Are you prepared?

If you’re relocating to the backwoods, you will very likely have to give some thought to generating some income, that is, making a living.

There are outside expenses that frequently present themselves and even the most self-sufficient homesteader requires some items which cannot be produced right there. To be able to buy, build, maintain, and keep our place in the country, most of us are required to seek outside “gainful employment.” If you fall into that category, don’t get discouraged. Simply make the most of where you are. It is no crime to work away from home to be able to keep your place in the country.

Living in the backwoods is the dream of countless people. But not only do you still need a way to support yourself and your family, you will find that in remote and rural areas jobs are often harder to come by and they usually pay less.

Some people have more than one pursuit that contributes to their income. Some couples pursue their work independently, others team up. Some have expanded upon something they already enjoy doing, while others have recognized the need for a product or service and used that to form the basis of a supplemental income. Basically, they created their own “second job.”

Crafts
some people make good money by making and selling Santas and other figures, dried wreaths, swags, and other crafts. Traveling to craft shows and set up in a “mini-mall” booth. Wholesaling to independent vendors can also be somewhat successful. If you decide to sell to retail shops and stores, plan to visit them during the off-season, because that’s when retail stores buy original craft items. word of mouth sales can be been productive to.

Sheep, hogs, steer
Rraising hogs and beef for sale for instance can be a moneymaker for you. If you raise a few hogs to butchering size—200 to 250 pounds—you can provide your own meat as well as find a market locally with folks who want meat that they know was raised close to home. Beef steers raised to about 800 to 1100 pounds will sell well. You should be able to easily sell halves or whole steers, especially if you can offer hauling to the custom slaughterhouse.

Garden produce, fruit, herbs
people have success in selling garden produce and plants during the spring and summer. In fact, the demand for these items is often more than a small greenhouse can provide. There is great potential here, for a lot of people want sturdy homegrown plants and will pay a bit more for them. Timing is important when producing garden and bedding plants. That is, plan so that you have prime and healthy plants ready when they are most wanted by the buyers. You can market them right from your home, or from local grocers or other retail outlets. Grow varieties that are popular locally.

Sell surplus strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, apples, cherries, peaches, and other home-raised berries and orchard fruit with a simple advertisement in your local newspaper, an ad tacked up at a local store, or just by word of mouth. Consider marketing these items at a farmer’s market to help get better prices. In a similar fashion, home-grown herbs, both fresh and dried, can be a moneymaker for you. Some folks are having good success marketing specialty herbs directly to restaurants. Others sell to supermarkets, food co-ops, and organic groceries.

Furniture
One of my neighbors is an accomplished furniture maker. While he does have a nice little building where he could work, it is not surprising to know that it is crammed to the rafters with lumber, old furniture pieces, supplies, and such. He builds each of his pieces right out in the yard. We have some of his work here in our home: a pie safe, a jelly cupboard and a small bench. He makes solid, functional furniture and also displays his work at the annual festival in town, selling out every year. If you are talented in this area, you will find no shortage of buyers for your work.

Photography
One new business that recently started up in town is a small photography studio. Portrait photography has a rather limited market in this area, but even in our small community, high school senior class photos alone could pretty well keep a photography studio in business. Photographing weddings are another good source of work. Christmas portraits are another big seller. Other special occasions and holidays keep this photographer plenty busy. This is an area where, once your reputation for good work has been established, you will be able to keep busy.

Design and print shop
Out in the countryside 10 miles from where I live, a family has a high-tech, state of the art printing shop. Not the ordinary shop where only simple business cards and stationery orders are filled, this business designs, lays out and prints booklets, brochures, pamphlets, and magazines. Another branch of the family just down the road fills similar orders for books—both hard and soft cover—and magazines. I got a tour of the place a while back and was amazed to find in the plain non-descript buildings, top-notch computers running the latest in publishing software. The printing is done on computer driven presses worth a quarter of a million dollars. Not only do both of these families fill local orders, but the religious books, magazines, and tracts they publish are mailed all around the world. A smaller scale version of such a business may fit your pocketbook

Wildcrafting
Out in the woods, there are folks who eke out a good deal of spending money by wildcrafting. The gathering of roots such as goldenseal, ginseng, mayapple, bloodroot, wild ginger, and other botanicals provides employment for a good many folks in rural areas where the plants are found. In addition, they can find a ready market for blackberries, raspberries, persimmons, mushrooms, and other wild foods. Even sassafras root and bark have a market.

