Welcome back! As we look forward i
nto this new year, it’s time we ask ourselves “What do we want to accomplish this year?”
Most people create resolutions – sometimes we complete them (hahahaha… no, really), but many times most of us forget, postpone, or just simply give up on these goals. However, since we began “naming” our years, we have learned that we are more likely to keep the focus.
It’s a simple concept really – one goal to focus on all year. This year is THE YEAR OF PROGRESS. Not that we haven’t been making progress – but we could have done more. We aren’t so blind to see that we have not put the focus where needed in the last two years, but that is changing now. What
we have done and accomplished has created more things that need to be taken care of – so now, we need to (in my best Larry the Cable Guy voice) Get ‘er Done!
For this year, everything we do will be in an attempt to make progress on our homestead. Now, I have a list – a very detailed and organized plan of attack for everything I think needs to happen. I emphasize the “I” because, well, let’s be honest – I’m married.
Don’t get me wrong – Jeff is AMAZING, and I do not know how I would get anything done without him. However, I’m not sure how I get anything done at all WITH him.
Jeff is a bit indecisive at times, and he is easily distracted. Will he give me the “look” when he reads this? Probably. Will he agree? Absolutely.
It’s not all his fault though – a lot of the fault falls on both of us from projects we’ve started already and haven’t finished. The biggest issue for our lack of progress is the condition of the homestead itself and finances.
In an effort to get debt free, we don’t outsource the items we need done – we are doing it ourselves. We also don’t buy a lot of the things we need to help our homestead advance – we make it, or wait for it to go on sale. For instance, we need cabinets and countertops for my soap shop. Are we going to buy them – heck no! We have a mill and lots of trees! This takes time though.
In this example, we need to mill the wood. To do this, we need to cut down the trees. For this task, we need to ensure the area we are getting the trees from is an area we want cleared. So, now we have to assess where our animals are and where we want to move them to. We currently want to move the pigs to a wooded area to clear out the underbrush. So, let’s move the pigs. Moving pigs = not easy! This takes moving a fence. One side of this fence is also utilized by our buck goats, so we must rearrange the buck area. For this, we need to build them a new shelter. To build the shelter, we need wood… See what’s happening here? It’s a viciou
s cycle!
We will get there though; it just takes a lot of planning and focus. Everything we do this year will be with the thought of “How will this help us progress?” They say (I’ve never figured out who “they” are by the way) that if you write it down, you are more likely to accomplish your goal. Ultimately, our goal is to make significant progress. BUT… reluctantly, here is what I would like to accomplish before year end:
Finish the soap shop (The Soaping Fresh Shedquarters)
Dry in Jeff’s shop (which I’ve aptly named: Jeff’s Createatorium & Retreat)
Clear remaining front portion of bamboo
Move the goat does and heifer to newly opened front
Move RV further back towards the shops
Move the bull and goat bucks
Build the new rabbit shelter
Build a bridge over one of the dry ravines
Create a duck pond
Finish the outdoor shower
Build up the garden bed(s)
Finish the fence line
WOW – I didn’t realize I had this much on my list! There are other items not on this list that I’m sure we will do. I’ve anxious though to see if we actually get these items checked off – say a prayer for us!
Now that we have listed out our “to do” items, tell us what you have on your list – we would love to know!
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