What do you do after you’ve built your sustainable homestead? Have you considered expanding your original self-sufficiency plans to include an income generating business, teaching workshops and possibly producing food for your community? The Industrial Country Market has done all this and more.
“Welcome to Industrial Country Market!
We are a family owned & operated retail, educational & gardening center, uniquely sustained by the sun, wind and rain.
A 100% off grid Non General-General Store Extravaganza! Complete with a 6,000 square foot Retail Store, Water Garden, Art Gallery, Educational Facility, Production Greenhouse, Solar Farm, Water Harvesting, Re-Art Sculpture Garden and we’re still growing!
We have monthly classes on Texas Solar Energy, Hydroponic Gardening, Water Harvesting and guest lecturers in Painting, Central Texas Gardening and Beekeeping.
Our retail space is a marvel with thousands of fun, useful, interesting and unique products.”
Read more at the source: Industrial Country Market
My wish is that other stores like this would be clear cross America, Where you could get materials and support on building a small business of your own from purchasing and supporting these stores. If they didn’t have the materials you needed then, they could point you in the right direction towards another like minded business. It would be a win-win situation for everyone. Family owned short of a WalMart family owned is worth the time and effort to do business with. THEN, if your idea is worthy then maybe you could sell your product/s or experience there.
Another good business is reselling salvaged goods. This can be highly profitable. You can get used materials for almost free and resell for a nice profit. People will buy from you because your recycled goods are less than new. Plus, you’re doing the environment a favor. This type of business would be a natural extension of how you built your home with recycled materials — just keep gathering materials. Put want ads in various locations and soon people will bring you stuff they don’t want (or often for free if you pick it up).
Good idea UNLESS they try to empty their real junk on you by saying “take it or leave it”. You know people. There will be some who do just that. Depending on the amount of re-usable material mixed with just plain junk it could be worth it but, again knowing the way some people are. There are those who have to get rid of their materials from a building site where they’re building multiple homes and they’d bring you the materials just to save dump fees. You’d be surprised of all the things you can do with scraps of wood. Most sites throw out all pieces of foot and less. I’ve built butcher block furniture using the worse of the lot. Pieces with lots of knots. Plus you’d get pieces of copper and other pipe that could be created into something. Plywood etc. With imagination you could build scrap into profit.
Our blog profiles some builders who have successfully turned ‘junk’ into very nice homes. Search for words like salvage and recycle.
Oh please don’t misunderstand my point. There’s gold in them thar hills BUT, I have seen this happen with my own eyes of people dropping off their garbage with the recyclable and reusable materials. I agree 100% with you on reusing throw away materials. It’s amazing what one mans junk can be turned into. Just not his garbage. I have seen antiques thrown away because they were viewed as junk. I have also seen new junk materials turned into, what appeared to be antiques. As I mentioned before, just the wood scraps from a construction site can be built into beautiful furniture. And, in turn if a person were to hold on to different parts that could be incorporated into a house, people would be interested in buying it from you. I like your idea of reusing and getting paid for it. That’s the American way or it use to be because now a days younger people want store bought, brand new BUT, there’s millions of us who have common sense and will jump on a good deal. Another excellent place and time to get very good things is at the end of the school year. College and University students unload their things at the curb and you’d be surprised of the things they don’t want to haul home. A little elbow grease and you’ve got a house full of very good furniture and everything in between. That alone could pay for a lot of building materials or pay for a ton of food or gas for that car or truck. Or, money to stash away. Hope that gives readers some good ideas.
Using local materials for home based businesses is a great way to go. There are endless opportunities. Consider making specialty products that are not readily available in stores in your area. Keep it simple. Look for healthy options. How about making sprouted grain breads or cereal? Bulk grains are very inexpensive. Low cost grains can be turned into high profit products. (Ask Kellogg’s.) You can practice at home until you hit upon the best recipes. A good blender will grind the grains into flour. Make fresh daily for maximum nutrition and flavor. Make in a solar oven to cut costs and save energy.
Tip: research nutritional details of sprouted grains
Impressive what they have built.
I suggest that the time to START building income generating capacity into a homestead is… before you start to build the homestead, not after you have built the homestead.
Consider that one of the biggest success/failure factors in a vast majority of businesses is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.
There is nothing wrong with getting a home built quickly and getting settled before actively generating an income, but it makes a lot of sense to have a plan in place before you start on a Homesteading project.
Think about what skills you possess, and what products (material or services) that you might be able to offer. Where will your customers be? How will you deliver your product, and what expenses will you have getting your product to your customers? Where will you get your raw materials?
These are all important questions that are BEST asked before a homesteading site is chosen. They can help a great deal in finding the right location to make your business successful.
Also, keep in mind that your plan needs to be adaptable. You will undoubtedly discover additional opportunities as you learn about your new location, the people in your area, and the resources available.
Consider what you are really skilled at. Consider what you are passionate about. Incorporate those talents as you find a need that you know how to fill, and fill that need. Find the best place where you can accomplish that, and build your homestead there.