Looking Back at 2013

I just realized that we're halfway through January, so I really need to get off my rear and take a look at how we did on our goals for 2013 and start planning for this new year.

This year's garden fared much better than in 2012, since we didn't have all that oppressive heat and drought.  But I couldn't grow a pepper or jalapeno this year to save my life.  This year, we'll be moving those into the concrete containers next to the garage since I accidentally discovered that they LOVE the heat reflected off the garage and retained by the concrete planters.  Hey...gardening is an art, right?  Sometimes you discover you're a Picasso and didn't know it.

Looking at the list of goals from last year, I think I may have been just a tad bit over-ambitious.  Look at how long that list is!  I mean, was I trying to plan out our entire year in one day?

We did accomplish some biggies:

1. Selling the 1893 Victorian that we lovingly restored.
2. Paying off the farm.  It's all ours now!
3. We didn't just replace the leaky roof on the addition.  We had professionals replace the entire roof for just the cost of materials + they put a membrane roof over the almost-flat addition.  No more leaks!
4. The garden beds are no more.  We bulldozed them over in favor of a much bigger garden in 2014.  I gave us a "D" on this only because I wanted to get a whole mess of horse manure dumped on it before winter and that didn't happen. 
5. There are some new additions to the garden:  2 new dwarf cherry trees and 3 new semi-dwarf apple trees.  And a crap load of blackberries.

Even though not everything on the list got accomplished, I still feel really good about what we were able to do in 2013.  And I feel even more excited about 2014. 

Speaking of 2014, how about some goals, girl?  And keep it light, would ya?

• Develop a plan for our much bigger garden.  Oh, the seed catalogs are a-flying.  More on that to come!
• Install solar panels to power our house.  I've been doing a ton of research on this and you wouldn't believe how easy this is to DIY.  Stay tuned and find out how to do this for FREE here in the KC area.
• Finish up renovations on the travel trailer and get it moved to the farm to make room for...
• Build a garage in the backyard.  We need space to store and work on tractors, etc.
• Successfully grow tomato from seed.  Last year’s try was pretty pitiful and the seedlings ended up VERY leggy.  I’d really love to experiment with soil blocking and grafting.
• Re-establish the strawberry bed. (Ahem..I may have let it the rye grass overtake the bed and kill it last year.)
• Grow corn and\or other edibles specifically for the chickens.  I’d like to see if I can cut down on the amount of chicken feed that we’re buying.  This one was on my list for last year.
• Finish the rain barrel project.  This will be expanded to include a water capture system for the new solar panels. 
• Build at least one compost bin. 
• Learn beekeeping.  I've already signed up for an all-day class from the Midwestern Beekeepers Association in February. 
• Become proficient in playing the 5-string banjo.
• Start an herb garden and learn how to dry and store them.  And, while I’m at it, learn how they can be used in herbal remedies and medicines.
• Enjoy every minute.

I think that's a pretty good do-able list and, as is typical when it's cold outside, I am now *chompin' at the bit* to get out there and get started.

How about you?  What’s on your project list for 2014?

Retrospectives and Resolutions

Click to biggify

I'm really not one for resolutions.  Past history shows that I'm in that 83% category of people that have broken their resolutions by the end of January.  What I do believe in, however, is having goals to shoot for.  So I thought it might be fun to take a look back at last year and see how we did on our goals for 2012.

This year was really difficult where the garden was concerned.  The heat was overly oppressive and, coupled with a moderate to severe drought, the plants really suffered.  We essentially abandoned the garden and any project that involved working outside and focused instead on getting the 1891 Victorian ready for sale.

We did a ton of work and I'm really proud of what J. and I accomplished.  Unfortunately, there are some projects that will have to be rolled over to 2013.  But we should have more time to work on these this year!

 So, without further adieu, here's my VERY ambitious list of goals for 2013.