Firewood
Similarly, a few fellows make pretty decent money by cutting firewood. Tops left from logging operations usually provide plenty in the way of cordwood. Some woodcutters obtain slabs and other leftovers from area sawmills. In this area woodcutters usually get $100-150/cord. With a good chainsaw and a sturdy pickup truck, you’ll be in business.

Rocks
Speaking of heavy work, there are a few stout fellows who are making some hard-earned money by harvesting stone. That’s right, plain old “crick rock.” They are simply picking rock from some streams, dry branches, and rocky hillsides and selling it for $30 to $40 a ton depending on the demand and the general shape of the stone. The rock may end up as veneer on a basement or house, as a hearth and chimney in a city-dweller’s “country” home, or as a plain old rock wall. Especially large stones, weighing several tons apiece, may end up in someone’s front yard as what we call a “status rock.”

Hunting/fishing guide
Don’t rule out the possibility for working as a hunting or fishing guide. In some states, guides are required for nonresidents hunting big game. Even in areas where they are not required, hunters are often willing to pay good money for the chance to bag game or catch a stringer of fish. Hunting and fishing guides are licensed in some states, so check with your state fish and wildlife agency for more information.

Odd jobs
Performing plain old day labor is an honest way to earn a dollar. There are more than a few people in my area who do just that. They hire out by the day to do general labor whether cutting brush, building fence, painting barns, mowing, rough carpentry, or just about anything else that needs done. They are normally paid at an hourly rate ranging from minimum wage to a dollar or two above that, although some jobs may pay more.

Wildland firefighter
During the summer months, I have used vacation time from my regular job and worked as a wildland firefighter. This adventuresome work has taken me to many fires in half a dozen states. Firefighting is not easy work. It is dirty, often dangerous, and physically demanding—a lot of “grunt” work. But it pays well. It is also satisfying, exciting, interesting, and offers an opportunity to see places you might not otherwise see. You will need to contact your local state or national forest office for more information in getting the necessary training and certification for this work.


Woodcarving
Obviously this is not something that all of us could pursue, but if you have a knack for carving, there is a demand for good work.

Welding
An older fellow in town has a good welding business based at his home. He is probably one of the best welders around. He does have a portable, truck-mounted welder with which he makes runs for farmers and others needing on-site repairs, but he does the majority of his work at his shop, adjacent to his home. Good welders are hard to find. In fact, this old boy could be retiring in a few years, and I don’t know of anyone planning to take his place.

Tax preparation
With the complexity of the tax laws, it is not surprising to learn that there is plenty of business in tax preparation. With some of the quality computer software available, this could be an area with promise for a home-based business.

Firearms
A friend of mine has a thriving gun shop located in a small building adjacent to his house. In addition to selling firearms, ammunition, and related equipment, he does some simple gunsmithing, i.e., minor repairs, fits scopes and accessories, and sights in firearms for customers. His location is out in the sticks off the beaten path, but he has a pretty steady line of customers including a lot of regulars.

Computer tech
It seems like every nook and cranny of the countryside has been affected by the computer age. Rural folks are jumping aboard the Internet and finding worlds opening up with the stroke of a key or two. Even in these rural areas, some enterprising and talented persons are making good money by selling and setting up computer systems.

Flowers
supply cut and dried flowers, plants, special occasion balloons, and similar items. You may want to consider growing fresh and dried flowers for sale. Flower shops and craftspeople use large but varying quantities of those materials in their work and will normally jump at the chance to get good locally grown stock that has not had to travel over hundreds of miles.

