In the News
Homemade for Sale
with Larry Meiller, Wisconsin Public Radio, May 5, 2015
The term "cottage industry" harkens back to an earlier time, but there are many people who are successfully selling goods made at home. Larry Meiller talks with an eco-entrepreneur [John Ivanko, co-author of HOMEMADE FOR SALE] about how and why to consider starting a home-based food enterprise.
Interest in homemade food businesses growing
by Anna Thomas Bates, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Fresh, May 27, 2015
"Homemade for Sale" Book offers advice for starting a home food business
by Danielle Endvick, Wisconsin Farmers Union News, Mar./Apr. 2015
Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko are set to launch their new book, HOMEMADE FOR SALE. We caught up with them for a Q&A on the book, which aims to foster the growing cottage food movement.
Cottage food laws allow producers to create, sell value-added products
by Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko, Organic Broadcaster, Jan./Feb.2015
Whether you operate your farm as a CSA or sell at farmers’ markets, transforming a bumper crop of tomatoes or cucumbers into value-added jars of salsa and pickles can boost your bottom line, extend your cash flow year round and diversify your farm income.
The Food Artisans Next Door
Homemade Delicacies, Direct from Our Neighbors
by John D. Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist, Natural Awakenings, April 2015
Neighbors in most states can now legally buy fresh breads, cookies and preserves from local food artisans.
B&B Owner Experiments with Homemade Fare
by Amber Selman, Illinois Farmer Today, April 9, 2015
With her love of the homegrown experience, Kivirist wrote a book titled HOMEMADE FOR SALE to help inform others about how they can start a business in their own kitchen.
How to Navigate Cottage Food Laws
by Lisa Kivirist, Hobby Farm Home, Jan./Feb.2012
It's possible to return to a simpler way of life: Follow these six steps to launch a food business sans the commercial setup.
The sweet taste of cottage food
by Shane Hoover, CantonRep.com July 27, 2014
Ohio has allowed certain homemade foods to be sold without licensing or inspection since 2001, giving rise to a cottage-food industry of small producers like Monica Coblentz.
Wisconsin home bakers hungry for 'Cookie Bill'
by Lisa Kivirist, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Opinion, February 24, 2014
Wisconsin will miss an opportunity to support small-scale, home-based food entrepreneurs if the Assembly doesn't take quick action to pass Senate Bill 435, known as the "Cookie Bill" ...The bill champions small-scale business start-ups. They could be stay-at-home moms looking to earn extra income, home bakers cooking up Wisconsin's ethnic heritage of Swiss bratzeli cookies or farmers selling bread at the market. Barriers to such start-ups would be eliminated since everything you need to get started is already in your home kitchen.
"Running a Live-ness"
Podcast Interview of Lisa Kivirist by Chris Blanchard, February 16, 2015
What does it take to make a living farming? Ecopreneur Lisa Kivirist shares her experience creating a "live-ness" from a diversified income stream on her rural homestead, Inn Serendipity Bed and Breakfast, in southwest Wisconsin. Lisa and her husband, John Ivanko, made a change from their mainstream, white-bread, suburban, commute-to-a-job world in Chicago twenty years ago, and now make an intentionally modest living from their homestead, with income streams from their small market garden, a bed and breakfast, writing, and contract work.