At the start of 2013, we laid out a set of goals for our work on the house, farm, and studio. These were meant to be things we’d accomplish within 2013. As of mid-year, we were on track to hit most (but not all) of the goals, and I think we ended up pretty much where the midyear update predicted.
For posterity, here’s where we ended up in relation to the original goals (details on completed items not described below are in the earlier update):
1. Make the studio usable. FAIL. This was our biggest miss, by far — this goal will carry over intact into 2014.
2. Raise and process meat chickens. Done!
3. Move the laying flock to pasture. Done!
4. Establish some outdoor shoot spaces. Done!
5. Grade and cover crop the front garden. Done!
6. Start a perennial herb garden. Done!
7. Define new paths and maintain current paths in the woods. Done!
8. Start a vegetable garden. Done!
9. Get goats. Done!
10. Replace the floor in the main level guest room, furnish the lower level guest room. Partial. The guest rooms are furnished, but the nasty carpet in the main level guest room still needs to go.
11. Convert the upper level sunroom into a dining room. Done!
12. Make the lower level sunroom basically usable. Debatable. We put in some ceiling fans, but this room is still pretty bare.
13. Get to know the orchard, prune some trees, and hopefully get some fruit. Done!
14. Raise turkeys for Thanksgiving. Done! And oh, were they tasty!
15. Get some outdoor cats. Done!
16. Split and cure firewood for next winter. Done, but… I split and cured some wood, but since writing this goal we’ve found some issues with the way the fireplace works that have left us disinclined to use it much.
17. Clear trees and shrubs around the house. Partial. We cleared a lot of growing junk, but there’s plenty more still to do.
18. Plant future christmas trees. Done!
19. Start perennial berries. Done!
20. Preserve surplus harvest. Done!