School bus driver
These routes are usually not a sole source of income for most of the drivers, but are used to supplement some other employment.

Bulldozer/backhoe
There are several fellows I know who keep busy with their bulldozing and backhoe services. It seems that someone is always wanting a pond constructed, a lane put in, a ditch cleaned out, or something along that line. A couple of them also have dump trucks and can haul gravel and fill dirt. Another has a small ditcher for laying water and electrical lines and putting in drain tiles and the like. The initial cost of equipment for these types of operations can be rather intimidating, but the returns are pretty good. Rates of $65 to $100 an hour are not uncommon for dozer operators.

Electrician

Painter


Office cleaning
Another local family makes good money doing office cleaning in area communities. This work is performed mostly after hours and not only do the husband and wife work at it, the teenage children also pitch in.


There are several ads in the pages of this magazine for the saw mills. It’s a sizable initial investment, but is a sound long-term investment in a job.

Lawn service
One friend, his wife, and teenage son spend nearly every summer evening mowing lawns. He has invested in a really nice commercial grade riding mower and some solid push mowers and weed whackers. All three family members work hard and make decent money.

This is another business where “word of mouth” will bring you all the work you want. “Dependable” is the reputation you need for success.

Tree trimming

Selling timber
The demand for good quality hardwood is high. Timber sales are not only a good forest management practice, but can provide a good sustained income for your property. Consult with your local state department of forestry to learn more about properly managing your woodlands for maximum value.

Christmas trees
Another form of tree farming is raising Christmas trees. Cut-your-own operations work well for many folks, especially when coupled with displays of other home-raised products and items. Consider spruces or pines adapted to your area.

bump... and some more thoughts

Normally, we gardeners tend to make plans to begin planting our gardens during early spring. We select vegetables such as garden peas, lettuce, mustard, radishes, onions, and so on. If these aren’t planted as early as weather permits, there is danger of quality slipping away as warm weather comes on. Many leafy plants will bolt. Root crops, like radishes, will not only go to flower, but roots will become pithy or spongy and not fit for anything but the composter.

In defense of gardeners, there are times when fate seems to be against us. An unusually wet spring season may delay sowing seeds or putting out transplants. Most early-producing plants need well-drained loose soil and won’t tolerate soggy conditions.

There are other reasons not connected with the weather that may prevent a gardener from getting an early start or even a later start as the year rolls along. Having to “put things off” can be due to illness in the family, school activities, or even incarceration. Whatever the cause for delay, don’t despair if the right time for actual planting passes you by. You can put your time and energy into other facets of gardening that are important, too.

Let’s start with the end of the growing season. If you have a composter, this is a good time to salvage any spent plants as long as they have shown no signs of disease. Adding diseased plants to a compost heap is asking for future trouble. Likewise when grass clippings or other plants loaded with seeds are dumped into the composter. The seeds will hang in there until the compost is used on the garden and then they will spring to life and become an extensive weeding problem.

Autumn is a good time to gather fallen leaves for composting. If possible, mulch the leaves into smaller pieces before adding to the compost heap. (A lawn mower with a bagger attachment works really well.) Decomposition will occur quicker if organic matter can be reduced to small pieces. Beware of black walnut leaves as they have a toxic effect on certain plants; it’s best to avoid using them.

Many of us like to spread organic matter— pine needles, leaves, etc.—directly on rows or beds in the fall to keep winter downpours from packing the dirt. It’s great to be able to pull back the layer of mulch in the spring and find nice loose soil ready for planting. Heavy soils such as those with a large amount of clay in them will certainly benefit from not only having leaves dug into them, but also having several inches of leaves and yard rakings piled on top of the soil. During winter, organic matter will break down and can be easily tilled into the soil ahead of planting time, thus improving the soil’s texture as well as its nutritional value.

There is a good possibility that you can plant some garlic cloves in the fall. Select a spot protected from harsh winter conditions, maybe on the south side of a solid board fence or a building. Usually, garlic will thrive during moderately cold weather, producing plenty of green blades to chop and use as seasoning in soups, stews, and other hot dishes.

