What are your SS goals for 2009?

[PamsPride]

I plan on making my own cloth diapers.
I want to get some Turkeys that I can use as breeders.
I want to plant some more fruit trees and bushes...like raspberries, more strawberries, and blueberries.
I want to do raised beds for my garden rather than just a big plot.
I want to can my own speghetti sauce and pizza sauce.
Dehydrate onions and green peppers.
I want to plant potatoes for the first time.
Get more food stored.
Get my emergency first aid kits done and put one in my van and one in DH's car as well as an emergency box at home that we can just grab and go that would be able to sustain our family for three days if we had to evacuate.
Get our home equity line of credit paid off.
Take a more serious approach to finding a larger piece of property.
I have other things planned but can not think of them. Maybe once others start posting it will jog my memory.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Well, right now our only goals are to get a beef or two and I am hoping that with the number of hens I have now that they will be producing enough eggs to pay for themselves.

 

[FarmerChick]

Hmm...I am not sure if I want to downsize or up-size in the farm...LOL...so on the fence which way I am committing resources.

BUT

I will plant some apple and peach trees at my other farm. I wanted to do this last year, no time. Heck with the deer and such....get them in the ground and growing. Deal with problems later..LOL---I want my mini orchard!

Tony bulldozed my WILD blackberry area along our long long long driveway up the hill.......SO now I need to plant some blackberries and blueberries and raspberries in a true orchard fashion.

Animals are set. No more.....just to maintain 400 hens give or take-----manage my 30 goats left----manage my 20 cattle----manage my 100 hogs. No more critters being added----so that is a goal I guess...not to increase!


Get my farm business on paper. I do not truly track sales etc. I make good money...where does it go??? After all these years time to do this. I have a business planner etc. on Microsoft that I am going to use this year. I will track this farm for one year to every penny and where it went and see just what is going on! ---starting today, Jan. 1
Yippee



not much more. just to conserve, cut back, save money, do things more for myself, and try to find that simpler life.

goal for 2009 is also have more vacations. mini long weekend types camping. I gave up alot of years going nowhere while farming. time to gain back some fun time!



that is about it. not tackling anything major. I have all the coops, barns, tractors, etc. etc. that I could need...now time to use them to their fullest potential I guess.

 

[PamsPride]

FC it sounds like you are finding that happy balance!!

 

[FarmerChick]

yea I decided to not think about adding more to the farm. that is a relief! at least I know where I stand right now..LOL

worry about the present, not the future of the farm, within reason..LOL

Smiling here!

 

[onebuggirl]

We plan to:
Add a raised bed garden (each year add one to the yard..I have 1 so far)
start a dwarf orchard: apples, pears,plums,cherries
plant rhubarb
plant asparagus
plant a red current bush (jelly!)
can like crazy anything & everything (water bath & pressure)
set up a root cellar
plant potatoes in garbage cans
start making laundry soap
buy local
drive less
use my chickens to weed for me

 

[PamsPride]

Rhurbarb...that is something I have been wanting to plant too!! Thanks for reminding me!

How do you plant potatoes in garbage cans?

 

[onebuggirl]

Rhurbarb...that is something I have been wanting to plant too!! Thanks for reminding me!

How do you plant potatoes in garbage cans?

Very carefully!
No I read it in a book...but basicaly you plant the potatoes down near the bottom. Then you can add soil ontop later. I don't really remember the details sorry, I just remember reading it and wwanting to do it.

 

[dacjohns]

Finish everything I started in 2008 and not get more behind.

 

[2dream]

Finish everything I started in 2008 and not get more behind.

Sounds like we are in the same boat. You know the one sinking because we have a hole in the bottom and can't paddle fast enough.

I started my plan today. My first thing for 2009 is to declutter. (is that a word)? If its not used on a regualar basis out it goes. I figure with my work schedule it will take me about a month to complete that cleaning task. Its kind of a combination of deep clean and declutter at the same time.

Build two new rabbit cages by the end of Feb., work around my blackberry bushes to get rid of some of the undergrowth and get started on a fence of some sort for the new garden area.

March - Start my seeds, move one of the chicken coops, revamp the other coop to seperate my birds better by breeds. Will also start tilling the new garden spot about once a week to mix in compost and manure plus turning the earth that often will help discourage weeds. (hopefully) This is a brand new garden spot and DH has been working it about once a month for the last few months.

Sometime in the first 3 months of this year I also have to get some type of road side stand built that we can easily move in the back of the truck to sell eggs and produce on the weekends.

March is as far as I have planned. I was planning on goats this year but may have to wait one more year. Plus like Farmerchick - I really would like to make some time for play.