun and quite rewarding. Over the years, my husband and I have taught many classes at our farm; everything from how to milk a goat, blacksmithing, basket weaving and yarn spinning. Classes can serve: – […]

Lots of Little Incomes; 8 Tips to Help You Do a Lot with a Little. Sometimes on a homestead it can be difficult to find one source of income that will sustain you for the whole year. Unless you have a large piece of property and can devote acres and acres to a mono crop […]

When I first heard the word blog, I thought…what the heck is that? I thought it was a weird name for what I later learned was an online journal/collection of articles. It sounded like a combination of “blob” and “grog”.   I’m sort of resistant to new technology and always about a decade behind when […]