Do you have some Jerusalem artichokes in your garden? Don’t forget to harvest the delectable tubers before harsh weather sets in. I find the simplest way to keep tubers is not to clean them until I am ready to use them. Just store dirt-coated tubers in a plastic bucket in a cool room until needed. (If you have leftover tubers when spring begins, they can be planted for a new crop.) Where winters are mild, some gardeners leave tubers in the ground and dig them when wanted, but there’s always the risk of discovery by burrowing wildlife.

To avoid the autumnal save-the-plants rush, do yourself a favor and bring special plants indoors well ahead of a cold spell. This gives plants a chance to adjust to the indoor temperature change without the shock of suddenly being transferred from near freezing level to warmer indoor temperatures.

If you have some plants such as sweet or hot peppers that have been grown in pots and are loaded with fruit, move them to a sunny, but cool, spot inside where you can enjoy your crop as long as the plants bear. Be discriminate. We are all subject to wanting to save plants that are not worth saving. It’s more feasible to let scraggly plants go and start anew with fresh plants in the spring. After all, how many of our plants are collector’s items and irreplaceable?

With a greenhouse or other sunny protected area, it is possible to grow an array of salad plants during winter. Fresh loose-leaf lettuce, mustard, green onions, and others are great to have on hand for a delicious salad or to use as garnishes. Where weather is not severe, salad plants grow well in a cold frame protected from the intrusion of nibbling mice.

As cold weather progresses, there are a number of chores that relate to the garden. These don’t have to be done outside under unpleasant conditions. Why risk catching a cold, or worse? If you didn’t attend to putting your tools in good shape at the end of the season, now could be a good time to do that. If you have a heated workshop, so much the better. If not, small tools such as trowels, shears, pruners, and the like can be cleaned, oiled, or sharpened indoors wherever you can spread newspapers to catch particles of dirt, etc. Larger items—tillers and shredders—can be serviced when weather is of a comfortable temperature to work outside in a garage or shed.

As Jack Frost gives way to Old Man Winter, a lull comes over the outside scene and we are inclined to stay indoors more. This is about the time the first seed and nursery catalogs are mailed out, and we gardeners are the lucky recipients.

A pleasant occupation is to sit in a comfortable chair, have a cup of a favorite hot beverage, a bowl of kush, and dream of a picture-perfect garden for next year. Despite inclement weather, the gardening cycle can begin now when you pick up that first colorful wish book and eventually sort out your order. Many companies offer discounts and bargains, so don’t get caught napping and let a “good-until” date expire.

In addition to the tried-and-true varieties, catalogs give us information on lots of newcomer plants. We learn about soil requirements, zone hardiness, need for sun or partial shade, immunity to diseases—in short, everything necessary to grow the plants we may select. With all of this knowledge, how can we miss having a picture-perfect garden? This is where it pays to know facts about the good and bad of your gardening area. Is high heat and humidity a problem? How about certain pests and viruses almost certain to attack a number of plants such as tomatoes and peppers? For instance, if you almost always lose tomato plants because of nematodes, look for varieties that carry the letter “N” in their descriptions. Find the terminology chart for tomato varieties usually given at the first of the listings. This chart will help avoid some pitfalls where diseases and pests are concerned. Beware of varieties that do not specifically list being resistant to a disease that is a problem in your area.

Everyone who gardens should have a special spot, either a greenhouse or a sunny place indoors, or a close up floro in the garage....same place u start your MJ plants (where plants may be started from seed). This area should be out of the bounds of curious pets that must investigate everything new to them. Of course, one can always wait until spring when young plants are available from garden suppliers. The problem is that suppliers often tend to carry only the most popular varieties. Take tomatoes, for instance. Big Boy Hybrid, Celebrity, and Homestead plants are usually available, but try finding Thessaloniki, German Head, or Mortgage Lifter. If you want to raise these tasty prolific varieties, you’ll probably have to start your own plants from seed ordered from a catalog.

