Making Extra Money While Staying at Home

Right now I am sitting in bed watching the sun come up through the window. These quiet moments are few and far between. Soon the kids will be awake and I will be throwing laundry in the machine, making breakfast, and getting ready to work in the garden. I am fortunate to be able to stay home and raise my kids and play around with some of my hobbies. I am hoping to make a bit of extra cash so Scott could take a day or two off without it hurting our budget. My favorite idea so far is the micro farm produce stand. I really enjoy getting my hands dirty and growing something from seed. I enjoy feeding people and talking about the food I grow. The kids love being outside playing in the dirt, helping plant the seeds, learning about bugs and how things grow.

If all goes well, this will be my favorite job, aside from being a mom, that I ever had.

While this one is not a "money maker" unless you have time to market and advertise, I find making soap to be just as fun as gardening. I do have a few customers that come back time after time, which is nice. I like to know that I am providing all natural, good for your skin soap. And it also makes wonderful gifts, I call this one more of a hobby than a true money maker.

Lastly, I love sewing. I make a lot of the home decor things like throw pillows, pillow cases, seat covers and the likes. I have just started making pillowcase dresses. I know everyone and there mother makes them too, but if I find a few of the non sewers that are not Etsy customers then I will have some customers. Now if I make a few different sizes and sell them at the roadside market then I will probably make a bit more cash.

Turning a hobby into a money maker is not as easy as everyone makes it out to be. If you get a few loyal customers and make great products, eventually you be known by word of mouth and break even on your endeavors. If you have the time and money to market you could probably start making money, but in the mean time I am still considering them my hobbies and enjoying what I do.

An Experiment

Scott bought me a very small, but invaluable asset to my obsession with starting all my plants from seed.

As you can see it was a rainy day. None better than to take pictures of my germinating seeds. All the seeds were planted on Monday. Before the storm.

In every pot there are 2 seeds, except the basil. They are such tiny seeds that I just added a pinch. When it comes to thinning I will have to figure something out.

I chose a lot of heirloom varieties like this Sebastopol Tomato. The story goes that the seeds were held onto by a lady for 70 years. Just had to try. I wish I had planted  a few more San Marzano Tomatoes though. I like can sauce and salsa for winter and it would be nice to do some plain tomatoes of this tasty kind.

I also did a few standard veggies, California Wonder Bell Peppers, Straight Eight Cucumber and Black Beauty Eggplant, all of which I plan to sell at my roadside market this summer.

Has anyone tasted a Cherokee Purple tomato? What is the flavor and the best use for it? Sandwiches? Salads? or Just off the vine warmed by the sun?

A Funny Thing Happened on Friday...

Yesterday was such a wonderful day, I don't think I could have asked for anything better. Scott was home and we all went to Costco, then drove around looking at farms/ranches. Our newest idea was buying some land and having a small farm. Well after alot of driving around in the hot dry country I decided I don't want to move. I love our 3 bedroom 1 bath house and the neighborhood. Everyone around us is great and our neighbors are friendly and have known Scott since he was a boy (the house has been in the family forever). There are a few things I want that will make it our dream home and the list isn't very long, so it's doable. As long as we live here we can expand our family and I can stay home with them. In a few years when the house is paid off, Scott will be able to have four day weekends more often and we can enjoy the wonderful evenings together like we did last night.

We grilled boneless ribeye steaks that were 1 inch thick and the most delicious thing I have tasted. I don't eat alot of red meat so this was a treat for all 3 of us. We did give Allison some of her own steak and some of the tomato salad, made with just pick, really ripe roma and beefsteak tomatoes, fresh basil (both from our garden), some mozerella cheese and balsamic vinager and good olive oil. She ate 2 helpings of the salad and alot of steak. After we were finished I had quite a bit of steak left over so I handed it to Allison to see what she would do, well look at that she loves meat.



Who doesn't like a good steak, I ask you???

I hope all of you had a great Friday and have a wonderful weekend...Oh yeah, I said a funny thing happened on Friday...well take a look at Allison's new skill...I can't help but laugh every time I see her do it.

Gourmet

I love my Gourmet subscription. Every month I wait for the great recipes that sound so good and try to plan time to make them. Recently though, I have let them pile up, no time to read when a diapered toddler sees that you are reading and decides that an open magazine is the only place to sit. So when I had some time yesterday during her nap I picked up the July entertaining issue and just fell in love with all the goodness that was packed inside.
I just can't wait to start entertaining our large circle of friends with all the extra time I have. I am glad that they include quicker dishes so I can get my gourmet on and satisfy the foodie in me.
As I was reading though, I had a grand idea, why wait until a special occasion to try out a recipe that are a little more complicated but much more satisfying than the ones that I collect from convinence food sites. Why not try them now? There is no reason to wait, family is so special, create something spectacular for them and you feel good in doing so and they will feel good in knowing you care that much for them.
I mean who doesn't like a really great meal loaded with all the fresh summer produce and fruits. Corn and tomatoes in a salad or just a fresh berry cake can make a humdrum meal into something that the family will ask for until summer is over and you have to move on to fall produce.

I have declared Fridays as the day we try something new and delicious, Foodie Friday, I might call it, but it will be something we can all look forward to after a hectic week of working. An evening we can slow down and savor the time before the weekend is in full swing and we're off again doing busy family things. A time we can connect as a family and enjoy each others company and talk about the coming events and weeks and plans for the future and...ok it's getting a little weird here...but you get the point, a time for us to connect.

I hope all of you have a wonderful day!!!
Allison is turning ONE tomorrow so I hope all of you are looking forward to a lot of pictures and sappy stuff (just a warning)

Weekend In Pictures

Scott finally had 2 days off this weekend so we played and got alot of housey things done. I finally got straw for my garden and just got finished spreading it around, I started at 10 mins to 7. Early morning stuff since it will be 105 today. Alot of self feeding went on this weekend also, Allsion had alot of fun trying to use a spoon and ended up just using her hands and semaring food all over her face


She also discovered a fun loving companion, little baby in the mirror, she has seen her before but she never really understood how great mirror baby was until this weekend.(sorry it's so dark) .


Then it was bathtime. I was a little tired after a hard day of goofing off so I didn't do the dishes, just rinsed them & put them in the sink, but she found them and wanted to wash them for me. What a great helper.





On Sunday we play Rock Band 2. Really fun, like always Allison wanted to sing. But then she discovered the guitars and thought that might look fun, too. We have such a gifted child, full of talent. The next American Idol. What do you think?



After all that playing we had dinner where she rubbed sausage in her hair, must be some new fashion thing, and then Allison and Daddy fought for the camera spotlight.

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I definetly love weekends like this. Hope all of you had a great weekend and enjoy the wonderful day.