Canadian Acres
Farming in the North
Homestead Goals 2014
As the snow starts to melt and “break-up” is looming, I start to realize how much freaking work we have in the months ahead. It’s always easier to see the hard work when the beautiful winter wonderland turns into mud soup. Break-up is what us Northerners like to call spring. It’s when the earth begins to weep and we subsequently get to wear muck boots 24/7 and never wash our cars. Where the world smells perpetually like dog poop and you forget why you even wished for summer for a couple of very long and drawn out weeks. But usually, once May hits, it becomes worth it. Although the swearing and the mud wearing that break-up commands may make one lose total faith in, well, everything. So for now, I will post this very lush, green photo of what is to come so I can find the strength to go on…
Ah…. that’s better… Now where was I…
This, ahem, “spring” has us looking forward to a trip to the Caribbean with my family and a sh*t.ton.of.work. In January we sat down and started a list of our goals for this year on the homestead. I say “started” a list because we seem to be adding things to it daily and it continues to grow. We honestly tried to keep it short, but easier said than done. The Caribbean will be a wonderful break, but comes at an awkward time as we will be getting a shipment of chicks in the week after. It’s kind of hard to find someone to babysit 25 chicks when there are no eggs to trade. So we’ll be a little late in starting that game, but for the Caribbean after a long northern winter, I’ll do just about anything.
Our main goal is to begin our 50 year plan on a series of maps we’re having drawn up. This will be our mother plan and help get all of our hopes, wants, wishes and dreams onto one or two large pieces of paper. This will allow us to mindfully plan out where things will go so that we create a working piece of land for our children and our children’s children to enjoy. And hopefully cut down on having to move anything when we decide it is a better fit somewhere else. Also, it makes us seem like we really have our sh*t together, eh? (practicing my Canadian accent, coming along nicely I believe.)
This is where we will include our future house build site, alternative energy sources, greenhouses, other livestock areas, future gardens, a Christmas tree farm, etc…. just to name a few things we’ve thrown out there. Below is a photo of my inspiration plan from a book called The Back to Basics Handbook by Abigail R. Gehring. We have A LOT of books on all of this stuff, because y’know, that will somehow make it easier in real life practice… either that or give me a totally false sense of security… I’ll report back.
Below is the parent list of our goals for 2014. In the following posts, I will try and highlight some of the projects and go over our goals for each one, as each project of course has more work to it than meets the eye. I should be getting used to that I think. This blog is a way for us to not only entertain our friends and family, but also to document our first few years on the farm and to keep as a kind of farm journal. Since I have basically no idea what I am doing, I have a feeling the entertainment aspect will grow as time goes on. But hey, onward and upward!
2014 Homestead Goals:
- Install workable gates throughout property fences
- Clear trees & debris in horse pasture, secure fences (40 acres)
- Build horse corrals & tack shed, move in horses, give them treats and scratch their ears
- Build chicken coop, raise 25 chicks & figure out what to do with all the roosters at a later date
- Build compost areas, figure out how to keep Wyatt out of compost areas
- Landscaping: Lawn, perennial flower beds, fire pit area, figure out how to keep Wyatt out of the growing lawn area
- Finish cabin for guests, entertain said guests
- Build garden/orchard fence: 1 acre of 8 foot elk/deer fence
- Plant garden: Include raised beds, permaculture design principles, sheet mulch beds, hugelkultur beds
- Install orchard: Northern hardy varieties of apple, pear, plum, apricot, cherry and variety of fruit and nut bushes
- Plan and install garden watering system
- Continue to improve and upgrade the farm road
- Install clothesline
- Paint and finish power shed
Whew…. good lord, now that’s a lot of work! Not saying we will finish it all, but it’s better to have more goals than none. I must say, it’s a very good thing we don’t have TV 🙂
If you had the chance to own 160 acres of raw land, what would you do the first year?
~Katy
Canadian Acres 
someone with a plan, anything can be accomplished with a plan, Will let you know when the garden tour is, and when my green house gets here, you can come and see what not to do, as I usually always have a few of those
I would love that Lynn! Always excited to see what someone else does in their garden 🙂
This is so exciting! I’m eager to see your progress. I have no idea what I’d do with 160 acres of raw land, however I DO have a few acres of land in Dominica that I’m setting goals for my next 6 month stay in the fall. I noticed a few similarities to your goals. My goals include; building the first permanent 14 X 10 structure on the land, planting a garden including cashews, cherries, soursoup, lots of green veggies & root vegetables, rainwater collection system, exploring alternative energy options including hydro and solar, building an outdoor kitchen and just spending as much time as possible off the grid in an amazing tropical rainforest.
I LOVE it lady 🙂 I also love reading your blog and learning so much from such a different part of the world. You rock and I miss you and our jazz hand emergencies…