2015 Homestead Goals

It's time to plan my goals for the homestead. Some goals that we had for last year did not happen, so they are the priority for this year, They must get done. Other things are just things that we want to do to make things a little easier.

First off, we need a new oil tank for our heating oil. We hate the only company we are able to get heating oil from. All the other companies will not deliver to us until we get a new tank. There are a couple spots of rust on our current tank, then again, the tank is outside exposed to the elements.

Next is new windows. I may or may not have accidentally broken a window in the front of the house when I tried to get it to stay open. Our windows are the crank type, three section windows that go out. I love them actually mostly because I can have the windows open while it rains in the warm weather and not get rain inside. But unfortunately these windows are original to the mobile home (It was build in 1969), so they are horrible on keeping warm air in during the winter and the cold air in during the summer. New windows is a must to help keep our heating bill down. Our current windows are single pained. We do have storm window inserts for some of them, but not all. My hubby does what he calls a "redneck storm window." He basically takes the screens that come out and covers one side of it with that shrink wrap stuff for the windows. Once he puts that in the window, he then puts up a layer of the plastic around all the windows. He added some thicker plastic on the outside front to help keep the cold air out thanks to the broken window.

I would like to get a rain barrel or two to help with watering the garden. Only problem is, we don't have gutters on our home. Come to think of it, I don't think any of the mobile homes in our park have gutters. So what I have been thinking of doing is putting up some gutters on the backside of our shed and use the run off from that to fill our rain barrels. I have the perfect area for the barrels, I just need to have something built to raise them up a bit so I can use the spigot on them. I have all these pictures and ideas of what I imagine it will look like going through my head. I'll have to draw them and get my ideas down on paper.

The hubby wants to take the fence that we put up around the garden every year and turn them into panels to make it easier to put up and take down. Not to mention, look a little better too. He has been collecting wood for the sides of the panels whenever he is at a job site that has some in their trash. I can't believe what these construction workers throw away sometimes. Only issue is, hubby can't fit a lot of stuff in his mixer (he drives a concrete truck).

I would like to either build or buy a pre-made small storage shed for just my garden stuff. I have a lot of tools that tend to take up a lot of space in our shed. Space that we need for other things. Plus if I have all my tools in one place, I can find what I am looking for so much faster. Half the time I can't find anything I need when I need it. It gets very frustrating.

A large recycle bin is a must as well. One with a lid. We currently have three 50 gallon trash barrels that we fill up each week with recyclables. The lids are long gone so when it rains or snows, it collects in the barrels and makes them heavier and messy. We tried drilling holes in the bottom of the barrels, but they don't work all the time.

I need a new area for my compost pile. Last year we just threw everything in the old tomato bed. It probably has nice soil in it now that I will move into the big bed. The old tomato bed needs to come out to make room for the new oil tank area. I have tried those containers that you crank to turn and even a wine barrel that rolls on rollers, but the openings are either too small or the crank breaks because someone over fills the bin. I want something that doesn't move. I can easily mix the stuff up on my own or have Matt or the hubby help.

Finally, I would like to make some A frames for my cucumber plants and my pumpkin or melon plants. The vines from the cucumbers were crazy last year and we kept missing cucumbers. Our neighbors always took the over grown veggies we had, not realizing they are not meant to be that big and taste better smaller. Oh well, nothing went to waste. Others went into the compost to break down into good stuff for next years plants.

What are your goals for around the homestead this year?