2013 Homestead Goals

2012 was a busy year....an interesting year, scary at times with certain trials, but there were many blessings along the way. Our Sweet baby Jane, blessed our family in 2012. She was our first home birth and we cherished every minute of that amazing experience. You can read about that here.

We moved a couple times in 2012 and my homestead goals seemed far away at times.

Due to health issues I was not able to plant a garden but God provided. We moved into a Mennonite community and I like to call it the land of milk and honey. Within a couple of miles from our home I can buy raw milk, 3 miles raw honey, and 8 miles natural farm beef and pork. I also have access to the UNFI co op as well. What blessings.

I would love to share with you our 2013 Homestead goals. It is not a long list, but hopefully an attainable one. I will also share some great books and resources that I am reading this year that encourage setting goals, etc.

2013 goals

• start using some form of solar energy
• Get my garden beds ready for spring ( I like to do lasagna gardening, so I need to start getting my layers together)
• Put $100 in savings every month to start saving up to buy our own land. (It took us 5 years but we are now debt free...thank you Dave Ramsey, not sure how long it will take but we'd love to purchase our own land some day)
• Preserve and freeze as much as I can this spring and summer
• For the month of January we are trying to eat healthier. So no soda, or convenience foods. We like to eat out at Dairy Queen on Fridays or Sunday nights but we are going to stop that this month as well. 
• Most importantly we really want to teach our children about giving and praying so each month we are going to "adopt" a missionary family that our church supports and pray for them for the entire month. Our goal is to have a box and fill it with needs and treats that we can ship to them as a care package at the end of the month.

We are a busy homeschooling family of 6 so eating healthy without completely wearing myself out is made possibly by the wonderful crock-pot  I HIGHLY recommend 'Crock On' by Stacy Makes Cents. Her crock pot lasagna is amazing and simple, you will be in shock you made it in the Crock.

SOLAR ENERGY

I feel like the info on solar energy is so vast and my little brain has a hard time wrapping my mind around it all. If I do end up doing something solar it's going to have to be easy, otherwise I'm not so sure I'll be able to do it.

With that said I've been looking at Solar kits and solar lamps and lightbulbs, I'll share some below that I am interested in and looking at. If you have any info on solar energy, let me know.

This is the d.light S10 Solar LED Lantern, after much reading and reivews it seems that this is a very good solar lantern to have. My plan is to purchase 6-7 of these and let them soak up the sun during the day in our South window and then we will have them to use in the evenings. To view the S10 solar Lanter click here: d.light S10 Solar LED Lantern

This d.light has good reviews as well and is a bit cheaper.

To view d.light S1-Solar LED Lanter click here: d.light S1-Solar LED Lantern

I thought that these solar "light-bulbs" were an interesting concept as well.

If I decide to use these I thought I would purchase a tension rod and put in the window and hang these to absorb the sun. Then I would put hooks in the ceiling in various places in the house and in the evenings hang them from the hooks. To view LumiQuest Solite Solar Power Lightbulb LQ-200 click here: LumiQuest Solite Solar Power Lightbulb LQ-200

Setting Goals

If you are interested in setting Goals this year but need some major motivation here are a couple books I highly recommend. They definitely are motivating and I am excited about accomplishing these goals in 2013.

Holley has a way of encouraging and prodding without feeling controlling and pushy. Truly motivational book on accomplishing goals. To view The "Do what you Can" Plan book click here: "Do What You Can" Plan, The (Ebook Shorts): 21 Days to Making Any Area of Your Life Better

Crystal Paine is one amazing lady, I have been following her blogs online for 5 years (maybe longer) so I have to tell you I bought her Disciplined Life book the minute I saw she had a book out. To view 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life click here: 21 Days To A More Disciplined Life

These are some of the resources I am using this year to accomplish goals, I would love to hear what your goals are.

So what can you expect from Cottage Homestead Blog this year?

My goal is to keep you updated on our homestead happenings.

Any new recipes and meals I create in the kitchen.

Product reviews and things I just find interesting.

May you have a blessed 2013!