I've seen lots of threads as to what our projects for the week or weekend are, but I thought it might be good to list our accomplished projects for the last month or so. Don't know about you, but I get motivation from seeing what I've accomplished over the past few weeks so that I can accomplish the projects that are still on my list. Here are mine: Biggest one: finished the semester at school! Ended up with a 3.5 GPA. Others: started a part time job, changed over some of the kids homeschool curriculum, started refinishing the bathroom (this is taking much longer than anticipated due to unforseen setbacks), got the winter's supply of firewood stacked and covered, butchered the 4 hogs over Thanksgving holiday, butchered another 7 or 8 deer, got my dryer working (huge accomplishment!), had out of state company for a week and hunted the entire time, got more focused on volunteering in my church and found places to use my "spare time", and got a new wood box built. While it feels good to look back and see all that we've accomplished, the list of "things to do" seems to grow by the day. But, I guess that's what happens on a working homestead and I look forward to getting it all done when it is put in the proper prospective and I have the proper mindset. How 'bout ya'lls? Heather
Good idea, nice to see what we have done. This past 30 days: nice deer in the freezer ( got with bow), 2 meat goats and 8 ducks joined the deer. All the 2 year old fire wood in the shed, load of shavings came and is in the stable, shoes off the horses for the winter, hopefully all the goats are bred, garden put to bed for the winter, ordered all seeds and bulbs for 2004, survived son flying to Japan and back for business, chimneys cleaned and Thanksgiving doings. To do by Dec.31st: goat pens stripped and 2 new lasagna beds started, one more deer, cleaning back porch and Christmas doings. Yes, sooo much to do but that is why we get up in the morning...Joan
Joan: sorry I deleted the message...you must have been replying while I was deleting . I accidentally posted it twice because I got the "page cannot be displayed" message again. Oh well. Can you explain what a lasagna bed is? Is it something like a raised bed? Thanks! Heather
Good thread Heather! Now if you'd asked this in Spring the list would be loooong, but this time of year things have slowed way down. But, going back a few weeks, got a lot of misc. cleanup done around the place, disposing of a lot of junk stuff that we kept just in case. Put a heated bird bath/slow drip set up at a watering station that is working great, got the goats to the breeder, had in-laws, took a trip for Thanksgiving and through all that dealt with a nasty case of shingles and stayed gracious or so I'm told, finishing up quilts for Christmas gifts, got four chrysanthemums planted on the west fenceline, got a huge amount of weeding done, began a compost pile of goat manure and spent hay, hmmm, more I'm sure, this doesn't count the daily stuff!! Congrats on your GPA!!
Good thread. I keep a list to mark off projects, on my kitchen cabinet, just to track my progress. Recent projects: Re-tiled the bathroom floor with tile I'd purchased at a garage sale 26 years ago!!! Actually, it was an awful job but looks good. Also, refinished the diningroom floor, a hamper and 2 chairs. Did a re-work on the driveway to try and "once and for all" solve the problem of gullies down our long drive after every hard rain. Christmas plans are progressing nicely------better than this time most years. And, survived the "re-entry" of our son who had been away working in Montana for the summer/fall and came back home to return to college this January. Big change for all of us!
Glad to see all the accomplished projects....sounds like we've had a very busy year! Wish my Christmas projects were done, but I'm still working on them. That's taking up most of my time lately. I tend to pick out to many projects to get done in the time span I have to work on them. Maybe I'll learn one year...but they're so much fun! Happy Holidays everyone! Heather
With the new year coming up, I thought I'd bump this thread up a little. We've put 4 more deer in the freezer along with 9 more roos, reorganized the freezers (what a job!), found a new place to live (we have to do all the finish work first) and started up our tree service again. That's a couple more things marked off the list! Guess I need to start a new one for 2004 lol. Heather
Having just moved into my homestead three months ago I have gotten the following done: 1. Cleared 1/4 acre of thick blackberries surrounding the barn. 2. Cleared out a good portion of the "weed" trees and low branches on the evergreens - burned everything. 3. Cleaned out the abandonned barn - two stalls chicken coop and lean to - with up to 18" of very old manure in it. Piled it outside for the garden. 4. Mowed, Mowed Mowed! Over an acre of tall grass - still have more to go. 5. Started fencing put in gate across the drive. 6. Had the Bathtub replaced with a shower (the only thing I did not attempt myself) 7. Buried my poor cat after a long illness - he got some kind of swelling on his tongue and then caught a respiratory disease just as he was recovering. 8. Got a goose (Harry) and two ducks for my barnyard. 9. Had 30 yards of helmock mulch brought in and have some of it spread for a driveway from the house to the barn to cut down on some of the mud here. 10. Painted the entire inside of the house before arranging furniture too. Still need to move the overgrown scrubs next to the house and clean up the flower beds and tackle the small number of scotch broom scattered about. Whew! Doesn't look like the same place now! Will look forward to the point when the cleaning is done and the building can start! I like reading these posts to get ideas for my place.
