Homestead Planning

I suspect, the most important thing I do on my homestead is to plan. Not so much the blue print of the farm, as in where to put what on the land.  I mean, more the cycle of the seasons and of life. What we need when to have what we need. What must be done when and by when. What must be fixed, or altered, or prepared to meet a need at this time or that time.

A large part of homesteading is just planning and being very mindful. You develop an awareness of what is needed and how to live gently, and make work as low maintenance and easy on yourself as possible, because there is a lot of it, much of it manual labor. Burn out is real. It happens frequently in the homesteading community. The average homesteader is ready to throw in the towel in about two years. They find, that it isn’t the stress free existence where they could live on no money at all that they were seeking. Good planning can make huge difference. Sticking to the plan can make a huge difference as well. Planning is everything.

Planning is where I expend a great deal of stress to prevent more stress later down the line, such as the stress of not having enough to eat. Or the stress of not having enough time to preserve and put some stuff up for the winter, or to just have help around when I need it most. This year planning is very stressful. One day we are tariffing Canada into the ground, the next day we are invading Denmark, and taking over Greenland of all places. The insecurity of the world makes planning difficult as you don’t know exactly what to plan for. It seems to change day to day. For the true self sufficiency crowd, the current situation is not going to prove helpful. Where do your seeds come from? For example organic pumpkin seeds seem to frequently come from China. So small farmers, may find the cost of seeds sky rocket if they want to grow pumpkins anyway… Another place many seeds come from is India. What is my point? As a farmer someone playing fast and loose with our trade allies may make life more costly for me. Which is one more thing I now have to plan for. As if those of us living this way don’t have enough we must plan for already.

What if we have a drought? Is there a plan for that? Great where do you find the time to modify your gardening method to be drought resistant? What if there is a natural disaster and your harvest is wrecked? What is the back up plan? What happens if god forbid your ladies in the coop get the flu? What is your plan for that? You have to have a plan. Then you have to have back up plans plural for that plan. When the world becomes unstable you must then have back up plans plural for each back up plan’s back up plans…. People often tell me my life looks ideal. It is so calm and soothing. Is it? I hadn’t noticed. I understand the photos can make it look that way. But a lot goes into creating that vibe. Having that vibe and those moments are the only thing that make it possible to endure the stress of all that planning, organizing, chronic studying, and manual labor. I wear more hats than you would guess.

Yarn manufacturer, knitter and clothing manufacturer, food preserver, gardener, greenhouse technician, carpenter’s assistant, forager, animal manager, farm laborer, equestrian, dog walker, baker, miller, cook, winter pyromaniac, assistant logger, medical care giver, medicine manufacturer, flower arranger, beehive manager, forest manager… House cleaner, scullery kitchen maid, home manager, documentarian of our homestead journey… etc… The only hat I never wear is chauffeur since I can’t drive. I make lists. Plan the continuing education in agricultural science we are always actively acquiring. I manufacture the self care products and even my own household cleaners…. I wear so many hats. Planning, is the most all important thing homesteaders do. It involves things such as prioritizing and sacrificing things to make due until time opens up to get something deeply desired but not necessarily of fundimental necessity done.

A great example, would be Satu, my antique spinning wheel. I have been waiting over a year to have her fixed. She is old and had some issues. They were small issues but critical issues. They made her unusable. Which was irritating and caused stress because I had to watch her enduring the pain of being so run down for so long. I also had to use a different wheel for quite some time. A wheel that just didn’t speak to me. When you homestead, really good tools, and tools with meaning are foundational to the life you live. So having to use a wheel that just wasn’t right for me was uncomfortable. But, a couple of days ago, Dr. Farmer Moomin, was able to find the time to fix my Satu. Satu, is a Finnish girl’s name. It is the Finnish equivalent of the Swedish name Saga. Like Saga, it means long story. So for an ancient wheel it really is the perfect fit. The last couple of days have found me re-acclimating to Satu, and messing about with the tension trying to get it set perfectly. To do that, involves observing yarn as you spin it. How it winds itself on the bobbin, and what you feel when you hold the wool in your hands, how significant is the pull? too significant and there are problems. Insufficient, and there are problems. Things like this that are not planned for can take their time to happen.

