A new Year A new Goal

    I have never been one to do a resolution but this year I am setting a new goal.   Last year we changed what we eat and that was not really on radar January 1st but we completely changed it all by January 15th.  With that, we are eating about a ton yes a real ton more fruits and vegetables in our house a year. so what better goal for 2019 than grow a ton of produce on our homestead. ( my husband said I can call it that because that's what my taxes say it is)  Today is planning the day I had a quick drawing of the way I want to lay out our garden and what I want to have in it so now its to look up the vegetables and fruit seeds we will need and about how much they might produce on a poor to an average year. I do love Liz at Byther Farm on YouTube. She did a 50-day challenge in 2017and got over 800lbs so I am excited to see where this goes.  I know I have a lot larger plot that she does but I have a much shorter growing period being here in Minnesota vs. Whales.   If you would like to follow along on this journey please feel free to follow me on Instagram @HomegrownWife or YouTube on my Homegrown Wife channel.

     The kids here have taken on the challenge of getting our flock to 24 hens and the two current roosters we have and we hope to get 100  birds for meat.  There is still one more thing that we are contemplating being that Mr. Homegrown is not home much he is not sure if he wants to leave me to do them my self but that would be 3 pastured pigs to have for meat come November. I love a good challenge so if I make these goals a challenge and let you all know about it I will have a better chance of success.  I love to be challenged in my faith as well and I truly believe by relying on Gods provision of things that are totally out of my control I will find that I learn to grow closer to him as well.  The short bit fro my first blog of 2019. I hope to get 2 short entries a week so that you can all see how it is going.  I did start herbs last summer in the house and those will be my first harvest of the year as they are harvested daily for cooking but I will not add them in my total of 2019lbs for 2019 well ok so I figured 2019 would be a funner (not a real word I know)  number at my target for this year.

    How I plan to start this challenge is I have selected the foods we are able to eat with our lifestyle. Here they are!

~Apples  WE HAVE 3 trees but last year was our first 4 apples on them.

~ Asparagus  WE HAVE PLANTS about 25ft of them. 

~ Broccoli   Need to get plants 52

~ Blue Berries   Need to get plants 

~ Cabbage     Need to get plants 20

~ Carrots     SEEDS 1 package 

~ Cauliflower get plants  52

~ Celery get plants 20

~ Cucumbers SEEDS  1 package

~ Kale  SEEDS 1 package

~ Lettuce   SEEDS 3 packages romaine spring mix 

~ Melon  SEEDS 2 packages of different varieties 

~ Onion get SETS

~ Peppers Green, Red Yellow, and a few hot pepper verities.  Plants 

~ Pumpkins SEEDS  pie and larger ones

~ Raspberries        WE HAVE PLANTS  may need more from MIL

~ Summer Squash  SEEDS  2 different varieties 

~ Winter Squash   SEEDS  4 varieties

~ Strawberries       WE HAVE PLANTS

~ Sweet potatoes  Need to start plants at home!

~ Tomatoes  Need to get plants

~ Watermelons SEEDS  1 package

Looking at this I know many of you think why not start those plants?  I have had poor luck with starting plants and I will look at it more as I get closer but will need to make that decision very soon as I think my indoor plants need to be started soon as my sweet potatoes from last year were started in March and made it until they got in the garden. Yes, that is two months away but I will need to order and I am overwhelmed by what and where to get my seeds and all at this point I see so many different places and have friends that all get seeds from different companies.


My parents live in Northern MN and we hope to harvest some of the nuts that grow wild in their backwoods as well.


Things not counted in our 2019 lbs are for chicken and bee food:
Sunflowers 2lbs
clover

Herbs for us and the animals that will not go into our count:
Mint
Parsley
Basil
Dill
Oregano


This is the goal and a look at the plans for our summer! I hope you find your 2019 doable and beneficial.  We figured this goal will cut our budget and get us good healthy food to add to our changes from last year.