As we are approaching the new year of 2019, I’ve been making a list of our homestead goals for the year. Making homestead goals is a process I do every year to help outline the projects we want to tackle on the homestead the next year. It is a great way to organize our projects, prioritize and plan.
Since we moved to this new homestead a year ago, we have so much work to do on the land. Similar to our old homestead, this land did not have the infrastructure like a vegetable garden or fencing for animals. The former owners were in their 90’s and unable to garden and raise animals anymore so they turned the garden area back into grass. The only evidence left is a large rhubarb plant that continues to grow every year.
Last winter once we finished moving, we had to put our energy and money into remodeling the little old cottage next to our house for my mom who moved out here last summer. We are so blessed to have her living next door to us and helping us with our homesteading and homeschooling adventures!
The first year on our new homestead, we set up our beehives but we didn’t have the time or money to put in a large fenced garden space (tall fencing is necessary due to the deer). I grew some veggies and strawberries in containers and herbs in my antique wheelbarrow planters we brought from the old homestead. We also spent hours exploring our new land, finding wild edibles like chokecherries and rose hips. I even discovered an ancient plum tree by the creek that was still producing fruit!
Taking this extra time to settle into our new homestead and become familiar with the land has actually been really helpful in shaping where we plan to focus our efforts. Studying the land helped us decide the best location for our garden and where to plant fruit trees.
Here are our homestead goals for 2019:
1.Build a garden space. I have plans drawn out for the design of our new garden space. It will need to be fenced with 6 foot tall fencing to keep out the hungry deer who love to forage on our property. We will be putting in raised beds to grow vegetables, berries, culinary and medicinal herbs.
2. Set up a hoop house. I had a small greenhouse at our old house that I loved to grow seedlings in but sadly I had to leave it at the old homestead when we moved. I’ve been dreaming of a larger hoop house to help expand our growing season and maybe even some day use it as a space to host on-site classes.
3. Plant fruit trees. We selected the ideal location on our property to plant a small orchard since we had to leave our several dozen small fruit trees at our old homestead when we moved last winter.
4. Increase our beehives. We plan to add to the number of beehives we have by purchasing more nucs again this spring. We harvest the honey to eat and then I render the comb into wax and sell it in our Etsy shop so this is an income source for the homestead.
5. Fence the meadow. We have a lovely meadow filled with grasses that would be a great place to raise a beef cow or goats. There is no longer fencing around it so we are hoping to tackle the big project of putting a fence around this area to create an animal pasture.
6. Launch a natural body care line of products in our Etsy shop. This has been a project I’ve been working on sporadically for the last two years and am so close to finally making it happen!
Holly Whiteside
January 3, 2019 at 7:07 amI absolutely love it! What an inspiration you are. I started my own list:
1. Resume home gardening. I took last year off because I was hired to run a community garden, but this year i’d like to run my own small home garden, too, along with that one.
2. Reduce household plastic consumption, and reduce our trash. We have been doing this gradually, but I’ve been learning how plastic waste is reaching a crisis in the four countries still accepting trash from the U.S. We really have to change our ways. By reducing our household plastic consumption, we are also saving money and becoming more independent, so we win from that aspect, too!
3. Plant more fruit trees and bushes, rhubarb, and add more permaculture in general.
4. Revive the asparagus bed or relocate it (its been run over with day lilies and other weeds).
5. Practice more professional crop planning (i’ve already started my planning). Three or four successions per bed, around the year, increasing production with the same amount of space.
6. Practice plant propagation regularly and try to get good at it. I need rose hips, elderberry, blackberry, more red currant,and blueberry, a lemon tree, ginger, turmeric, etc. Why pay for all it if I can start some from cuttings?
7. Dedicate one day a week to making at least one thing, such as: DIY house cleaners, tooth powder, breakfast bars, crackers, candy, running the dehydrator, making yogurt, bread, canning, rendering beeswax (I have 2 hives, too!), etc.
Annie Bernauer
January 4, 2019 at 8:24 pmI love your list, thank you for sharing this! You have a very inspiring list, I also have been thinking more about reducing our use of plastic. We don’t use a lot but I’d love to reduce it/cut it completely if possible. I am going to borrow your idea of practicing plant propagation. My mom and I have been doing this with houseplants this winter but I’d also love to practice this more with outdoor plants. I took a tree grafting class two years ago and that is another thing I want to practice this year too. Good luck with your goals!