• Close on the sale of the 1893 Victorian and help our new neighbors get settled in February.  They need help with building a fence to keep their dogs in, and we’ve promised to help with moving the laundry taps from the basement to the first floor.  Stay tuned – I’m going to introduce you to them this weekend!
• Replace the roof on the addition on the back of our house.  I think J.’s getting tired of crawling out there with bubble gum every time it leaks.
• Help our other neighbors add a railing to their treacherous concrete front steps.  They are retired and getting older themselves, and her elderly mom has a hard time getting up the stairs. It would really help for them to have a railing to hold onto and we promised we would build it for them as soon as the ground warms.
• Increase the size of the garden.  I had a hard time trying to fit everything into the raised beds last year, so I think it’s time to scrap them and go whole hog with a big garden.  J. better stop me before the whole yard turns into a garden!
• Successfully grow tomato from seed.  Last year’s try was pretty pitiful and the seedlings ended up VERY leggy.  I’d really love to experiment with soil blocking and grafting.
• Plant more blackberries, strawberries, sweet potatoes and at least 3 more dwarf fruit trees. 
• Grow corn and\or other edibles specifically for the chickens.  I’d like to see if I can cut down on the amount of chicken feed that we’re buying.
• Finish the rain barrel project and add drip irrigation to the garden.  This is a holdover from 2012.  We could just never find the time to finish!
• Plant sunflowers somewhere in the yard.  I ordered the seeds this year, but never got them planted.
• Severely cut down on all the crappy processed foods that we eat.  I don’t know that we can completely go cold turkey but we can certainly shoot for filling the freezer with grass-fed beef and canning\dehydrating\freezing more fresh food from our garden and the local farmer’s market.
• Butcher a chicken.  The new neighbors are riding to the rescue on this one as well – they have 25 meat birds that they’ll be butchering in late January and I’m hoping to participate in the process.
• Explore the possibility of solar panels on the garage roof.
• Build at least one compost bin.  The upside down trash cans just aren’t working well.
• Learn beekeeping – I would love to have a hive in an effort to replace processed sugar with my own homegrown honey, but I need to do a lot of learning before I .  I’ve discovered that the public library has a ton of books on the subject, plus our new neighbors have bees.  I’m kind of hoping they will let me be an intern.
• Finish the renovations on the travel trailer and get it moved to the farm (a carryover gorl from 2012.)
• Become proficient in playing the 5-string banjo.
• Learn how to knit.
• Start an herb garden and learn how to dry and store them.  And, while I’m at it, learn how they can be used in herbal remedies and medicines.
• Payoff the mortgage on either the farm or the house.  The ultimate goal:  completely debt free in 3 years!
• Enjoy every minute.  We've worked hard for the past 4 years and, while this list is long, it's all fun stuff.  I don't see any of it as work.

Whew!  I think that’s a pretty good list, don’t you? I've already gotten started on some of these and am already anxious to give you an update in the next couple of days. 

How about you?  What’s on your project list for 2013?

March in Review

Um, I just realized that I forgot to do a goal update at the end of March?  I swear I would lose my head sometimes if it weren't attached.  I hope you can pretend it's March 31st for the next 5 minutes or so.  Pretty please? I'm only 12 days late.

So here's how we did on last month's to-do list:

March To-Do List:

Till up the garden beds and lay in new (old) compost

Start tomatoes, peppers and flowers seedlings indoors

Build two potato bins and plant the Yellow Finns

Build trellis for cucumbers and spaghetti squash

Research and start a "chicken treat" garden

Make our own first loaf of bread

Finish organizing the basement and pantry

Get ready for the yard sale in April

Fix the bikes and make time to ride

Not as good as I would have liked, but this quilting class has kept me busy!  For the cuke trellis, I'm going to buy a fence panel from Tractor Supply and create an arch in the raised bed for the vines to train onto.  But the little squash plants are just now breaking the top of the soil and we've got some time before they need a trellis.  The yard sale has been pushed back to May 12th (thank goodness!) so I have a little bit more time to figure out what I want to sell.  And we got the bikes out of the basement only to find that we needed new innnertubes.  We've got them, but they need to be put on before we can be rolling. So that leads me to the.....

April To-Do List:

Finish my first quilt and find someone to quilt it for me

Install the bunny fence around the raised beds

Install the trellis for cucumbers and spaghetti squash

Start growing the "chicken treat" garden

Get ready for the yard sale on May 12th

Fix the bikes and make time to ride

You know, looking at this list, I just realized that I could get alot more done if I didn't have to work or if there were 12 more hours in the day.  I suppose I'm not the only one to make that observation.  ;-)

A Mish-Mash of Things

Doesn't it seem hard to believe that February is already done and gone?   Spring is here - at least weatherwise, if not by the calendar.  

Spring doesn't always bring good things with it, though.  First, we had an awful storm roll through two nights ago with some incredibly strong winds.  Fortunately, we didn't get any tornados but, unfortunately, other folks did.   It apparently devastated some small towns south of here.  So far, no one was killed and I hope it stays that way.  Those folks are definitely in our thoughts and we hope they are quick to recover from such an awful event.

Our neighbors behind us just moved after being foreclosed on.  They had moved in about 8 years ago and rescued another early 1900's Victorian that had burned.  It was sad to see them leave, as they were great neighbors - always friendly and she loved to come over and see how the chickens were doing.  As they were packing to leave, she brought over the egg basket in the picture.  She left it while we were at work, so we didn't even get to say goodbye as they left.