I moved here a year ago, and have been busy, too. I fenced my yard and garden with combo panels. Put in one swinging gate, have 3 more to go. I built an adorable and functional chicken coop and big yard, and got my very first chickens. Planted several fruit trees, and a large asparagus bed. Tilled a large garden spot, and hauled tons of free compost from our county landfill. Built 3 raised beds, 2 with pvc hoops. Started to build a shed but ran out of good weather, so I bought one. I'll finish the first one next spring. Put skirting on this old mobile I'm living in. And worked full-time and a h*!! of a lot of OT at the hospital. And dreamed and planned!
For 2003, I not only lived on The Knoll without returning to industrial employ , I improved my standard of living by reducing my overhead costs by 10% with the expansions to my greenhouse garden, losing two bills and a addition to my worm ranch output with salvaged bins. An overall savings of $250 a month from a years worth of scrimping and building isnt much to many, but its a kings ransom to this country boy
Moved in October 15th-25th. Cleaned out garage, polebarn and house of all uneeded leftovers from previous occupants. Carpeted a bedroom for DS. Fixed snowblower. Deer hunted for my first time ever. Got a doe opening day, learned from FIL how to process it. Processed my brothers deer. Put a new roof on the house (still cleaning shingles from yard). Survived Christmas without any credit card useage for the first time in years. Removed and burned about 100 sumac trees. Pruned about half the grapes, leaving the rest in case I really screwed it up. Made grapevine wreaths for all the female folk in the family and a grapevine swag for DW. Thats all I can think of but I'm sure there has been more. Still as I look Back it has been a very satisfying two and a half months and I feel like I've accomplished tons. Thanks for starting this thread blhmabbott. I t has helped me to feel like progress is being made and not just treading water. Kirk
I'm 37 and retired, and i dont have to anything I dont wanna.... (i'm poor but free!) mission acomplished. workwise.. ack. accomplished as in "done"? oh heck, nothing is ever done around here... (but it doesnt bother me, I have nyquill remember?) ok, one BIG thing I got acomplished isI got my house rewired finally, and I ahve real honest to peat electric heat so i dont wake up with ice in my moustache and a shivering dog under the blankets. Ive been aiming for that for years now. next project is getting my truck finished, its a 65 ford 250, a wonderfully simple piece of machinery thats built like a bulldozer. I have about 500 bucks of parts to put on it and by may 1st I will have it done and on the road. I didn have the whole place cleaned up all nice and anal, but that didnt last long so I have to do it over again... to answer the topic, I got the electric finished... and the pipes. and the laundry roomwall, which doesnt sound like much but the wall was missing for a few years and I had a 12x7 hole(feet.. that is)in my house that was... well a hole. now its a nice wall with restored rolled glass windows (I restored them myself after teaching myself how on a stack of now broken windows LOL) and my own brand of air conditioning.... a 4 foot wide attic fan that sucks 6,000 cupic feet of air per minute out of the house. when the front windows are open, its a wind tunnel, and very very coooooool. I did the math, every cubic inch of air is exausted from the entire house, roof and all every 3 minutes. Yes... I have a very odd house thank you very much for noticing.
C-numb, All of us young retirees seem to have "odd houses". I empty my tub by bucket , not because the drain is bad, but because I filter it and use it in the green house and keep a 20 gallon drum by the toilet filled with unfiltered bath water for flushing. Next year I plan to channel the tub straight to the sand and grass filter to water tanks in the greenhouse with an overflow to my outside irrigation tank. Cuts my water use to the minimum and I water my plants for free
Chicken tractor - done. Shelving project in home - nearly done. Deer in freezer - NOT DONE I have only gone out only once this season and I have two weeks left, more or less. Plus a two week doe season - need to jump on this one, as we are low on meat.
Kirk: Your very welcome. I enjoy seeing what others have done with their time and hearing about what improvements/repairs they are making to their places. That, along with actually seeing what I've accomplished, keeps me motivated to complete the list of things to do. But maybe someone can answer a question: how come it NEVER gets shorter?? Every time I mark something off I have to add at least two more projects?? lol Shrek: That's a great idea you have for your bath water. I've been looking for ways to cut down on our water bill, short of doing laundry by hand :no: . I don't have room for a big container to put my bath water in next to the tub, but I have a window in the shower . Guess I could run something out the window into something somewhere lol. I'd have no clue how to set up the strainer thing. But it's a great idea that I want to look into more. Keep up with the good work guys...the New Year is just around the corner, then we can make out "To Do" lists for 2004 lol. Heather
Mostly, I just healed up from last years projects. I did manage to grow my first crop of mangels only to find that the sheep won't touch them. I've been cleaning things up mostly. I did finally get all the sheep manure out of the barn. It doesn't seem like much but I feel I had a good year.
