Evaluation Time: 2013 Homestead Goals

This is the time of year when we take time to look back over the goals we made for the year. It's encouraging to see our progress, plus it helps us decide what our next steps are going to be in the coming year.

We divided our goals into areas:

• house
• fencing
• rain catchment
• garden
• pasture improvement
• animal shelters
• outbuildings 

Here's the progress we made on each.

House 

Rather than individual goals for the house, we had a project list that was more like a list of steps.

1. finish hall bathroom - completed in July
2. make a study for Dan - completed in August
3. finish new bedroom - almost done except the floor
4. continue replacing siding on the house - good progress here. Basically, we work on siding as we replace windows in whatever room we're working on.

Fencing
 
We have several places that need fencing. The first was to fence an area of the woods as a browse for our does.

Detail from our 2012 Master Plan. The red line is the proposed fence.

I started clearing a line for the fence last January, after all the kudzu and blackberries had died back for the winter ("Trailblazing The Property Line"). Progress stopped in February, because of all the rain we'd been having ("Non-Progress on the New Fence"). Rain continued to be a deterrent all summer. This month we resumed work on that fence again. I hope to be able to announce that it's completed soon.

Rain Catchment
 

This was the first goal checked off the 2013 goal list.

We got a system set up in January, but had to fix a leak. It's amazing how much we can collect off a small section of roof. We hope to eventually add one to each downspout plus our outbuildings.

Garden

I did try some firsts, such as the flax pictured above. I also tried
cushaw winter squash, pak choy, and tatume summer squash.

I didn't actually set any goals for the garden, but I did try to challenge myself to accomplish and record at least one thing daily of working toward year around independent eating (I did that on my Garden Journal). Eventually just having to find time to do this became too time consuming. Not that it took a lot of time; I just have too much else to do until it was no longer a priority.

Pasture Improvement

Our quarter acre buck pasture. Minerals added & ready to plant.

This year's goal was our small buck pasture ("Soil Remineralization: Year 2"). After remineralizing, we planted field corn and cowpeas. After these were harvested I sowed annual rye for a winter pasture and we let the boys back in to munch down the stalks and vines.

Animal Shelters
 

Our newly built goat shelter.

This is one goal we made progress on in spite of so many rainy days. We wanted to build two: one for the bucks while we grew field corn in their pasture, and one for pigs. We got the goat shelter done, but decided to wait on getting pigs.

Outbuildings

Floor plan for a goat barn. Click for larger. Details here.

Besides constructing new shelters, we also have two (three if we count the carport) old structures which are in need of either repair or demolition. We have discussed everything from repairing and re-using, to tearing down and starting over.  We especially need a better setup for the goats. We finally decided to tear down the largest of our two outbuildings and build a new structure in its footprint. However, before we can do that, we have to clear it out. We've been using it for hay storage, garden tools and equipment, and Dan's workshop. All of these things need new homes, but we have made a beginning. More on that soon.

All in all, I think we accomplished much this year and made good progress. It's a rewarding feeling. Next post, goals for 2014.

Evaluation Time: 2013 Homestead Goals © December 2013 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/