making money with little things

One of the ways to build resilience into a farmstead is to value the little things. If you know your permaculture, you're already onto this: "Value renewables" and "small and slow solutions".

There are some products of our farming for which we have limited use. They're not necessarily big things, but marketing them brings in some cash, and it accumulates.

We harvest between ten and fifteen pounds of tallow with each steer we butcher. This is mostly organ fat, 'suet', and has a high melting temperature, making it unsuitable for grinding into hamburger, but great for frying potatoes. Trouble is, we don't use it all, preferring lard for most of our frying.

But selling it on Craigslist brings in a little cash, and then we buy a tool or take the farm crew out for Mexican food.

Every little thing counts.