These are pictures from March 16th, 2010.
It’s only 30 days until this year’s March 16th…
It’s coming… sooooooooon…. Â sooooooooon…
The girls and I have been brainstorming about all the various ways that we could make a little extra income on our homestead… our hobby farm.
We want to be prepared for when we actually acquire our property… hopefully soon!
(We are EVER hopeful… things are moving in the right direction now, finally!)
And here is a partial list of our homestead income streams. (And not in an particular order or priority, just brainstorming!)
Christmas Trees
Maple Sugar Trees & Syrup
Herbs and Herb Products
Cut Flowers
Big Garden/Veggie Sales
Make Walking Sticks & Crooks
Pony & Kid Photos
Soap and Candles
Primative Wood Decor Items & Signs
Farm Photos – Stock/prints/books/notecards
Photography for locals/animal breeders/farmers
Graphics & Websites for locals
Teach Banjo
Teach Homesteading SKills to City Folk on the Farm
Rent the Farm for Family and Corporate Events
Write articles on small family homesteads
Write books on small family homesteads
Breed heritage livestock
Eggs and Chickens and Chicks
Pet Boarding
Bluegrass Jams
Bees n’ Honey
Greenhouse/winter gardening
Pick your own pumpkins or raspberries or such on a small scale
Farm Journals
Dog & Pet products (like homemade toys and treats)
Wool from heritage sheep
Farm Sitters… your place or ours
Produce local newspaper on local food & homesteading
Photo Studio for locals
Homeschool curriculum Exchange/resellers/consignment shop
Rock and Mineral shop
Rent out the Moby
Of course, we’d still be doing our own cottage industries, such as the rock kits and homeschooling products, we’d just do more!
As you can see, I think we have many great ideas in which to occupy our time and resources! And the best part is that we will become much more self sufficient ourselves and require less monthly income to live very comfortably. So, we will be able to pick and choose other income streams that we really enjoy to add to our “homestead kitty”.
Have we missed any really good ideas??? Any suggestions? We’re trying to stay away from really big operations or things that might require a lot of inspection/permits and higher investments. We’re only talking 3 acres here, so we’re not ready to get into like big production chicken raising or feeder calves and hogs. And it is just the three of us… so it has to be manageable, and enjoyable. Seasonal is fine too! Actually, I think being tied to just one thing all year long would be drudgery and boring after awhile. We love the idea of like doing crafts over the winter, raising fancy chicks in the spring, getting a booth at a farmers market in the summer, that sort of thing. Rather than just raising regular old livestock, we’d really like to get into some very specialized heritage and threatened breeds, concentrating on quality, rather than quantity. Just some thoughts! We’re so enjoying our plotting and planning!!!
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I just couldn’t stand it. I had to can or pickle something. Anything. I wanted to try my new Weck canning jars that I got last October, and I finally decided I was going to try this recipe I had for pickled onions! Oh, and another garlic new pickle slice recipe, too! Done gone through all the garlic pickles from late last summer.
The onions were something I’ve always wanted to try. I think they have to be fabulous on a hot dog or a grilled sausage! Not to mention on a nice roast beef sandwich??? Hello? Oh my gosh, that sounds delish!!!
But you know, the nice thing is that you don’t have to pickle and can 42 quarts to enjoy the process. Just do a few, or heck, even just one. You can test out recipes that you might like to try in a larger batch later on. And you won’t waste a ton of money on materials.
Pickled Onions Moby Style
1 large sweet onion
3/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon of pickling salt
1 teaspoon of pickling spices
1/2 teaspoon of mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon of celery seed
Bring all spices and liquids to a nice little boil in a saucepan. Lower the heat to a simmer and add your onion, cut in slices or however you’d like! Simmer for a minute or two, just enough to soften the onions a wee bit. Don’t boil! Pour into a hot and sterilized jar, allow to cool. Seal and pop into the frig. Allow at least 24 hours for the flavors to all meld and saturate. Longer for good results! You can process these pickles, at 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. However, this sized recipe only creates about a pint jar full of onions and you can eat them right up in no time!
Since I had two lovely English long cucumbers in my frig, I decided to try a new garlic frig pickle recipe, too! I’m not sure how it will turn out, but it looked delectable when I finished up and the brine seemed tasty…. I had to snitch one fresh and see. Given a few days to really mature, I think they will be great. I’ll report back in a while! In the meanwhile… here’s the recipe!
Garlic New Pickles
2 long cukes cut into slices
2 large cloves of garlic (not the whole bulb, just two good sized cloves)
a dash of ground ginger
half a sliced onion
1 teaspoon of pickling salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 cup of rice vinegar
1/2 cup of water
Cut and pack the pickles and onions into a clean, sterilized jar. With the remaining ingredients, place in a small saucepan and get to a boil. Once boiling, allow to cool for one minute and then pour into the jar with the pickles. Allow to cool, then seal, and slowly tip and turn to get the liquid nicely flowing through the slices. Place in the frig for at least 5 days, allowing to pickle. Then enjoy! These are not meant for canning and processing.
It’s so fun and easy to just make up small batches of pickles! You don’t need to make a huge production of it. I made both jars under an hour, watching a movie and just chopping and boiling a bit of brine. Ok, maybe they won’t last a whole season for my family, but they are still cheaper than store bought fancy pickles, and I know exactly what went into them. Good fresh, natural ingredients. And I’m quite sure, they will be delicious! And the best part? If I like the recipes and they go into the Moby Master Cookbook, then that’s EVEN better! We’ll be sure to make them again and again for years to come! Give it a try! Pickle something!!!
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