goals

With it being the start of a new year, a lot of homesteaders may be struggling to figure out exactly what to do with themselves and their homestead. Some people have already set their goals for the year and are chomping at the bit to get going. Others are still trying to figure out where last year went. But in either of those situations, here is my guide for homestead goal ideas and how to make your own.

Homestead Goal Ideas

Before we get into my homestead goal ideas, I want to talk to you about how we set goals around here. First, we are going to talk about the do’s and don’ts of setting homestead goals. Then we are going to talk about actually selecting and timing your goals. Finally, I am going to give you my master list of how I come up with yearly goals. As always, I will explain everything below.

Do’s and Don’ts Of Homestead Goals

The very first thing that you need to do when you are figuring out your homestead goals is to be kind to yourself, family, and animals. If the stomach flu wipes out your family for the whole month of May and all of your plant starts die? Don’t panic. Just step back, be thankful that it’s over and do what you can. Be kind to yourself because getting down on yourself, your family or your animals doesn’t do any good.

Another don’t is to space out your goals. It’s very easy to set up and jam pack your entire year. And let me tell you, that will lead you to burnout faster than you can blink.

DO make sure that you’ve got back up plans in case something goes sideways. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.

DO make sure that you pick some Finish Line Goals (which I will explain more in a minute) to give yourself that little boost to push through the hard stuff.

Selecting Your Homestead Goals

One of the things that I love to do is create a brain dump for the year. This is a list of all the things I want to do or get done for the year. This is where I allow myself to dream big and go wild. There is nothing too big or too crazy to go on this list.

Once you have made your brain dump, start going through and, realistically, mark out anything that really can’t be done this year. For example, I want a new goat barn. This can be on the brain dump list, but cannot actually be done this year because we just don’t have time or materials for it.

After you have worked through your brain dump list, now we turn our goals into tasks and start scheduling them.

Timing Your Goals For Maximum Potential

There’s a saying that a goal without a deadline is just a dream. Well, this is where we turn our dreams into goals and our goals into tasks.

As you look at your revised list of goals and dreams, I want you to really think about when the best time to do it would be. To give you an example from last year, we wanted to expand our big garden and install raised beds. We had two options, do it before planting season, or after.

Me being stubborn, I wanted it before. So this is how we did it; January we took down the old fencing and started cutting down trees. February was finishing the trees and putting the fence back up. March was building the beds and starting to fill them. April was filling the beds and starting to plant.

Timing your goals is extremely important in making sure that not only that you have enough time to get the goals done, but also making sure that you’re doing that goal in the right season. A good example for us is doing house projects in the cold months.

We do not do any upgrades to the house when it is warm or hot. The reason for this is because there are so many outdoor projects that need to be done that wasting time inside isn’t worth it. The other side is that we aren’t going to be spending a lot of time outside when it is too cold.

Another good reason to time your goals appropriately is something like building a shelter for your animals. We want to make sure that these types of projects are done BEFORE bad weather sets in.

What Are Finish Line Goals

I wanted to give you my hack for not only setting goals but also something that helps my mental health on the days when I just can’t fathom going outside. I call these goals Finish Line Goals or FLG. These are small, easy to hit goals that make a big impact, either mentally or physically. These goals are a quick dopamine hit that really get me motivated to get moving.

FLG’s are great for those dreary days that you can barely get out of bed, let alone go feed the animals and they will look different for everyone. But in the list below, I will give you a bunch of my FLG to pull from or help create your own.

Master Homestead Goal Ideas

This list is off my master list that I use when I am floundering to figure out what I want do. Because a brain dump is great when you have a bunch of ideas floating around in your head. This master list is great when you either have no idea where to start or so many ideas that you have become paralyzed with options.

The point of this list isn’t do answer the questions but to use it as a prompt to give you some ideas about what other goals you can do for the year.

1. Chickens- Is their watering system working?
2. Chickens- Does their feeding system work for them?
3. Chickens- Is their shelter suitable for the weather?
4. Chickens- Is there a new system that you want to try this year?
5. Chickens- Is raising meat chickens “worth” it?
6. Chickens- Am I getting enough eggs?
7. Goats- Do they have access to free choice minerals that actually works?
8. Goats- Is their shelter secure and keep out the weather?
9. Goats- Do you have a section of your property that you want cleared?
10. Goats- Do you have your breeding plan set up for the year?
11. Goats- What is your plan with kids, milking, etc?
12. Goats- Do I have time to milk my goats?
13. Goats- Do I want to raise any meat goats?
14. Garden- What did you grow last year that didn’t work?
15. Garden- What did your soil tests say? What amendments do you need?
16. Garden- How is your soil doing?
17. Garden- Are you preserving your garden well?
18. Garden- Do you need to expand or reduce your garden space?
19. Garden- Is there something you want to change with the garden?
20. Garden- Did we save seeds?
21. Garden- Are you actually enjoying your garden?
22. Garden- Are you tracking your garden with a journal, spreadsheet, etc?
23. Food Storage- Did we use what we put up?
24. Food Storage- Was there a preservation method that didn’t work well?
25. Food Storage- Is there enough storage for the amount of food we put up?
26. Food Storage- What can be improved with our food storage systems?
27. Emergency Prep- Was there a power outage that we did not do okay with?
28. Emergency Prep- Did we have what we needed in an emergency?
29. Emergency Prep- Is there something that we could have done better?
30. Emergency Prep-Did we run out of anything during an emergency?
31. Emergency Prep- Where there any medical situations that I wasn’t prepared for?
32. Emergency Prep- Where there any situations my animals didn’t do well with?
33. Home- Is there anything within the home that we want to change?
34. Home- Are there systems within the home that isn’t working?
35. Home- Are there any big expenses that are coming up that need to be handled?
36. Home- Is there a skill that I can learn that will help reduce the costs inside the home? (Think learning to do tile, plumbing, etc)
37. Home- Can I reduce any monthly expenses without sacrificing comfort?
38. Finances- Can I pay off any small debts?
39. Finances- Is my budget working?
40. Finances- Am I putting enough back into savings?
41. Finances- What am I spending on subscriptions every month?
42. Finances- Is my emergency fund big enough?
43. Personal Goals- What is my reading goal this year?
44. Personal Goals- Do I really want to become even more physically active?
45. Personal Goals- Am I doing any self care?
46. Personal Goals- Do I need any mental health care?
47. Finish Line Goals- Repair hoses
48. FLG- Hang new curtains, blinds, etc
49. FLG- Change the blankets on the couch
50. FLG- Deep clean one thing: bookshelf, desk, seed box, etc (one small thing that isn’t overwhelming)

Homestead Goal Ideas

The list above is just a quick way to jog your creativity and give you something to use as a template. But feel free to use all of them. At the end of the day, your homestead is yours and you’ve got to figure out what works best for you and your homestead. I will tell you that you need to make sure that you work some sort of self care into your goals.

This could be something as simple as grounding in your garden or taking time off farm to do something for yourself.

Burnout is real and even though you love homesteading, too much, too quickly will lead to frustration, guilt and anger really quick. So make sure you are taking time for yourself.

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