Sunday, December 26, 2010

A Look Back

As we enter the last week of 2010 I wanted to take a look back over the last year. How did we do on reaching our goals we set for ourselves?

Homestead Goals-
Expand our garden--completed. We added three more garden plots this past year. I am planning on adding on even more next year. I also kept a journal of what we planted and how it did. I also recorded how many things we canned so I'll know what we need more or less of.
*Canning more produce--completed. I know that I still need more tomato products canned but I did successfully freeze lots of pasta sauce and pizza sauce. I canned salsa, pizza sauce, and ketchup. We canned grape juice and froze peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, and tons of peppers.
I do need to work on storing root cellar type things. I'd like to store potatoes, onion, apples, and garlic next year. I also want to make a cold frame to extend our growing season.

Food Goals-
Continue eating real food-- We raised our own meat chickens. My son did this for 4-H and we will be doing it again. It went very well. Next year I'd love to raise 15 meat birds. We are still drinking raw milk and loving it! I've started making our own butter and yogurt. We make syrup, chocolate milk mix, hot fudge sauce, breads, and started making granola.

Financially--
Here's where we didn't do to well. We had hopes of not eating out at all this past year but it didn't happen. We tried but I would get tired or busy or both!!! I should have relied on freezer meals more.
We also didn't save as much as we wanted. I am proud to say though that we always had enough to pay our bills! We also took a huge step and became self employed. I'm hoping to branch out with my baking/selling produce this coming year and my husband is doing photography.
We were able to do pretty well at having a no spend month every other month but we got lazy there too.

How did you do on your goals for 2010? Are you making any new goals for 2011?

1 comment:

Miranda said...

I'd say you did a great job. I think that whole eating out thing gets the best of us, doesn't it?