Speaking of chickens and eggs...  The total for February came to 183, which is more than double what the girls laid in January.  Must have been the mild winter because, as you may recall, we didn't put any artificial light in the coop.  And, interestingly enough, almost all but 2 of them are in some stage of molt right now but their laying has not decreased.  We'll see what happens as March progresses.

Oh, one more thing... I've signed up for a 4-week class titled "Food Not Lawns" at the University of Missouri. It's presented by master gardeners and its focus is on urban and suburb backyard gardening.  I'm hoping to learn lots from this class, as it comes highly recommended.  March should be interesting as I'll now be in class on Wednesday and Thursday nights.  J. asked if I was ever going to be home!

Goal Updates

Now that we're two months into 2012, I though I'd take a quick look at this year's goals and see what progress has been made.

Organize the basement, laundry room and pantry.

We've made substantial progress here and I need to do a post to update you with before and after pictures.  But we still need to do an inventory and sort through things for the yard sale in April.

Learn to make our own bread and eliminate store-bought bread. 

Nope, and this is just laziness.  We've got the recipes and we just need to do it.  I'm putting it on the March list of goals below.

Learn how to use my camera. 

Unfortunately, I procrastinated and the classes were full but I did put myself on the waiting list.

Finish renovations on our rental house. 

In progress!  We started with the major tree cleanup.

Finish the renovations on our tavel trailer and get it moved to our 40 acres.  Just a little work here with picking the fabric for the curtains.  Which I can now sew with the new Janome!

Finalize water management plans. No progress.

Diversity the plants in the garden.  DONE!  In my 2012 garden plan I've included lots of new plants such as spaghetti squash, bush beans, purple asparagus, onions, garlic, sunflowers, etc.

Get healthier.  Um, yeah.  :-)

In the interest of taking that gargantuan list in baby steps, I decided to make a list for what needs to be done in March.  I saw this over on My Simple Country Living and think it's a great idea, so I asked if I could steal it. My plan is to do a goal update at the end every month.

 Behold!  CrankyPuppy's monthly to-do list for March.

March To-Do List:

Till up the garden beds and lay in new (old) compost

Start tomatoes, peppers and flowers seedlings indoors

Build two potato bins and plant the Yellow Finns

Build trellis for cucumbers and spaghetti squash

Research and start a "chicken treat" garden

Make our own first loaf of bread

Finish organizing the basement and pantry

Get ready for the yard sale in April

Fix the bikes and make time to ride

Whew!  That's quite a list but I think it's do-able. 

New Goals for a New Year

I want to start by saying that I hate resolutions and I'm not going to make any. I mean, really...how many people find themselves in mid-January having completely thrown their resolutions out the window? No, sir! You won't find me in that crowd.

But I do think it's time to evaluate what we'd like to accomplish next year as improvements to the garden, the farm and ourselves.   Here's a list that I've had in my head for a couple of months:

• Organize the basement, laundry room and pantry, including a database to keep track of what food items we have and their expirations.
• Learn to make our own bread and eliminate store-bought bread from our diet.  J. keeps talking about a sourdough starter.   Bring it on!
• Take a class or read a book on how to use our wizz-bang camera, an older Canon Rebel XTi EOS 400D SLR. I'd really like to improve on the quality of pictures on this blog. :-)
• Finish the renovations on our rental house and get it sold.  Before we do that, I'd like to get our two remaining full-size apple trees transplanted over there so they can provide pollination for our trees.  Hopefully, the new owner won't cut them down.  This goal is very important to our plan of getting completely our debt.
• Finish the renovations on our travel trailer and get it moved up to the real farm.
• Finalize our water management plans for the mini-farm so that we're not using city water for the garden or chickens
• Diversity the plants in the garden to include more varieties of heirloom tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, carrots, garlic and potatoes.  That list may get bigger as I go through all the seed catalogs that are now showing up, but it's a good start.  And I'm going to try to start everything from seed.
• Get healthier.  J. and I have both packed on some mid-life pounds and we need to take some steps to get rid of it.  I'd like to see us get outside more and into a healthier pattern of eating - less processed foods, less eating out (even if it is convenient!) and more eating food that we've grown ourselves or from the Farmer's Market.

That's a pretty big list and it will take us all year to get this stuff done.  Whew!  But I'm excited to get started on that organization item today.  I'll be posting pictures of our progress for you shortly.

I'd love to hear what goals you have for 2012. Please let me know in the comments below!

View more posts just like this on Homestead Revival's Homestead Barnhop #43.