Making money from your land

[Pete S]

We have a bit of land and do a variety of things with it. Some is for just our pleasure, and some is actually to create some extra money. We have the land, let's use it!

Anything we've done thus far has been a worthy venture, but was wondering what potential opportunity we may be missing to create a larger income stream.

We currently: Cash rent to a neighboring farmer, Maple syrup, Getting some bees this spring, Jams made from out berries, Have apple tress nearing production maturity, we grow some Hops, etc.

Ma is considering chickens just for us next year.

Just looking for anything that maybe we're missing out on that could be like an agricultural application that would be a worthy venture. or whatever.

BTW growing hemp isn't legal,...yet.

Personal message me if it's something that is a little known secret. :-)

Thanks! and Happy Sappin'!

[Rhino]

Pete, I innoculated 200 oak logs with ****taki spawn last spring right after syrup season. I hope this year i will get a crop, Oak and iron wood are the best logs to use which i got from our land. Just another idea on how to utilize your woods. Lots of youtube videos on how to do it. Wasn't hard to do just took alot of time to drill and fill the holes with spawn and wax over the holes. I hate to think how many holes i drilled.

[Rhino]

Thread thought i spelled a cuss word and blocked it so its Shhhiiittakii mushrooms

[325abn]

Soon the new American cash crop will be the answer!

[heus]

Soon the new American cash crop will be the answer!
In Colorado

[Pete S]

The mushroom thing is intriguing although sounds like a lot of work. Please keep me posted though on how things turn out.

Thanks for the idea.

[WestWind]

Hey Pete,
I, also, tap my maples and am thinking of bringing in some bees. Do you have pasture? Have you thought of beef cows? Even when hemp becomes legal in your neck of the woods, and it will, the regulations will likely be stifling... but I'm curios, what do you do with the hops? Is there a market?

[Pete S]

The Hop thing was to kind'a get in with the home brew crowd. We also have a new nano-brew that was brought back, (bought the name Plymouth Brewery from the family, not brewed since 1937) and the hop thing has yet to gain any traction. We've given away more than we have sold. We grow cascades, Goldings, and just planted Fuggle.

Hops, other than the harvest and the trellis are about as hard to grow as weeds in our soil.

I really wish they would take off in the market here.

As for the beef, we have considered them BUT they do take a lot of work and money to keep fed. Water is another issue. It is a long story but it would take some directional boring to get water out to where we could raise the livestock. It isn't totally out of the picture though.

[adk1]

Around here in ny hops is getting really big. Only drawback is the equipment needed to harvest it. I have been told that it is very expensive?

[harrison6jd]

i dont want to hijack but does anyone grow ginseng? worth it?

[WestWind]

Also, do you own the mineral rights to your land? Turns out the whole state of PA is sitting on nat. gas/ crude oil and most of NY too and, I bet VT has nat gas, @ least, if not crude, although getting to it would be like pulling teeth due to the politics in this state. I know it's not farming and a real departure from maple stuff but for searching minds... thought I'd bring it up.

[Pete S]

The "processing" equipment is what I know is expensive. Making the hops into "pellets" that folks prefer to use is the way to go.

[Noah's Ark]

Some interesting ideas, we do bees, but they are work and there is a learning curve to get to a production level. There is money in selling nucleous colonies and honey. Sounds like you have some good nector sources so you should be able to get a decent honey crop. We are in the process of the same thing and are considering fiber goats. The raw fiber has some value but if you or your wife wanted to learn to spin and card the yarn and procesed fiber is much more valuable. Goats are not too difficult to care fore and require much less space and feed than beef. You won't get rich with bees or fiber but there is a payback and it is fun. Another thing we are thinking about is Chirstmas trees. Not a crazy amount of work, it is a long term growth but again is a nice suplemental income if you have space.

[mapleack]

Also, do you own the mineral rights to your land? Turns out the whole state of PA is sitting on nat. gas/ crude oil and most of NY too and, I bet VT has nat gas, @ least, if not crude, although getting to it would be like pulling teeth due to the politics in this state. I know it's not farming and a real departure from maple stuff but for searching minds... thought I'd bring it up. Check this out Westwind : http://www.addison-eagle.com/news/2014/feb/21/history-oil-and-gas-vermont/

[Ittiz]

i dont want to hijack but does anyone grow ginseng? worth it?

If you're interested in growing Ginseng you should check out this site (http://www.wildgrown.com/index.php/Ginseng-Forum/).

[maple flats]

One good option is to have a logger come in. To do it, have a forester (who works for you, not the logger) mark the sale, and have it lean heavily towards maple production and crop tree releasing. While many think a logger in the sugar bush is bad, it can be good if done properly. Firewood sales is another option.

[hounder]

Another idea is the vegetable and fruit co-ops - I know there is a specific name for these groups but it slips my mind. You have the fields and plant food crops and people pay in, say $500 a year and they get a share of the crop as it is harvested. Some do it that each person that is a member also has to help weed, harvest or plant for so many hours as their membership responsibility. This could be really taken one step farther to include chicken, beef and pork to it. People are looking for organic and this would fall into that niche to meet the needs for them. I have thought about it but we have our hands in too many pots now. Beef, blueberries, Christmas Trees, maple and hunting dogs. We also do all our own logging and do some firewood sales also. In the right area this could be a cash cow.

[WESTMAPLES]

CSA farming is what they call crop sharing farms in my area. I think this topic is great im looking at a 32 acre piece in my area to make a nice sugaring forest for my future. but my thoughts to make some money back in a short term, first have a friend of mine come in and log it, then ill go thru and take all the firewood out ( I sell 86 plus cords a year already), then fine tune the woods to make a great sugar bush, ginseng patch, Christmas trees farm ( already have 40 assorted christmas trees growing for seed stock to get started) animal farming is great, but im more of a out of the ground farmer and that's my plan anyway, im self employed so it would be a great second job for me .

[harrison6jd]

If you're interested in growing Ginseng you should check out this site (http://www.wildgrown.com/index.php/Ginseng-Forum/).

thank you. will do.

[optionguru]

We did meat chickens a couple years ago and quickly learned that the supermarket is the way to go. I have a tough time imagining they would be profitable without a lot of work and a large scale operation. We also have a lot of smaller egg producers in the area and it seems they end up making a few bucks but it's more of a hobby that pays for itself than anything.