Like it or not, money makes the world go around. And, ironically, to live the quieter, simpler, cheaper lifestyle, a lot of money is often required to get there in the first place. I'm very fortunate to have 40 acres of inherited farmland. But there's no farmhouse and the land is overgrown so everything I'm doing at the moment is in an effort to build, develop and turn that plot into a small, working and profitable farm.
Currently both my husband and I work non-homestead related jobs. When we move to the farm, it'll mean giving up our work and starting fresh. SCARY STUFF. In an effort to reduce the scare factor, I've started the Brimwood Farm brand and already have a few projects underway. These are a few of my plans for boosting farm-related income in 2018.
Chickens
Despite only a 45sqm garden, I already keep a lot of chickens, and this year I've been developing some rare breed and pure breed lines. Selling meat birds isn't really feasible on this tiny sized plot - there's just enough room to stagger a few growing roosters for our own freezer - so the focus has to be on three things:
Eggs - Egg sales can only get you so far. Currently I'm covering the cost of feed by selling to neighbours, friends and clients (I'm a gardener), and making a little bit on top. BUT...I have some older girls that aren't laying. To be truly efficient, I probably need to work out which these are and 'remove' them from the flock.
Hatching Eggs - This year I did quite well sell hatching eggs from my Ixworth flock (a dual purpose rare breed) and I now have three hens instead of one. I hope to continue selling those next year, along with my d'Anver and Poland eggs.
Pullets/Chicks - I also raised a number of pullets this year and sold all of them. With the egg sales covering the cost of feed, any income from the birds is profit so I want to do a lot more of this next year. I'd also like to start getting a few customers for chicks too so there isn't the 4/5/6 month rearing period.
- Silkie Colour - Quite by accident, I've begun developing a new silkie colour that I'm calling the 'toasted marshmallow'. You can see what it looks like in this YouTube video. I'm currently line-breeding the colour into the hens and hope I can continue this in 2018 and possibly start selling a few of these silkies at a premium price.
Quail
I keep, breed and rear both Coturnix Quail and Chinese Painted Quail (Button Quail). So far, i'm yet to sell any actual quail, and it's mostly the eggs I sell at £2 per dozen. I have got a few interested parties for quail next year though, so I hope I can sell a few young birds.
Pheasants
One of the future farm plans is to have an ornamental pheasantry to breed and rear beautiful specimens like Golden Pheasants and Amhurst Pheasants. I haven't got much room here, but I'm contemplating moving the quail out of the aviary and housing a trio of Golden Pheasants in there to kick-start the business. This is a long-term goal; I'd probably get eggs and hatch them which would mean my breeding stock wouldn't actually be ready until 2019.
Vegetables
I had planned to begin my market gardening this year but it didn't really happen that way. It was only my second season growing in this small space and I had MANY failings. However, gardening is a learning process and so next year I plan to grow more varieties of vegetables with less plants. For example, I only grew two varieties of tomatoes this year but had loads of plants. In 2018, I'll have a larger range of varieties by having less plants of each.
I will need to tackle the selling side of things - something I'm not good at. I hate advertising. I hate trying to sell stuff. I shy away from promotion. BUT...no business is going to get anywhere with that attitude!
Cage and Aviary Birds
As you seen from my recent budgie baby post, I keep and breed a few cage and aviary birds. This was never something I expected or aimed of earning money from: it was a hobby. However, as an additional revenue stream, it can bring in a few pennies. In 2018 I want to pay more attention to the colour breeding of my zebra finches, get another pair of budgies, successfully breed my cockatiels and possibly look at introducing another couple of species - perhaps canaries and another type of fine or parakeet.
YouTube
A couple of years ago I set up the Brimwood Farm YouTube Channel with the aim of sharing my journey from back garden smallholding to rural small farm. I'm still in the back garden stage, but I'm approaching 1,500 subscribers and almost 250 videos.
YouTube itself doesn't make me a vast amount of money via ads, but I run a Patreon and include affiliate links too, and that is growing month-on-month to create more income to fund the farm projects and developments. My Patreons, for example, help pay for trees, fencing and conservation projects, whilst my affiliate funds go into the house-build savings pot.
Next year I want to continue growing this community and focus on YouTube more as a business prospect than just a fun hobby.
Steemit
I LOVE Steemit. I came here for the money, I stayed for the community <- that's something I say ALL the time because it's very true. BUT, I have made a little money on Steemit (around £500 that I've cashed out in SBD and put into Bitcoin). I'm a cryptcurrency novice and am still working out how I can cash out my Bitcoin into real money as I'm in the UK and it's not that easy without losing a tonne of cash to fees.
In 2018 I want to continue placing an important emphasis on Steemit to help build the community here and, as a result, share around SBD from the blockchain so it can benefit everyone.
Plants
As I mentioned above, my 'normal' job is as a self-employed gardener. I love plants, and I've been taking cuttings and propagating plants this year like a mad man as I'd like to have a small nursery set up too. I sold half a dozen plants in 2017 at a poultry stand I booked in September, but I'd like to significantly build on this. I also want to sell some cut flowers too, and I outlined a few ways I'll be doing this in this post.
So, there's a few of my homesteading income ideas for 2018. I'd also like to look into potential ways of earning some money, both short-term and long-term, off the currently vacant farm land. Could I rent a field to a solar power company? Would planting quick growing trees or willow bring in some cash? I'm always open to ideas.
Thanks for reading, and if you've got any tips or ideas, please let me know!
Geoff
You can find me on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Patreon