In addition to the medium and large tomatoes, there are the delicious cherry-type tomatoes that some of us like to enjoy fresh from the vine while working in our gardens. Sweet Million and Gardener’s Delight both have great flavor, but plants may be hard to find on the market. A relative newcomer to our garden is Juliet Hybrid. This one bears elongated, full-flavored fruit weighing about an ounce or two and will produce until autumn’s cool weather comes along. There are lots of others in the cherry tomato class ranging in color from white to deep red, so have fun exploring the various types. You’re bound to find a favorite.

If there are children in your family, include them in your catalog searches. There’s nothing like the appealing photos of plants at their best. Depending on the ages of children, this might be a good time to touch on the subject of hardiness zones and climate. Some plants have been developed to grow under hot humid conditions, but won’t do as well in cooler areas and vice versa. Keep kids in mind when making out your order(s) and include some seeds just for them. They’ll be as interested as you are when you check incoming packages to see that proper items have been received.

While winter is throwing its last frosty punches, enjoy the progress seedlings are making indoors. This transformation from seed to plants and eventually to maturity outdoors can be a learning tool for youngsters. In watching the plants grow, they become aware of the phases of plant life and, who knows, maybe a spark of interest in gardening will be ignited. There are no age limits on gardeners.

Give children their own space in the garden. Let the experience include everything from tilling the soil, planting seeds or transplants, to putting up simple string trellises for runner beans, cucumbers, etc. If there’s an interest in flowers, let the young gardeners plant some bright annuals such as marigolds, petunias, nasturtiums. The list is endless.

Just as with adults, there’s something special about one’s own garden where the selection of plants is yours. For children, stick to easily grown vegetables that they like to eat. Even though broccoli is an interesting plant and full of vitamins, don’t insist on kids growing it if they hate it. Grow broccoli in your own part of the garden.

Springtime brings on a flurry of activity. If you have a new garden spot and aren’t sure about the pH of your soil, this is a good time to have the soil tested. (There’s no harm in having any garden soil tested, as you will find out if, over time, your garden has somehow changed its pH.) A soil test is usually free of charge when done by your County Extension Service. Just contact that office and get instructions as to amount of soil required and when to take it to the office. In the case of large gardens, soil from several spots may be needed.

Depending on location, some soils tend to be more acid than others and need lime. Others may be on the alkaline side, so it’s worthwhile to find out all you can about your soil. Once you get soil pH in balance, you’ll find that you can grow a host of vegetables.

While you’re visiting your Extension Service office, check out their pamphlets on other aspects of gardening. There’s a wealth of information to be had and the good part is that it’s free.

So, we come to the real beginning of another growing season. Anyone who had to give up on last year’s garden can now proceed with present plans knowing the off-season time was well spent. Compost is available. Garden soil is in good shape. Tools and equipment are ready to use, and young plants can now begin the hardening off process. This simply means exposing them to outside conditions by putting trays of plants outdoors in protected spots each day where they will have the benefit of sunlight and open air. In order to avoid tender leaves getting sun scald, time outside should be an hour or so for the first few days, gradually increasing exposure time to all day. When weather is favorable, plants will be strong and ready to go into their permanent spots in the garden.

The arrival of spring gives a gardener new hope. It’s a new beginning, and last year’s frustrations and failures begin to fade from memory. This will be the “Year of the Bountiful Garden”—lots of green salads, perfect potatoes, delicious sweet corn, pots of sweet green peas, plump tomatoes, buckets of peppers and eggplants, and ganja —you name it.

Be thankful you can till your own space again. If there’s a young newcomer with you, share your enthusiasm. There’s no better place than a garden to learn about Mother Nature and the goodness of the earth.

Less thread-making, more Book-writing!!!

FARSIDE / GARY LARSON CAPTION: Born and raised in a small Texas town, Belle never quite felt comfortable around blacks.

long live the far side

I guess there is other people that think like me.... There aint to many of them you know?... There is anuf of them tho...

