So many of us have been looking forward to 2021 since the middle of 2020. We all hoped the pandemic would be over by now and we could go back to our “normal” lives.
Afterall, 2020 was rough. Last week I wrote a year in review post for 2020. If you’d like to see how our year went, that’s the place to go.
I am an optimist at heart, so no matter how bad last year was, I still look forward and make goals for the new year.
This is a habit I’ve been doing for several years. If you would like to look back on those homesteading goals, check them out:
12 Months of Homesteading Goals
Looking Towards the Future: Our Goals for 2018
Our Homesteading Year In Review and Next Year’s Plans
Our Homesteading Goals for 2021
Gardening
After we moved last year, we restarted our water trough garden. It went really well and we grew lots of veggies.
But by fall, we had more than we could handle. Most of the squash and cucumbers sat uneaten on the counter and by Thanksgiving I just threw it all away.
We don’t have the space in this new house for cold storage of vegetables, even though I think it works great when you do.
We could have canned or frozen the remaining veggies, but time just got away from us.
So this year, I plan on just growing a salsa garden. We love to make and eat salsa, so hopefully that will take care of our waste issue.
I guess squash and cucumbers just aren’t our favorites.
For our salsa garden, we will grow:
- tomatoes
- onions
- cilantro
- bell peppers
- hotter varieties of peppers
- garlic
I’m excited about this because we can make our own salsa with variable heat, depending on what kinds of peppers we grow.
Chickens
We are planning on getting chickens again this year. We haven’t had them in 2 years because predators at the old house and moving last year.
Since we are in town, we are only allowed to have 6 hens and no roosters. So we will probably just buy a little chicken coop and have 6 hens.
I love having fresh eggs from the backyard. They are so much better than store bought.
Emergency Preparedness
Since we’ve been living in a perpetual emergency for almost a year now, emergency preparedness is always on our minds.
Making sure we have less debt and more savings is key.
We also want to make sure we have extra food storage at home in case we go back on lockdown in the future. I will discuss that in the next section.
Food Security
I’ve been focused on food storage for several years, but this past year food security has really become my focus.
What is food security? Not only storing what you have for longer, but being able to get more food if the grocery store is out.
Where do you get this food? Here are just a few ideas:
- Your garden
- Your neighbors garden (barter)
- Animals you raise on your homestead
- Farmers market
- CSA (community supported agriculture)
- Direct from farms online
- Online monthly subscriptions
It’s important to know that your local grocery store isn’t your only option. You need to know how to get food locally and online from good resources.
Then when your local grocery store has empty shelves, you don’t have to panic.
We already do this, but we will be focusing more on this in our family this year. I hope to meet and get to know more local growers at the farmers market this year and try more online sources as well.
Living below your means
In times of uncertainty, it is natural to want to gather things in and protect what you have. Whether that is food, money, family or other resources.
Since we sold our larger homestead last March, we have been practicing living below our means in order to have extra money for other things.
This means buying a home that is way less than the mortgage lender thinks you can afford. It means not buying a new car as long as the old one still works. It means evaluating what you are spending your money on and if it really fits this new mindset.
So in 2021, we will continue to focus on living below our means so that we can make the most of what we have and prepare for the future.
Health
We are continuing on our health journey as a family. My husband and I started the 75 Hard Challenge again last week (this is his first challenge, my second). It is helping us get back to eating right, exercising and other good habits that make us feel good.
I didn’t finish my weightloss goal from last year, so I am continuing that quest. I think the optimal weight for my height is 150 lbs, but we’ll see when I get there.
I have been keeping a list of mountain hikes I would like to do in our area (on my phone), so I would like to do those with the family this summer. Hiking and camping keeps us in shape and helps us stay close as a family.
These are our goals for 2021. We’re keeping it simple because who knows what life’s going to throw at us this year.
I hope that you have made a few goals for your homestead as well.
If not, maybe these goals will help you think of what you want for your homestead this year.
Once you have your goals, then it is time to get to work making them happen. After all, goals by themselves don’t do much good. It is our action towards these goals that make them happen.
I hope you have a great 2021 and get going on your goals today!
I live in a subdivision on less that 1/3 of an acre. My goal this year is to get my garden back into shape. The last two years we have been away from the garden way too much and now it is overwhelmed with Bermuda grass. We didn’t have Bermuda grass in the garden area when it was started about eight years ago. I dig the stuff up to get the roots, but it is taking too much time and the grass is in around my blackberries and blueberries where I can’t dig it out. It has already ruined my three strawberry beds.
I have starter putting in raised that we are digging at least six inches down into the soil and about twenty inches high to try to keep the Bermuda grass out. That solution is also more time and money that I have. Does any one out there have any ideas????
can you put black landscaping fabric over it to kill it?