You also must plan to have the materials you need for every task. Gardening gloves for spring, the parts Satus, needed replaced. Sometimes things go on back order so planning when to do orders is also a critical part of planning on a homestead. I crapped out on the plan for Satu, but then I had a brilliant idea. I could harvest what was needed from the newer wheel because they were based on the same design. When I had that epiphany fixing her became a matter of finding 15 minutes, then the time to give her a scrub and an oiling.

Today I did many things watered the greenhouse gardens, lots and lots of dishes, in a few minutes I will grind some rye for a loaf I will start making in earnest tomorrow, though the first steps will take place tonight before bed. I spent some time studying The Foxfire book series, watched some educational homesteading videos about goat care. Managed to wrangle Dr. Farmer Moomin into ordering eggs for hating in the incubator yesterday, and ordered the seeds for the spring garden and probably also for most if not all of what we will plant in the greenhouse in the autumn. It should arrive within 10 days. Which means…. Tomorrow, I must start sanitizing my plant containers and obtain some special starter soil for seed starting.

My photos are pretty. They are never perfect. Life on a homestead really is something is constantly going wrong. Such as Beelzbub, a groundhog that lives nearby to my gardens who breaks in and eats it. Once we lost some ducks to something that left behind just their heads…. A storm ruined half our harvest one year, recently the thermostat died in the greenhouse and cost me 2 thirds of my winter eats out there and a lot of time to replant it all. Goats, have been arrested for car theft, once they got nailed for assault and baaaaattery, another time they got pinched vandalism…. They keep busting out of their enclosure. What is the plan for when that happens? You see, I have learned the importance of planning the hard way. How much money will their bail be this time? Or, where do I obtain the money to buy seeds when I need them? Or eggs? The fact is, buying things at this point in their development is massively less expensive you can have a pretty good savings. But you are still spending. If you work a homestead, you don’t tend to earn money unless you are a market farm. So you must plan for and organize that also. So when you see my beautiful but imperfect photos that give you a sense of calm and soothing, please know, an alarming amount of time and energy went into creating that beautiful and imperfect moment. Knowing it helps you take a momentary deep breath, is one small reason I chronicle life here.

One thing I am organizing, is an opening of a shop on this site. Everything will be handmade and homemade here at Wildflower. Mainly just the excess of whatever I happen to making when ever I happen to be making it. So, I am not Etsy, I can’t ensure perfect time or super speedy shipping. I can guarantee, you will receive what you purchase as quickly as I am able to get it out to you, with the understanding, food, and the animals, always come first on a homestead. One of the best ways to help me create these soothing moments is to order from the shop when it opens for business. Because while what I do hear may not be as costly as city living there is still a cost. What I make from the shop, will never fully support this place. But it may cover the cost of bailing the goats out of jail once every year or so. I hope you will consider supporting a homestead. Weather you do or you don’t I will still be here, chronicling beautiful moments, sharing what I really do out here, discussing this way of living and the common and unsung pieces of what goes into it. I would still love to have you engaging with my content and my little homestead, Wildflower Farm. You are always welcome.

Satu, and I have been working together the last couple days. We spun some beautiful pink yarn from some natural fiber. Which one, I have long since forgotten, as it sat for quite some time due to the state of Satu. But it is a natural fiber. I know this because I am very selective about materials. I only work in natural fibers. Where I cheat, is to save time. Sometimes I purchase yarn at the yarn shop. I also sometimes use fiber or yarns that are not dyed using natural methods. Though my hope over time is to get more hardcore about the latter. The fiber for this little project came from up the road. The dye job was done by someone else otherwise it would be natural dye. I only engage with natural products when I am arting. But, homesteading takes time I am not above some compromising at times but never out right embracing of what isn’t what I am interested in. So the compromise on this  will be the colorant. To be fair, I kind of really like the colors, I think they are pretty and sometimes something bright is just what one needs to feel spiffy and happy. Soon, this project will be done, when it is, it will be  very simple rustic, imperfect fingerless mittens, from homespun natural fiber, made in the USA, by an American homesteader. I look forward to posting them in the shop as soon as I get them finished.

Thank you for your support,
Your company (talking to the world through this blog can be my only real socialization sometimes as this way of life can be isolating.)
Thank you for reading
Thank you most importantly for just appreciating the small moments I capture, the ones I work so hard to achieve and to create. Knowing that those moments have value to others, means a lot to me.
Amanda of Wildflower Farm