As I sit here and read back on last year’s post, Our Homesteading Journey – Reflections On 2022, I can’t help but smile. God certainly has plans far better than our own!
At that time, we had no idea that we would be undertaking a house-building project. Right in the new year, with prayer and wisdom, we decided that it was time to build a house on our land. Our tiny house is getting smaller with each child that comes and with another on the way, plus several other reasons I won’t list here, we were ready!
Because Landon decided on doing a self-build for the house and I found out I was pregnant with our next child, we knew the year was about to be crazy! But it was all in God’s perfect timing.
So, our goals in that previous post of building more shelter space for our machinery and equipment, selling some meat chickens, and putting in a guest cabin didn’t happen. However, we were still able to try cleaning up our pond more and put in a driveway, and this tiny house will become a guest cabin of its own!
Let’s dive into the details…
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House Build
Our house build project did not go to plan for most of the year. We started working with a local bank and getting paperwork to them at the beginning of the year in hopes of starting to build at the beginning of the summer. After they messed up several things, we didn’t start until August!
That meant August through November were crazy intense months of Landon putting in the driveway, preparing the site, having the foundation laid, putting up the wall, and closing it off with the roof. God provided for us through the whole process and he was able to get it done in time before December.
He’s resting now as the year comes to a close and then next year he will be finishing off, having it completely done by next August, Lord-willing.
One big financial decision we made in the spring was to purchase a tractor to help with the build. We have no regrets and it has been a game-changer in not just the house build, but also so many other homestead projects!
Winchester Born
Our first son, and third child, was also born in August! It was a beautiful home birth and my best labor and recovery to date. Praise God! You can read the birth story here if you’d like.
Homestead Updates
Besides building a house and having a baby, we did our best to keep the homestead running. We added a new flock of egg-laying chickens and butchered our old ones. We also continued to sell eggs on our egg stand but decided to not do the farmer’s market this year. We also added 30 meat chickens to our freezer!
The rabbits are continuing in the same process I shared last year and we are still raising a year’s supply of meat from them!
I had a beautiful garden this summer and did what I could while having a baby in the middle of it. We still had some bountiful harvests and learned lessons in the areas that didn’t go as well! It was my first year starting several seeds indoors and it certainly paid off. I have my seeds ordered and I’m looking forward to another great gardening season next year!
Deer hunting didn’t go quite as planned but we still put some deer in the freezer as well. We also made sure we picked enough berries from our neighbors this summer and harvested apples from our trees!
I learned lots of new skills in milling my own grain and baking my own bread. I also tried new preservation methods, like storing our onions inside, freezing our carrots, making apple cider vinegar, and continuing to freeze dry all the things!
All The Monthly Updates
Our Homesteading Journey – January 2023 Update
Our Homesteading Journey – February 2023 Update
Our Homesteading Journey – March 2023 Update
Our Homesteading Journey – April 2023 Update
Our Homesteading Journey – May 2023 Update
Our Homesteading Journey – June 2023 Update
Our Homesteading Journey – July 2023 Update
Our Homesteading Journey – August 2023 Update
Our Homesteading Journey – September 2023 Update
Our Homesteading Journey – October 2023 Update
Our Homesteading Journey – November 2023 Update
Our Homesteading Journey – December 2023 Update
Next Year
Overall, we stayed very busy this year and it is not slowing down next year. The house build will continue until the fall when it is complete. And while I’m not pregnant now, maybe we will add another baby to our family again next year!
We hope to just keep doing what we are doing with the homestead: raising egg-laying chickens and selling the eggs, raising meat chickens and meat rabbits, having garden and fruit harvests, and hunting and fishing when we can.
While the sheep, pigs, and maybe horses, will have to wait yet another year, we are so excited for our new house and the growth of our family and homestead. And, we can’t forget about all the memories we are looking forward to making next year too!
There are so many difficult moments we had this year too, that I won’t share in detail, yet God has been so good to us through all of it! All the glory goes to Him and we are so thankful for the blessings He has given us.
Thanks for reading and see you next year!
Kelsey at GoodPointGrandma
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