As a longtime Mother Earth News reader and homesteading enthusiast, I’ve always enjoyed the articles on homesteading and sustainability. When my wife, Ellen, and I retired from our respective corporate careers, that enthusiasm turned into more than just a passing interest. Since the onset of COVID-19, inflation has continued to rise, sometimes drastically, in every sector, from food and health care to lumber and automobiles. For those of us on a fixed retirement income, maintaining a reasonable monthly budget can be a challenge. Fortunately, there’s also been a rise in new technology-driven revenue opportunities for the entrepreneurial property owner. Many homesteaders capitalize on those opportunities through vacation rentals and agritourism.
The Birth of Our Business
Our homestead vacation rental experience started in 2017. Both Ellen and I have always had a strong entrepreneurial spirit, so it was a no-brainer when retirement afforded us the time and the economy provided the motivation to begin planning our new business. We’d recently sold our suburban home and purchased a small 7-acre farm in a rural area among the northern Georgia mountains. The new property connected to our existing 30 acres, where we have a small weekend cabin we’d purchased out of
