Last week I talked about my hopes, goals and dreams for the year, how I wanted 2022 to be a more meaningful year. Well, this year has already started off with a bang!
We adopted a puppy on New Years Eve and she’s adjusted so well to the family. Her name is Annie, she is about 10 weeks old now and full of energy. But it’s to be expected from a huskador/labsky aka part Husky, part Labrador.
We’ve also closed on our first home.
House hunting in a sellers market was very stressful and I’m so thankful it’s over. We toured over 25 houses and made 6 offers, the same week our offer was accepted we noticed a huge decline in inventory and interest rates started slowly climbing. It was meant to be. We are officially owners of 4 acres, a 2015 double wide on well water, septic and solar panels that have the ability to run our needs
If I’m being honest though, our first choice wouldn’t of been a manufactured home, but with wanting property and to be able to control our own utilities a stick built wasn’t in the cards right now.
We don’t plan on this being our forever home or possibly forever property. We are going to make it our own for now though.
I’m so excited for the possibilities of this property though, as the previous owners have already started the process of it to becoming a homestead and being off the grid. There is one set back or a huge learning curve, most of the 4 acres is wooded land and we’ll need to learn how to work with it. But I’ve already been researching and it is possible to grow food and live off the land.
We just need to pick up the pieces and make it our own. Here’s what we’d like to accomplish on our homestead this year and be sure to check out my awesome vlogging skills below ;)
2022 HOMESTEAD GOALS
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The House
It’s a fairly new mobile home so it doesn’t need major work, we are in the process of redoing the flooring and a few more projects in the coming weeks before we get fully moved in. And then over the next few years I plan on doing a makeover of the place.
The house is also half of the size of our place now and way less storage space, so we’ll need to really work on getting organized and make a household schedule.
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Yard/Garden
The yard will definitely be a big one this spring and summer. It needs a lot of upkeep and landscaping done. I’ve got a rough plan of what I want to start with and can’t wait to begin. I need a space for my birds and pollinators!
My dream is for a cottage style garden around the house.
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In The Kitchen
This is an important one for me; I want to focus more on cooking from scratch and eating out less. We’ve got in such a bad habit over the past couple years and I’m ashamed to say we eat out at least once a week. It’s not good for our bodies or our wallets.
I also want to learn how to preserve and store our(& local farmers) harvest this year and practice stockpiling.
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Edible Garden Spaces
One of my favorite things to do is get my hands in the dirt and grow my own food. I love watching plants grow. Although I’ll have a much bigger space for a garden, I do not want to make the mistake of getting over my head this year. Since we already have so much landscaping work to be done I’m keeping the edible garden some what small and manageable.
For my kitchen garden, I plan on putting two more raised beds next to the solar panels for my vegetables. I’ve also got about 10 containers I’ve been using the past couple years that I’ll plant sun loving plants(tomatoes, peppers, ect) that I can move around if needed. Then I’ll use my garden tower for my herbs.
As for the orchard, there are some fruit trees already planted within the past two years, so I need to learn how to care for them and clean up the space a little. There’s apple, peach, cherry and pear already. I would like to get a plum planted this year and more berries in this area of the garden.
- Chicken & Ducks
The previous owners already put in a chicken coop and duck pen, we don’t have to do that part thankfully. What we do plan on doing is moving them both into one location. We’re going to start small with the poultry and getting 2 ducks from a family member and getting 6 chicks this spring.
We live in the woods so we’ll need to really be prepared for predators, so that’ll be a project this year as well.
I’m also going to start creating more video content of our life and homesteading progress. Check out my first ever vlog of our property, bare with me for my lack of vlogging skills ;)
PS. And please remember that saying you learn something new everyday. My lesson for the day, horizontal, not vertical for youtube!
We also need to come up with a name for our homestead, hmmm….
There you have my homesteading goals for the year, very realistic and minimal. The coming years I’d love to add bee hives, possibly some milking goats, more poultry for meat and eggs, a medicinal garden, grow mushroom logs, learn how to forage our land and a much bigger kitchen garden.
Are you a homesteader? Please let me know in the comments below and I’d love to know what your biggest mistake was your first year.
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