Self Sufficiency Goals
Many people make New Year’s resolutions. They plan to lose weight, eat healthier, join a gym, or look for a new job. Often these resolutions are forgotten within a few weeks. Rather than come up with a list of resolutions that I can’t live up to, I’m setting some realistic goals for myself for 2013. Some of them deal with my personal life, such as being healthier and more organized, but many are goals for attaining a higher level of self sufficiency on our homestead.
At the top of my list of self sufficiency goals for our homestead this year:
- Beekeeping - this is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Since I don’t plan to add any other livestock to the homestead this year, I’ve decided that keeping bees is an attainable goal. I would like to replace sugar with honey in my cooking, so this will be an important step in self sufficiency for our family.
- Increase the size of the garden - this pretty much goes on my list every year. If it’s not on my list, it’s because the entire yard has been turned into garden already.
- Increase the efficiency of the garden - I realized this year that I planted way too many cabbages and onions, but not enough beans, peas, and broccoli. So a lot of space was ‘wasted’ on veggies that we didn’t need. I also could have made better use of the space by planting some things closer together using the square foot method and succession planting.
- Reposition the chicken pasture - the chickens have been on the same ground for 2 years and I need to change it up to prevent parasites. I also intend to plant my pumpkins and squash in the area that they have been fertilizing, and use part of our lawn for the new pen. This will increase fertility in that area and next year I will rotate again.
- Plant more grapes, raspberries, and blueberries. Add apricots, black currants, and elderberries. Everything I’ve read indicates that these colorful fruits are high in antioxidants, and we all need more antioxidants, right?! I try to add some perennial fruits and veggies each year to increase our self reliance.
- Plant sunflowers, broom corn, and other tall plants around the south and west side of the barn to keep the chickens cooler in the hottest part of the summer. I will probably still need to run the fans in the coop, but hopefully I won’t have to cool the barn off with the sprinkler.
- Raise meat chickens in spring and/or fall this year. I will order the Cornish x again. After raising black broilers this year I butchered them at almost 4 months old and had very small birds to put in the freezer. With the cost of feed, it is just not feasible for us to keep broilers that long and then dress them out at about 2 pounds each. For now I am unable to raise our own chicks due to disease problems. So this seems like the best short term solution.
- Learn to make cheese. Now that I have a source for raw milk, I would like to start making cheese. I’ll start with some of the easier soft cheeses and see how that goes before I dive into a batch of extra sharp cheddar.
- Learn to make soap. I don’t know if I will make enough to be self sufficient, but I’d like to try.
- Grow and harvest more varieties of herbs. Dry more of them for winter use. Try using more medicinal herbs and home remedies.
- Continue to can, freeze and dehydrate food for winter. I’d like to set up an outdoor kitchen area for canning so that I’m not heating the house up during the hot part of the summer.
- Grow heirloom field corn for chicken feed. Since we have one acre and a lot of trees, it will be very difficult to raise enough feed for our chickens. I would like to supplement with homegrown corn as much as I can, reducing the GMOs we consume.
- Reduce the number of laying hens we are feeding. I have older hens that will be made into soup or stew when the younger pullets start to lay. We are buying feed for about twice the number of chickens that I would like right now.
That pretty much sums up my main goals for becoming more self sufficient this year. In addition to these goals, I intend to continue learning new skills, read up on new methods of homesteading, and get to know more like minded individuals.
What are your goals for 2013? Do you plan to become more self sufficient this year? I’d love to hear you ideas and plans! Happy New Year!
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