10 ways to make money on your land

There’s something very visceral about having your own piece of land, whether it’s a little scrap of green terrace or a vast expanse of fertile bottomland. Ownership (or rentership) of ground tugs at a series of primal instincts—to cultivate, to promote growth, to improve, and ultimately to enjoy the rewards of your efforts. Urban dwellers satisfy this drive by planting flowers in window boxes and herbs in pots on apartment ledges. Suburbanites lavish attention and money on carpet-thick lawns and sculpted terraces. Rural denizens concentrate their efforts on a particular field or specific livestock. Yet, in each case, there is always an ultimate goal, to manage the soil and land to achieve some direct benefit. 

Now, this is a good thing. The discovery that good land management returns a financial and emotional reward tends to promote better management in the future, which is also a good thing! The challenge, of course, is figuring out the thing that will bring the best return, using the abilities and skills you already have, and fitting your efforts into the time you have available. Sometimes, that combination of parameters creates a daunting barrier to further action: I've only got a backyard lawn, and a little time on the weekends; how can I possibly earn any income of that? (Read more)