Just like major business corporations move into different territories, you too, can expand your homestead. While some businesses add or acquire new products, like Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods, the same expansion opportunities are available to homesteaders. While a very different arena than a digital streaming service, agriculture remains the most important industry in the […]

Many farm-related businesses are seasonal. Our farm stand is open to the public from Memorial Day weekend through the end of November each year. It can be quite tricky to have enough inventory to have a nice selection of items for customers without being stuck with more than we need over the winter months. In […]

How to Define your Ideal Customer: Part Two Use our free 3-page worksheet to better understand who your ideal customer is! In my last post, I discussed why it’s so important to know who your ideal customer is. Understanding who they are will allow you to: Stand out in a crowd because your product/service was […]

A big part of Etsy is the ability to connect buyers with makers. (If you’re not familiar with Etsy, be sure to check out Part 1 of this article!) One of my favorite parts about running the farm stand is meeting my customers face-to-face. While this isn’t possible when you are selling online, Etsy does […]

Every year Zach and I take a tractor ride around the property gathering greens for holiday décor. I used to buy them. Then it dawned on me that we are lucky to have a pretty large selection of wild conifers around our property.   We have some pine trees in the front yard, some bristly […]

Extending the growing season by adding a greenhouse has become an important factor to consider for our small farmer’s market business. After feeling out the need for produce most requested in local farmer’s markets, we noticed one key factor – the early bird gets the worm. The first produce out the gate was eagerly purchased […]

How to Define your Ideal Customer: Part One Defining your ideal customer can transform your homestead business and supply you with a steady stream of happy customers! Whether you provide a homestead service, have an agritourism operation, manage a market farm, or operate a small handmade business, we all have one thing in common: customers. […]

Have you heard of Etsy? It is an online marketplace where vendors can sell handmade and/or vintage goods. Selling on Etsy has lots of benefits for us. It has a lot of name recognition and has been around long enough to be a publicly-traded company. Lots of lifestyle magazines feature  products found on the site. […]

We moved to the country in 2002 to start growing our own food organically. I also wanted to get “honest” exercise — rather than exercising in a gym or on a treadmill. And I wanted my children to grow up with a sense of purpose in life. We had no desire to sell anything. It’s […]

Gut Check Aaron from High Spirit Farm had been pounding the pavement, talking with chefs and grocers about buying his produce. It was early March when we sat down, and he was pretty sure that he had five commitments for purchasing throughout the season; he felt confident he could sell $45,000 worth of produce.   […]