Goals for the coming year.

Out with the old, in with the new! With 2010 behind us, we're filled with ideas and plans for the new year. First and foremost, before we start up homeschooling again on Monday (we took three weeks off for the holidays) I want to clean this house from top to bottom, and get it organized! A lofty goal, yes, but I'm going to get started just as soon I finish writing this post. Wish me luck! The idea of beginning the new year with a clean, tidy house is very appealing to me.

On a more general note, here are some of our goals for 2011:

• I'm going to continue to improve my sewing skills, quilting specifically. My next project will be a quilt for the baby girl who will be gracing our home some time in late March. And although I'll be busy with a newborn throughout the spring, perhaps in the summer I'd like to try making a wall hanging to decorate our livingroom.
• Chris is planning to learn more about electricity, and wants to build his first experimental generator, since when we do move to the country he would like to get us off-grid if possible.
• Since our tiny backyard vegetable garden was a failure this year, I'm going to change tactics where gardening is concerned, and try growing herbs instead. I plan to grow a variety of culinary herbs, some of which I will preserve for the winter, and medicinal herbs, so that I can try making some herbal teas and salves. I like this plan, not only because I have always wanted to have an herb garden, but because I know that generally speaking, herbs are less fussy to grow than vegetables, and I will after all have a newborn to care for this spring and summer. 
• I want to improve my skills as a homemaker. By this I mean specifically, I want to get better at making our home a cheerful, inviting place. This is something I have never been very good at. The first thing to do in this respect is paint a brighter colour over the drab and depressing grey of our livingroom. We've been talking about doing this since we moved in here 5 years ago, but this time we're really going to do it! I believe that if we are going to live the life of homebodies, we should have a pleasant home in which to do that.
• Chris is going to do our small business taxes for the first time this year. This will be quite a learning experience, I'm sure, especially since most of our sales are in US dollars (through Etsy) but we live in Canada...but I know he can handle it. :)
• This summer I want to expand the food I preserve from just jam, to pickles and canned pears and peaches. If finances allow, I would love also to acquire a pressure canner so that then I can can virtually anything.
• We are both going to try even harder to save money towards our downpayment on a piece of land, regardless of our employment situation. We are already living very frugally, but we will try to tighten our belts even more. Some of the things we plan to do: Buy only secondhand clothes, buy larger quantities of food when there is a good sale, preserve more food for next winter, buy meat in bulk from local sources instead of from the grocery store, and simply follow the old adage: Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. 

I suppose this list isn't very ambitious, but I don't want to overdo things since we'll have a new baby this year. Our main "work" is going to be saving money. I am excited to do some quilting though, and to create my herb garden. (Does anyone have a suggestion for a good Canadian seed catalogue that sells heirloom varieties?)

I feel upbeat about the coming year and all we will accomplish, and I hope my readers feel that way too. Does anyone have any goals for 2011 that they care to share in the comments? Please do...and Happy New Year! :)

(Sorry I have no photo for this post or the last...my camera batteries are dead and I keep forgetting to charge them!)

Comments

[Liz]

I think those are great goals, and plenty ambitious, with a new baby coming. I too am expecting a new baby (in a few weeks) so it's hard to think too far beyond that to goals, but I would say my goals for this year are to save money, to get my etsy shop going more, to do better at the vegetable gardening (we're blaming our lack of success last year on the weather and it being our first season in this house), more canning, and maybe finally making a decent loaf of bread . . .

But for now, I think just getting the house clean before I give birth would be nice.

[Lise]

Those sound like great goals!

I have very limited light (and limited gardening skills), so I, too, focus on herbs. I love the company Richters. Their plants have always arrived in great condition and grown well for me.

Happy New Year to you!

[Emma]

Echoing what was said above, with a new little one on the way you'll have your hands plenty full! Our daughter was born last March and I'd certainly agree that once she was here I completely neglected the garden ... and all sorts of other things. Enjoy the precious days of a brand new life, you know how quickly they grow up.

I certainly wouldn't call myself an expert quilter, but if you have any questions, I might be able to answer them or get an answer from my mother in law who quilts professionally.

Herbs are in my goals for this year too -- hopefully we'll all learn a lot about how to grow and use them. Joseph and I both outlined our personal and family goals on our blog, so feel free to check the rest of our goals out too. I know I've been inspired by reading other families' goals.

[Laurie]

I live in Canada as well and I think the best place for heirloom seeds is Vessey's Seeds in PEI. They have a catalogue you can order online. Hope this helps.
Good luck on all your goals for the coming year. Where are you located? I'm in Calgary Alberta

[Laura Jeanne]

Congratulations on your new baby, Liz! I also feel that it would be very nice to have a clean house when I give birth...we'll see what happens! :)

[Laura Jeanne]

Happy New Year to you too, Lise! :)

[Laura Jeanne]

Thank you for the offer, Emma. Perhaps if I have a quilting question I'll drop you an email. :)

[Laura Jeanne]

Thanks Laurie! I have heard of Vessey's before but then forgot the name. I'll order their catalogue and have a looksie. :)

I live in Southern Ontario.

[femmesteader]

As always, you and I seem to be on the the same page when in comes to Homesteading.

Firstly, Happy new year, I wish continuous blessings to you and your growing family.

Secondly, i'm quite proud of all you've accomplished so far. your list of skills acquired shines brightly, lighting the path far into the new year to keep on learning and moving forward towards your admirable ambitions.

This is the time of year that Sweetheart and I sit down to talk finances. we do this 4 times a year and plan out how the next three months will progress for our mutually agreed budget. Whenever I feel that I might stray from our own personal goals of saving, food preservation, or keeping frugal, i think of you and your family and how lucky I am to have friends like yourself.

All the best for 2011,
Love and Hugs,

-Femmesteader

[Andréann]

I had herbs and a newborn last summer... Few herbs can live to tell today! We're in a apart with a tiny balcony so I didn't even try to grow veggies.. But my in-laws do that for a living, so we get most of veggies free :)

We are moving this summer, we don't even know where, and we don't know if we will be able to buy or not... Kind of stressing.

But my main goal will be to find the most welcoming and warm and light place we can, and to make it fully ours :)

Happy New year and congratulations for the baby!