Farming and Blogging Goals 2013
Wow! The new year is already off to a running start. How is it already the middle of January?
Of course, you all know that the seed catalogs are rolling in and making me itch for warm soil and sunshine. Unfortunately there will be snow on the ground for quite a while yet, so this year I plan to do more season-extending in the garden. I’ve started lettuce and spinach indoors and plan to (try to) grow them to harvest in our sunniest window. As soon as it’s consistently above freezing at night I’ll dig out the cold frame and start some outdoors. I really want some early season veggies this year. I’m hoping for enough to participate in my local farmer’s market.
I’d also like to experiment with growing some of our own chicken feed, not just feeding them the scraps and stalks we don’t eat. I’m talking about growing some crops specifically for the chickens. I’ve been toying with the idea of fodder beets, sunflowers, and maybe some worms. We already feed them our surplus walnuts, as a treat. It’s no use trying to sell walnuts here as nearly every home has it’s own tree or two.
As for blogging goals, I plan to blog more consistently. I’m shooting for at least one update per week. I get bogged down when I have a full plate at work, but this year looks to be leaner on the “real job” front.
Since work will be lean this year I’ll be working hard to earn more from home. One of the ways I hope to earn more from home is to add more affilate advertising to my site. I’ll be scouring the affiliate sites for good relevant companies and products to share with you. I do not want my blog to become a solid wall of advertising, but I don’t mind sharing a link that will benefit my readers and myself at the same time. Of course if I specifically recommend a product in a post, rather than just in a sidebar button, you can rest assured that I’ve used the product and I’m sharing my honest opinion.
As for personal goals, it’s the usual:
- Be more organized
- Eat healthier
- Exercize more
- Hike more
- Camp more
- Have more fun
- Be present with my children, not just in the same room (unplugged from media devices)
- Remember to bring my camera to all of the above so I can share it all with you
What are your goals for 2013 and beyond?
Linked up at No Ordinary Blog Hop, and The Homestead Barn Hop
Sounds like some great goals. I am wanting to “purge” our house this year after our 16 year old is done with his school. He’ll be in 11 grade and my last homeschooler. We’re hoping to do a charter school at home for his last two years so that means I can clean out all the school supplies from the past! It will be really nice to have the space back as we are very much pressed for space.
It sounds like your cold frame idea will be fun too. I’ve never had a permanent cold frame, but have used old windows insulated on each end to give my seedlings a quicker start. It would be nice to have a cold frame as our indoor space is so limited. Hope yours goes well!
I hear you on the purging! I don’t know how we do it, but we are great accumulators of clutter. We’re in the process of taking over the kid’s toy room as our bedroom, and will be purging the closet as a result. I find myself washing the same 5 or 6 outfits over and over, so why keep the rest? Our cold frame is small, and this will be our first try at using it, my husband built it last summer and I never got around to planting it in the fall. I hope it works as well as we’ve heard they do. Blessings this year!
Your goals sound wonderful.
A lot of my goals this year center around the garden, getting more small animals (we just bought chickens and I want a goat and some rabbits), and blog growth.
You will both love your chickens. They are so much fun to watch. The eggs are almost just a bonus. And as for the meat birds if you’re feeling a little squeamish about the butchering, I assure you you’ll be ready when the time comes. Its amazing to watch how fast they grow, but they are also gross. They just lay around eating and pooping, barely moving. By the end of the 8 weeks we were ready be done with it all. Next time we’re going to get a dual purpose breed and let them free range with the layers all summer, then butcher in the fall. They won’t get quite as big, but they’ll be less work in coop upkeep and less expensive to feed. We have rabbits too, we can’t breed them for fryers because the female was already to old for a first breeding when we got them, they still make good fertilizer for the garden though! My dream is to get a goat or two someday, but we need to build a pen for them and we aren’t such great builders so I have a feeling they’d escape. I so enjoy country life! Have fun this year!
You have excellent goals listed! Mine are somewhat similar, I want to plant a good garden, preserve some food, get goats, raise some meat chickens, raise some of my own food for said chickens and goats, and really the list could go on for quite some time! So many things I hope to accomplish and I’ll be happy if I get half of em’ done!