In collaboration with a few homesteading channels I follow on YouTube and also here on Steemit, noticeably BrimwoodFarm here are 5 of my goals for 2018.
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@brimwoodfarm
Five - it certainly makes you focus on your plans. hopes and dreams for the year ahead. Do I post on my 5 most likely to be achieved, 5 just on BellecrossHens my poultry venture or 5 goals in general to include the house, garden and family life ?
1: BELLECROSS HENS
The poultry are my main interest and income so I guess I should start with them.
EGG SALES / GATE SALES
In 2017 my egg sales went crazy, regular weekly orders kept coming in and I struggled to keep up with the gate sales.So this year I'm looking to increase my laying flock and add more colour egg layers to the mix.
In previous years I've sold all my eggs for the same price and it has been several years since I have increased that price.
So this year I aim to sell my colour / pure breed eggs at a premium whilst keeping my hybrid hen eggs at the same price as before.
I would also like to add variety to the items for sale at the gate - possibly plants, especially chicken friendly herbs and also honey.
This leads me nicely onto goals 2 & 3
2: BEES
My son keeps a few hives of bees on the land we keep most of our poultry on in the neighbouring village but I would like to have a hive or two of my own here at home with a view of selling any honey produced. I love the whole process of beekeeping and find them absolutely fascinating creatures not to mention useful.
3: THE FLOWER BORDERS
I love gardening and thoroughly enjoy the flower borders. They were designed to be herbaceous borders - bee, bird and butterfly friendly, full of nectar rich and berried plants. Over the years they have been very successful and looked beautiful but are now in need of some attention, especially division of plants. Divisions I could pot on and sell, the same goes for my herbs.
4: FRUIT TREES
Fruit trees are mostly my husband's passion. We already have a wide variety but you can never have enough trees and we plan to add several this year to the poultry paddock. These will include, Dittisham plum (an old local variety), apricot, which grow well here but grow too large for our mini orchard at home and also possibly more cherry. We are considering a nut but are unsure of variety as yet.
5: WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY
Not strictly a homesteading goal but I love taking photos, only point and shoot, of the birds and wildlife in the garden and also videos including those taken on the trailcam . So my 5th goal would be to keep a photographic/video diary of all the wildlife we are fortunate to have visiting or living in our garden.
Hedgehogs at night:
https://www.facebook.com/sandra.rhymes.5/videos/vb.690652547/10155078153437548/?type=3