# Cash Crops- short term



## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

Looking for ideas on things to grow which would be harvested by the end of summer and would be relatively profitable. Here are my criteria, but I think this could be a good topic for other people as well in different climates with different skills: 



100 frost free days or less
Relatively low cash investment
Very marketable *or* an assured market (even if only one buyer)
Legal (yes, pot would be the best option, but I don't crave jail time!)
Not requiring extensive experience or expertise
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Here's my situation: I'm renting a place with 20 acres, but it's being foreclosed on. I have until October for sure, and possibly until October of 2015; I won't know which of these it is until the place gets auctioned off. If it's a private buyer, I only have until the fall. If a bank, etc, then 2015. So I can't really afford to put in perennial herbs or flowers, etc, or fruit trees. Whatever I grow has to be saleable by or before October of this year. 


What I have: registered dairy goats, chickens laying as well as chicks(rare breeds arriving this month), land with a sunny southern exposure, solar powered electric fence, pasture, manure, old mulch hay, plenty of water, experience with garden vegetables, some berries, dairy goats, chickens and ducks. I also have some, hardware cloth and chicken wire, and access to free wooden pallets.


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## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

Some of the crops I've thought of:

Bummer lambs. Raise 'em on the goat's milk (I can't legally sell it) and pasture with limited grain, sell 'em in the fall for butcher. 

Chickens: Get Silkie chicks or some other breed that people really want, have them shipped along with the other chicks I'm ordering, and then sell them after they aren't under lights anymore. 

Strawberries: Plant them *right now*, harvest and sell......but I hate to put a perennial plant in and get only the first harvest....

Winter Squash- On the manure. I'll do this anyway. 

Garlic: if it turns out I can be here next year as well, I'll plant garlic in the fall.


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## snoozy (May 10, 2002)

Do a pork project.


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## snoozy (May 10, 2002)

And if you have plenty of water, ducks grow very fast. Faster than anything, except maybe rabbits. In fact you have time to do several batches of ducks. Anybody can raise up weaner pigs and ducklings. They raise themselves. Remember, you don't want to price to compete with factory food: you want to price for the top market price because yours is farm-raised.


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## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

I have thought about pigs. They would eat the extra milk. The thing is, I have zero experience with them. I could do ducks, or turkeys or geese for that matter, but how would I recover my money from them?


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## snoozy (May 10, 2002)

Honestly, pigs are really easy! They care only about food. And give them some shelter from rain. Mine only got out when I had taken off for the whole day and my exH forgot to feed them. Couldn't really blame them. I came home and they were gone. Then I heard someone honk at the corner of the street, and I ran and there they were! I called to them and they came trotting home. They'll follow food. You can't herd them, but you can lead them with food anywhere. Then you get them slaughtered by your local butcher. You will have already presold them to individuals who want them for their freezers. Go to the Swine forum to learn all about them. Really, they're dead easy.

You just have to find enough people who want to buy what you can grow. Ducks grow themselves. You have to protect them from coyotes and such, but they just eat and grow and eat and grow. Like pigs! They can be butchering weight at 6-7 weeks, depending on how you like them.


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## chamoisee (May 15, 2005)

Yeah I've grown ducks. They're super easy. I just never had a buyer for them then, otherwise I'd jump at raising the Rouens.....very good growers, nice happy birds.


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## floyd242 (Jun 11, 2012)

Pumpkins for Halloween?


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## WestFork (Dec 20, 2012)

I know a few folks that do pretty well with vegetables at the local farmer's markets. Home grown produce is in demand around here, and sells for good prices. If you have some tillable ground, you might do pretty well raising greens, squash, potatoes, etc.


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## PrettyPaisley (May 18, 2007)

We're getting ready to plant 600 tomato plants. With the drought on California I figure I can't go wrong with homegrown tomatoes. I can sell them all day long with much more flavor at WAY less than you'll get them at the supermarket. I'm also planting 100# of pink eye purple hull peas but that is more for us to eat, some to store for the goats for winter and a way to condition the soil. 

I love the idea of pumpkins for Halloween! You might also try to non GMO corn. I know that is getting harder and harder to grow and folks who appreciate non GMO will pay a pretty penny for it. One of the co-ops I'm in is getting a local farmer to plant non GMO corn and they are paying through the nose for it. I'd sooner do without but they are all gung ho.


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

A few times I grew cilantro to sell. It's early, likes cool weather, and I always sold out.


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