This past year we came so far in our homestead. We almost tripled the size of our garden, we got bees, and we got three Silver Fox rabbits. I worked on canning, freezing, and preserving our harvest, and improved my baking and cooking skills. I’m proud of how far we’ve come, but my husband and I are even more thrilled for what’s to come. So here are some of the most exciting goals for our homestead in 2023!
The Garden
In 2023, we’ll be focusing on honing the garden in and optimizing all that it can produce. With that comes solving problems we’ve dealt with, and improving things we succeeded at. Here are a few of our garden goals so far.
Plant With a Protection Plan
I always get so gung ho about planting, and then by the time it comes to putting things in the ground, I find myself taking shortcuts or crossing my fingers that things will survive. I don’t put frost fabric down when I need to, or I just hope and pray the squirrels won’t find my seedlings (that one NEVER works). So this year, I’m aiming to be more proactive, even if I don’t feel like it. I’ve learned my lesson enough times that leaving things to fate never ends well!
Take Last Year into Account
I want to be aware of what worked and what didn’t, where I planted things so I can rotate them, and also take note of what diseases took hold in our garden. This way I can try some new companion combinations out, plant in productive places, and potentially limit the spread of disease.
Do More Math
Last year I did a great job of calculating the amount of canning tomatoes and green beans I needed. Now that I know that, I want to be more calculated in my planting of other things like cabbage, potatoes, and squash. For instance, we’ve already gone through all our sauerkraut! I’d love to make enough sauerkraut for the year, so that means I need to plant a LOT more cabbage.
The Farm
The goals for our homestead are including more and more livestock (as much as we can make happen on our current property).
Breed Our Rabbits!
We got our rabbits in September, and I am so excited because come January they will finally be old enough to breed! We are planning on breeding one at a time at first, just to get the hang of things and not get overwhelmed. Also, I want to make sure we are taking good notes and records of everything, so we have a point of reference the next time around!
Get Some Honey! Hopefully…
Bees are super easy to keep, but the gamble is always if they’ll survive the winter. We just had a crazy cold blizzard with -35 wind chills, and even though we winterized our hive, there’s just no guarantee they survive. So, our goal is to get our first harvest of honey, but that comes with the assumption that we don’t need to start all over again. Fingers crossed on this one!
Get Quail
Since we can’t have chickens in our HOA, we’ve decided that quail are the next best thing! They are super quiet, unlike hens when laying. So they don’t draw attention to themselves. Plus, you can still get eggs from them. I’m not sure how many we would be able to get yet, and how many eggs they would produce, but they could at least supplement our current egg consumption, and provide meat if need be.
The Home
A year or two ago I would’ve thought the homestead is only what happens outside in the garden and with the animals. But now I know that the goals for our homestead also include what happens in the home!
Ferment More Food
This past year I made my first few batches of sauerkraut, and they turned out great! I want to ferment some more sauerkraut, and experiment with fermenting other vegetables. I also want to try and make my own apple cider vinegar, and potentially kombucha!
Bake in Batches
This year I definitely baked more than ever, and made a ton of our own bread, bagels, and baked goods. But I still haven’t found a real routine when it comes to baking. I just make bread when we’re craving it. This coming year I would like to bake more in batches monthly or weekly, and freeze things so I have them on hand when we want them!
Work Consistently On Home Projects/ Decluttering
While this isn’t necessarily a homestead goal, it is a home goal! We’ve got lots of home projects that are always on our mind for the future, so this year we want to create a timeline we can stick to. Our goal is to complete (or at least make progress on) one project a month. In addition to those big projects, I want to make it a priority to declutter/ deep clean one room a month. I think doing this more regularly will help us maintain general order better and keep things less stressful.
What are Your Goals for the Year?
These are the goals for our homestead. Comment down below with your goals for the New Year! I’d love to share inspiration and be inspired by you as well! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook to see how we progress throughout the year and how many of our goals we are able to accomplish!