This is the first New Years we have had on the farm, and probably because of my farm-naivety, I have a lot of big plans for this place throughout this coming year. I apologize for the picture-less post in advance.
1. Add a goat to our farm family
Originally, this was Tad's ambition, and his alone. I had my chickens; I was content. Besides, we did not even know if we liked the taste of goat milk or not. But then I started thinking about goat cheese, goat's milk soap, and goat butter! Did you know that you can make goat butter?!
So I finally became a convert to the goat idea. The only thing stopping us from achieving this goal is getting some fencing that would keep the goat(s) penned up nice and tight. Currently we only have barbed wire surrounding our pasture, and that would not be enough to prevent them from running down the road to visit the neighbors.
2. Fix the barn
The barn on our property had some damage to it prior to us purchasing this place, and then the freak wind gusts came through and broke the door to boot. I would really love to get it fixed so that we have a place to house all of our future livestock. We could safely use half of it in its current state to house some animals, but I would really prefer to have the repairs finished prior to making it a permanent residence.
An Amish guy came out a few days ago to assess the damage and we will be getting a bid on the project from them soon. Here's to hoping it turns out to be a cheap fix!
3. Expand the garden
I have big plans for the garden this year. I am constantly imagining it in my head, and let me tell you, it is glorious! We had eleven beds planted last year during the peak of summer, and I hope to add at least another four beds this spring.
Besides increasing it in size, I also want to explore with new veggies. I already started on this goal this past fall when I planted two beds of garlic. Some new veggies on the list this year include corn, potatoes, and cabbage. Hopefully I can get some failures from last year to sprout some goodies, too (I am looking at you, pumpkins, peppers, carrots, and broccoli!).
4. Stock the pond
We had planned to do this last year, but unfortunately by the time we decided what we wanted to stock, fish delivery days were long past. It is an exciting prospect to be able to grow something other than cattails and frogs in it!
5. Update the exterior of the house
Before we moved in, we scraped, sanded, and primed the porch. We had planned to paint the railing, and stain the floor boards as well... but we... didn't? It was either because we were lazy, or because we were busy. I think I will stick with the being busy argument.
I am also looking forward to adding some landscaping flowers and general prettiness to the front yard.
6. Update the interior of the house
We have painted the living room and most of the kitchen, but that still leaves three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a laundry room, and a sun room left to fix up.
7. Raise meat birds
I love chicken. I love to eat chicken. Simple enough.
8. Purchase a freezer chest
So this may sound like a silly goal, considering it is an appliance... but we are poor and unfortunately even a small-ish purchase like this is going to require some foresight and savings.
Soon we will be in possession of massive amounts of beef, and the aforementioned chicken. We need some place to store all of it.
9. Build a root cellar
Okay, so maybe this will not get completed this year... but a girl can dream, right?
10. Experiment with making more things from scratch
Pasta, soap, cheese, here I come!
11. Appreciate the life Tad and I have jumped into
Owning some land and doing the whole hobby farm thing has always been a dream of mine, even when I was young. Out here, I find that it is entirely too easy to get wrapped up in everything that needs to be done and ignore just how awesome it is to be living my dream.
It just takes one step at a time and soon you'll have everything you've dreamed of.
ReplyDeleteOne of my freezers is 40 years old! Still works like a charm. I would suggest you look on Craigs List...you can usually pick one up for under $100. When you live on a farm a freezer is a darn good investment.
I've been planning on a couple goats for two years now...used to have them in the late 70's early
90's...I loved them. Just waiting for the right time.
I like your goals. I envy them! May I suggest keeping a record of the progress you make on each one, that way, when you haven't worked one for awhile and start back on it, you will still be on track. An Amish guy to fix the barn? You couldn't ask for a better worker. Your barn will be 100% in no time. Stocking the pond could be as easy as catching some bluegills or sunfish from another lake or pond and transferring them to yours in a bucket of the source pond's water. We did that when I was a kid for my parent's 100 x 200 pond. It worked great! After that, my Dad came across an opportunity to get free black bass from the state to stock it and he did. Now it's a complete aquatic food chain pond. Watch out for snapping turtles. They probably will find your pond. Even though acres of lawn are mowed around Dad's, the turtles still come. Solution: Turtle Soup?
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I went searching through the blogs that PAK follows because I found yours, and it's quite inspiring! I look forward to wading through your archives and seeing new posts for spring! :D
ReplyDeleteWe could write the same list ourselves. OK maybe not exactly the same. We don't quite have room for goats, but we're definitely shmoozing our neighbors because they have some extra space we could use.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of the same things on my list. Glad I found your blog! :)
ReplyDeleteI loved looking through your blog too and was fascinated that you liked the movie ‘Princess Bride’. I lived in Derbyshire when they were filming the movie, know the area very well and still remember going to the local cinema in Belper, Derbyshire to see this new rather ‘cultish’ new film once it was done. There was a total of about 9 people in the cinema watching the film for the first time-if a movie was really popular one would usually expect about a dozen in the audience...It was a very small cinema...in those days there would be an interval half way and the lady who had taken our money and issued our tickets would call out if we wanted her to put the kettle on to make us a cup of tea...
ReplyDeleteAnd, I see you like Doctor Who too...as one of the producers lives in my village and uses the local places to film, I have to say that sights of aliens and John Barrowman are a frequent occurrence here...
All the best with the cold!!
Lynda, We definitely won't be buying a new one after looking at prices in some stores. Talk about some outrageous prices!
ReplyDeleteVeggie Pak, Our neighbors have told use stories about snapping turtles inhabiting the pond on our property when the previous owners tried to raise ducks. Let's just say that I guess the snapping turtles won that fight. Turtle soup sounds like a plan to me!
Kay, Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!
Jody, Schmooze away! Tell them about all of the wonderful milk and cheese you would share with them.
Kristen, Thanks for visiting!
Green Dragonette, Can I come live in your village?! Actually, seeing John Barrowman -and- aliens on a regular basis might just be too much for me to handle!
I saw you had posted a pic of of some really awesome blue-green paint. Do you have pics of the painted rooms?
ReplyDeleteKeep me in the loop on how your potato patch comes along!
ReplyDelete