Goals for 2015: January Progress

Hello Fellow Homesteaders!

Here's what progress we have made on our 2015 goals...

Goal #1. Get below 200 pounds by the end of the year... The birth of Baby Girl helped to jump start this goal. I am a weird person in that I lose weight when pregnant and gain it while breastfeeding. So annoying! I am gradually changing my diet, but it's tough right now as I am eating whatever is provided for us, healthy or not. I am eating less of it, though, and cutting the sugar intake down. (Not as much as I need to though b/c there have been some yummy desserts coming in also!)

Goal #2. Finish the garage... My Knight has been working hard on this with my dad's help. Most of the ceiling and walls are up.

Goal #3. (No change yet.) Start eating at the dinner table. Right now, the dining room is anything but. It's the craft/sewing/gardening/storage/chicken/mish mash room right now. We haven't eaten at the dinner table in months, maybe longer. Again, this will depend on the garage and what happens there.

Goal #4. (No change yet, but after I'm recovered from having Baby Girl, I hope to start on it.) Build a nicer and sturdier chicken pen. The eyesore of chicken wire and bird netting needs to go and I want to start getting cattle panels and create some chicken-friendly landscaping. This will go hand-in-hand with the decluttering I have been doing because I will sell things and make a few bucks here and there to help out along with the couple of cartons of eggs I sell every week. We are talking ones of dollars here, but they do add up over time. I think it's a resonable time frame for this.

Goal #5. Pay off the credit card for good and never let it acrue again... We made a large payment that got rid of 1/5 of it, so we are well on our way! Hopefully the tax return will knock most of it out if not all of it!

Picture taken from http://kittybarrow.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/im-debt-free/

Goal #6. (No change yet.) Get the van fixed. It has some weird electrical problems and we pray they can be fixed for less than an arm and leg.

Goal #7. (No change yet. With the destruction of the green house, this may be hindered.) Have a more productive garden. This is a flighty goal and very ambiguous, but I have higher hopes with the garden this year since we have chickens. I'm hoping the work the chickens are doing over the winter along with having their poo to use for fertilizer will help my garden along. Plus I am narrowing down what I grow and grow more of it instead of having so many different tidbits. My long-term goal is to be able to grow and preserve certain crops to last us all year. Also perhaps have enough to sell and/or trade for the items that I don't or can't grow.

Goal #8. (No change yet.) Goes along with #7...get a pressure canner and grow enough produce to need it! I do some water bath canning right now, but that limits me to just the high-acid foods. I'd like to be able to can things like potatoes, beans, peas, corn, etc. Not to mention grow enough to be able to do that.

Goal #9. (We have decided we need to cut this goal out this year. But, it is still in our future plans. We just don't feel it's realistic for us to be able to get this accomplished before the end of the year.) Get meat rabbits. Since we have very little space and city ordinance to comply with, we are very limited on our livestock options. We originally wanted to raise meat chickens, but after a lot of research and recommendations from folks who have raised both, we decided rabbits were more efficient for us. We'll still have chickens for eggs and eat the occasional rooster or un-laying hen, but they won't be primarily for meat. Now, this is a goal more directed at my Knight as he is all excited to have his own homesteading project and, to be honest, I am going to have to get over the "cute" factor of rabbits, so I will be less "hands-on" with this project.

Picture taken from http://www.thebackyardpioneer.com/2013/07/13/10-reasons-why-you-should-eat-rabbit-meat/

Goal #10. (No change yet.) Get my sewing machine up and running again and organize a usable sewing space. This goes along with goals 2 and 3, since all my sewing stuff is currently in the dining room.

Goal #11. (I have done a bit of work here. I got the mixer off the floor and the jars off the counter, but still have a long way to go.) Organize my kitchen, clear off the counters and create a storage space for small appliances and home-canned goods. This also goes along with goal 2. This MAY involve buying a microhood that we don't really NEED as our microwave and our vent hood both work very well, We will prayerfully see what God has in store for us this year in that regard.

Well, there you have it! It seems like not much has been done, but with a new baby, I still feel like we've done pretty well. Also, I hope that many of these things will have a snowball effect on the others. For instance, the garage getting done will affect all the organization goals and the credit card getting paid off will get the ball rolling on the goals that need money thrown at them. 

How are you doing on your goals for the year?

Homestead on!

Jen Hen