Start an Art Business


An art business is a great way to create a supplemental income for your small farm. From traditional oil paintings to unique crafted sculptures, if you have artistic talent, you can find a market for that talent.

Here are a couple of resources to help you decide if an art business is right for you:

Make and Sell Colloidal Silver

I’ve been meaning to buy a colloidal silver generator for a few years now. The cost of buying commercially prepared silver is the only reason we don’t use it more. As it turns out, that’s a barrier for a lot of other people too, but lower priced, independent sellers can definitely find their niche in the colloidal silver market.

In researching for purchasing my own generator, I joined some Facebook groups and discovered that a surprising number of people are still more interested in buying it made than making their own. Having also bartered for locally made colloidal silver in the past, I think making and selling colloidal silver could definitely be a small side income that opens the door to a bigger business, perhaps selling herbs or finished herbal tinctures and salves. Continue reading “Make and Sell Colloidal Silver”

Make Toy Surprise Bath Bombs

“Having a Bath” by Michael Zeising is licensed under CC BY 2.0

My daughter got a toy surprise bath bomb for Christmas last year.  What a hit!  She enjoyed it so much we bought all the supplies to make our own and they’re incredibly easy. They are made up of very small toys–in her case, a color changing mermaid–inside a bath bomb. You drop the bath bomb in, which is fun in its own right, and after the bomb dissolves, there’s a fun toy to play with. All of her siblings were jealous – so was I.

Bath bombs can be made with a small number of inexpensive ingredients that are easy to purchase – many at your local grocery store.  I bought all of my supplies on Amazon for convenience.  Things like essential oils and large bath bomb molds aren’t easy to find locally and may not be for you either.   I’ll include a list below. Continue reading “Make Toy Surprise Bath Bombs”

Sell Firewood Bundles

Since starting this website, I notice income possibilities more than I used to.  When I was outside Safeway earlier this year, I was totally amazed at the large–and dwindling–pile of firewood bundles for sale.  At $4.99 each, I could imagine how much a full cord would bring.  What was most surprising is how the stack dwindled over the season.

Selling firewood bundles is a nice income addition if you already have a steady supply of wood.  We buy our firewood in bulk, 4 cords at a time, from a guy who has access to logging slash piles and cuts the leftovers into firewood.  It’s a good business for him and a great time saver for us.

If you live near a town, there is a great market for campfire wood in the summer camping season and even during the winter season for more urban locations.  Let’s dig deeper into the market and profit potential for firewood bundles. Continue reading “Sell Firewood Bundles”

Start Your Own Mealworm Farm

Modified with permission from Pengo

A mealworm farm can be a nice little side business, but it can also play an important role in your food production.  If you raise chickens, ducks or reptiles, you can breed mealworms to provide them with a steady, low cost supply of high protein feed.  That’s how we got started in mealworms years ago, both as a way to save on feed costs and also as a a means of being self sufficient so we could provide food for our chickens even in a disaster scenario.

As it turns out, a mealworm farm is a pretty fun project, especially if you have children.  They can do the regular maintenance and enjoy watching and learning about the life cycles of mealworms as they transform into beetles. Continue reading “Start Your Own Mealworm Farm”

Small Farm Chicken Hatchery

If you don’t have a lot of space to raise out chicks but have a plentiful fertile egg supply, consider starting a chicken hatchery.  The time and space involved are minimal if you can turn chicks around within a couple of days of hatching.  This works particularly well if you breed harder to find and rare chicken breeds.  Chickens that produce colored eggs have been and will continue to be popular as a niche market.

Chicken Hatchery Initial Investment

Your startup cost will vary depending on the scale.  Do you want to start by selling eggs your own hens hatch or do you plan to hatch large quantities?  There’s a space somewhere in between too.  One of the pros to this income idea is how scalable it is.  You can choose to start small, growing naturally as your flock increases, or you can put extra cash into buying an incubator and brooding setup to get a bigger start as a full-fledged (get it?) chicken hatchery.  A starter incubator will cost about $150-$250 with accessories; expect to pay in the thousands for a commercial setup. Continue reading “Small Farm Chicken Hatchery”

Resell Clearance Toys on Amazon

I came across a news story yesterday about a man who makes millions buying clearance toys at local big box stores and reselling them for a profit on Amazon.  I was incredulous!  How could you buy retail and then turn a profit by selling retail? So like usual, I did some digging and it turns out his business model is pretty sound.

Today, let’s talk about the ins and outs of turning a profit by reselling toys on Amazon and how to determine whether or not a particular toy has profit potential. I’ll also give you a quick walkthrough on Amazon fees and other considerations to help you determine if this income idea is something you should implement as part of your overall income plans. Continue reading “Resell Clearance Toys on Amazon”

Growing Basket Willows for Profit

I still remember the Facebook comment that first opened my eyes to the possibility of growing basket willows for profit. I had no idea such potential existed, so I settled in for a binge session  – avidly devouring any and all information I could find on the ins and outs of basket willows.

As it turns out, there is quite the potential for profit in these trees and, owing perhaps to the slow turnaround time, not a whole lot of competition.  We’ll be planting our first crop of willows next month, already ordered and on the way soon.  I’ve been waiting for this moment for most of a year now and I’m excited to get started. Continue reading “Growing Basket Willows for Profit”