2015 Homesteading Goals

1.  Get Started

Duh. Definitely getting started. Currently in the planning stages

2. Store up enough firewood for next winter, x2. Approx 6 cords total. 

Continue this practice for 4 years to have a stockpile. Then continue cutting just what we use. If things get bad, and we can't cut wood it won't be a problem. If we need to use more wood than expected, there won't be a worry of running out. The wood will season properly between cutting and burning. We will have enough to use in the fire pit in the summer. If we need a bit of cash we can sell a truckload on craigslist or whatever for that.

3. Plant a garden. 

Already have the first years plan for this.

4. Plan for expansion of the garden and other places to plant food-bearing plants on the property. 

Including apple trees, plum trees?, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries.  Look into tapping the walnut trees for syrup.

5. Seal up the crawl space under the house. 

There are a lot of open areas to get under the house. The Grease Monkey will take his house building experience and seal those up, as well as insulate them better.

6. Insulate the ceiling/attic hatch. 

Insulation wasn't the first priority of whoever built this home. We need at least a few more inches of insulation in the ceiling, as well as some sort of pillow thing to cover the ladder to the attic. This and the crawl space should make it a lot easier to keep the house warm. Hopefully, it'll even reduce wood consumption.

7. Seal up the bathroom vanity. 

The kick board is missing under the bathroom vanity. This allows kitties out or in. We don't need more kittens. (Getting them spayed is on the list, we know.)

8. Prepare a coop for chickens next year. (Also look into chicken care, etc.)

I have a spot planned out for the chickens, we just need to build a shelter, and open up the fenced in area a bit. Also need to verify that it'll be secure.

9. Turn the breakfast nook into a pantry/storage area. 

The breakfast nook is currently the only proper dining space in this house. It's terribly planned, and with our family size, completely impractical. We're dining Japanese style in the living room until we move or can build an addition to the house. Might as well make the area useful and store more stuff there.

10. Finish the master bedroom. 

The master bedroom is currently nothing more than a glorified porch. Walls aren't complete, and we want to fix that.

11. Get insulating curtains for the bedrooms and living room. 

Goes along the lines of the rest of the house repairs. Does this even count as homesteading? Oh well, y'all can deal with it. Or not.

12. Start working towards zero waste. 

Reusable grocery bags, quit buying disposable anything. Get more towels for use around the house.

13. Fix the garage. 

Our (detached) garage doesn't like fire apparently. So we need to repair one of the walls, and the roof.

14. Turn the shop into a studio apartment. Rent it. 

This one is possibly unobtainable this year. But I can hope.

Long Term Goals

Chickens, Goats, Sheep, Rabbits, Bees.  100% of food from the land. Larger plot of land. Build a house.


I'm not sure if or when we can obtain the long term goals. But they're there, hopefully we can get there.