I gotta say thanks to the creator of this thread because it has brought me in a direction of information that i needed to seek but wasnt seeking... Witch has allowed me to find information that is going to help me alot in the future..

genkisan said:

That early experience and the thoughts it forced into my mind led me long ago to one major decision. I have made it my life's work to provide a place for my children where they can LIVE for a living, not spend their time dying a slow death working their lives away making some scumbag donkeyhonking nutsack in a suit richer than he ever needs to be.

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now that's a goal worthy of admiration and emulation.

ditto that here

Seeing as this is after all a weed forum i'm surprised to see no mention of aquaponics here, i mean with some greenhouse space and a little power for the pumps either solar wind, biodiesal, or my personal favorite hydro electric from your handy dandy local stream, you can have your back porch/greenhouse producing your ganga, your vegetables, and a good supply of farmed fish, which continually fertilize your weed and your vegetables.

D0nC0smic said:

Seeing as this is after all a weed forum i'm surprised to see no mention of aquaponics here, i mean with some greenhouse space and a little power for the pumps either solar wind, biodiesal, or my personal favorite hydro electric from your handy dandy local stream, you can have your back porch/greenhouse producing your ganga, your vegetables, and a good supply of farmed fish, which continually fertilize your weed and your vegetables.

Click to expand...

I'm on every drop of that bro^^^ (BTW this is one of my fav. threads here)

the only cpl. negatives I'm gonna have with some of that is I'll be in in the Alaska bush, and hydro power isn't gonna work all year if I live on a river that freezes in winter.

same is gonna go for aqua/guppyponics ....It'll be hard to maintain "farmed fish" or even a big "guppy tank" in a cabin where temps are gonna fluctuate tremendously all winter (thats my nature).

"solar"?...we'll Alaska in the winter isn't exactly "sun-city"

I'll be working for the winter all spring/summer/fall.

def. on the bio-diesel w/ soybean crops (hempseed oil bio if I can), and a crankin' greenhouse for veggies and ganja, that'll last all winter.

moose meat, and seafood otherwise.

yukon i think i love ya. i also love alaska. uncles are building a cabin up there, 'round Soldatna I believe....very very beautiful up there. I would love to go up there....but I've just about had it with these damn MN winters so I dont know. But I dig the light up there. light all day. waking up at 3-4am to take a piss and having the light on outside is nice!

this is an awesome thread man. keep it up!

SB...thanks bro!

and by the way you'd love soldotna/kenai area ( i lived right by there in kasilof)

...especially if your from minnesota...its like hawaii compared to minnesota in the winter

chem warfare scares me the most
global warming is finally coming into light and we should pay attention.

i was up there about 3 years ago when they purchased the land and started workin. fished on the kenai and kasilof, but didnt catch a damn thing! and it was in june. best time...did manage to get some halibut and cod though near Homer in the bay though. was only there for 2 weeks or so. only saw a few moose up there too. but still it was beautiful...so much open space....

June is a little early on the Kenai and Kasilof, u can get some early kings (chinook) then, but best is July, August....thats when the reds (sockeye) run.

Kenai river reds ...mmmmmm

It may have been mentioned, but have you checked into water power? If you're living right on a river in the summer you could get a water wheel and throw it right in there. Fairly cheap and it's constant power (until it freezes over).

...and alaskan cabbage:

Please tell me thats not ****ing real...also that little girl scares me. Forget about the children of the corn, it's the children of the cabbage you gotta worry about.

NserUame said:

It may have been mentioned, but have you checked into water power? If you're living right on a river in the summer you could get a water wheel and throw it right in there. Fairly cheap and it's constant power (until it freezes over).

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it can def work, and most Alaskan rivers have a pretty damn good flow rate.

I do need to research more on hydro power, since I will prolly be able to use it for at least 4 or 5 months of the year maybe 6 or 7 months if it can work under the ice for a min. , or maintain an "ice free" spot on the river somehow. (lol...thats almost funny)

"children of the cabbage" lol ....LMFAO


...and ohhhyeah thats real...thats not even a real big one...lol

cabbages in Alaska grow to over 100 pounds