Farmsteading Profits Beyond Meat, Eggs, and Vegetables

You’ve probably ^heard the joke about how to make $1 million in farming: You have to start with $2 million. Farming is a notoriously tough profession to earn a profit in, and those margins are particularly tight if you operate a small farm or are trying to break even with a backyard homestead. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, most small farms rely on off-farm income to keep afloat.

Turning a profit on a livestock or vegetable farm is tough. Relying on traditional models, such as farmers markets and roadside farmstands, to sell eggs, dairy, meat, and more can provide a small farm with supplemental cash, but it rarely does more than cover costs. Instead, more and more backyard farmers are considering alternative options of producing an income that can keep them on the farm without relying on a crop as their sole source.

Bonding with Goats and Walking with Llamas

Hope Hall of Sunflower Farm Creamery in Cumberland, Maine, brought home her first