Funding Your Homestead

We have cataloged and categorized many dozens of ways to make a living away from the city. There is no right or wrong answer -- so long as it is legal -- the choice is entirely yours. The land you select, the budget you have to work with, your existing skills and the ones you want to develop, are all important factors in chosing a way to fund your lifestyle. Of all the Seven Essentials, this one could be described as the most essential of them all. With enough of this particular essential, you can fix almost any problem with the other six!

To help organize the many different options for making money, we start by dividing them into three broad categories based on how the land and the homestead are used in making money.

If the homestead serves only as a home, then we are making money "Away from the land." This is the normal mode for people who have a job or who are independant contractors performing some trade for others.

If our homestead also functions as the place where we perform or trade or business, then we are making money "At the land." This is the case with home-based businesses, many of which are portable enough to take with you when you move to a rural location.

And finally, we might actually prosper "From the Land" in the same way that farmers and ranchers do. In this case the land itself is an active part of our business.

The table summarizes this classification scheme and provides some examples. Click on the category to explore even more ideas.