Gone Riding asked: Such as:
Fruit/vegetables to grow
Recreational ideas
Horse related activities
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April 2nd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
durring the summer or fall have a hay ride and camp out or barbeq and like chardge admission of 2$
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:25 pm
carbon sequestration. seriously, get ahead of the curve……
or wind power. those big turbines dont bother the stock at all, i have seen cows right under them totally oblivious to the blades turning over them.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Start your own pumpkin patch. Include fun family style activities.
You could also start your own orchard, but it would take longer to see any profit…the plants and/or trees would require more care as well.
April 4th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
convert an old shed into a chicken coup.. fence the area and have gate.. after about 1 week you can let them out in your yard durring the day but put them inside the coop and shut the gate at night because of predators..
sell free range eggs – they will also be some for you…
PLUS the hens will eat bugs from your yard
here is a link telling you why free range eggs are healthier
bewarned about horse related activities -sometimes the insurance costs are HUGE!!!
April 6th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Not sure where you live but if you’ve ever heard of pumpkin land , they’ve got the right idea.
Pumpkins, and haunted hayrides are big money makers.
Hop on the blueberry wagon. This state makes 80% of the nations crops . People love them because they are healthy and high in antioxidents. If you had pick your own blueberries that would be a big money maker. Those are hard pressed to find around here and tons of tourists always ask where to find places like these.
People love sending their kids to summer camp in Maine. Start a farm camp to educate children . This is a growing trend in farms . Teach kids how to take care of horses, saddle , brush , ride etc.
Charge for horse rides
Pick your own strawberries are big too Maxwells in Scarborough is a nice example
April 7th, 2009 at 4:50 am
Without knowing the resources and land and indeed the people, that’s very hard to say.
For instance if there’s a bunch of sugar maples on the farm, do maple syrup. If along a well traveled road, you can do retail sales. If you have wild turkeys, maybe hunting can be a supplemental income.
You need to do an inventory, what’s there, what’s available, what’s being underutilized. And the most important inventory is the people, what are they capable of doing.
It’s very possible the best thing might be for one or both to get off farm income.
Marv
April 10th, 2009 at 9:08 am
What KIND of farm is it? What does it already produce? What kind of customers are you already attracting, or selling too?
A small farm should have things that flow into one another, and become self sustaining.
Example:
My meat rabbits are raised in my orchard. The rabbits of course produce manure, drop food through their hutch bottoms, and atract flies.
The chickens that free range in the orchard climb the fruit trees and keep them bug free. They go under the rabbit hutches, and eat the fallen food, and scatter the rabbit manure. They also eat the fly maggots, and keep fly problems down for the rabbits. The chickens will also eat any mice that might be attracted to rabbit hutches in search of free food.
Around one hutch is a wood box, to prevent the chickens from scattering the manure. Worms live in abundance in the rabbit manure. That worm rich manure is spread on our garen areas where we grow our food.
The worms could also be sold to fishermen if I choose.
My customers who purchase the meat rabbits are from Central African countries. They eat a lot of corn, beans, mellons, and squash. So the extra my garden produces can be sold to them when they show up to purchase meat rabbits.
Extra vegtables, vines, stalks, and such from the garden can also be fed back to the rabbits, and chickens, which in turn produce more manure to fertilize further gardens.
See how everything flows neatly into the next farming venture? THAT is the way to have a truely productive farm. It also means you are not dependent on any one item to bring in all the money for the farm.
If you have a picture perfect farm, you can concider renting it out for family reunions, company picnics, and weddings. I cannot stress this next bit enough…before you even think about doing that, CHECK YOUR INSURANCE. Your current policy will not cover those things.
Horse related activities are a bad idea. You will not make enough money, and the insurance premiums will kill any profit. Insurance companies rank horses to be just as dangerous as a pit bull, or rottie.
How do I know? We own a small permaculture farm. I own 8 horses. The horses jack the insurance policy up, because I allow customers to come on farm. The customers are never even allowed near the horses, not even to pet them over the fence. But just having them on the same farm raises ones rates.
Grow local things that are prized in your area. In main, berries (especially blueberries), and potatoes are quiet prized. You cannot go wrong with mushrooms. Grow pumpkins, and corn stalks to sell in the autumn. Produce orchard mason bees to sell to other farmers in the very early spring.
Produce dried flowers, especially if you are near a tourist area.
~Garnet
Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years
April 10th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Nothing you do will work without good marketing. If you don’t have a farm website create one ASAP. Also along the same lines, create an email list of potential customers.
Raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries etc are all good money makers and they start producing in one to two years of planting. Apples, pears, cherries and other fruit trees are also good money makers but take longer to produce (about 5 years) and, in the case of apples, take a lot of maintenance to get clean fruit
You can give riding lessons or trail rides but you will have to have a lot of liability insurance to do so and that may take all of your profit. I would not do any equine activities without being well covered because horses are dangerous and it is not a matter if anyone gets hurt/injured but a matter of when this will happen and when it does you will be sued. Good coverage will save you in a law suit.
You can do a market garden and sell produce via a CSA or at a couple of farmers markets. This is how I make my living
You should check out and I strongly suggest you subscribe to the magazine as it is the best publication by and for small farmers in the world. You will get several money making and saving ideas from every issue you read.
You should hook up with MOGFA (Maine organic gardening and farming Association) They are there to help small Maine farmers (and you do not have to be organic, though you should be open to the idea).
I have friends up your way who make wreathes for Christmas sales from the local evergreen trees and do well with that.
Sell aged horse manure to local gardeners (hook up with a couple of local gardening clubs)
Check out local harvest and put up a free listing of your farm at that site (and check out their forum, active and you will get great ideas from the farmers there) http//www.localharvest.org