Setting Homestead Goals and How to Achieve Them Donna Larson, January 13, 2025January 19, 2025 Are you a new landowner with all the big dreams for your homestead? Or perhaps you’ve been living this lifestyle for a while, but you’ve lost direction to complete those many projects. Whatever category of homestead life you fall in, let’s look at a practical way that you can set your homestead goals and actually achieve them. Brainstorming Your Homestead Goals Start by making a big list of homestead goals that you’d like to aim for. This is everything under the sun on your dream homestead. Write down the tiny things that you know will be easy, but also the big goals that feel impossible. It’s a brain dump, so get it all out. If you’re a visual person, then creating a vision board can be a great thing to get you motivated. For a brand new homesteader it might look like this: laying chickens a garden herbs (medicinal and culinary) orchard of fruit trees dairy goats meat chickens beef cattle make soap pork household cleaning products perennial berries tap wild maple trees sourdough rabbits perimeter fence roadside farmstand mushrooms compost bins emergency pantry grow and process sugar cane dairy cow various building projects (green house, shop, garden shed…) Establishing Focus Remember that some of these homestead goals can be achieved in your first year, but some of these will need to be long-term goals. Perhaps breaking specific goals out into 1 year, 5 year, and 10 year plans is the best way to focus on what you can do now while keeping a vision for your big homestead picture. Setting Specific and Measurable Homestead Goals Now obviously, the new homesteader cannot move to a new property and have everything at once. So look at what is the most important to you on your list. Maybe you’re someone who prefers to get all the little things done first because it feels so good to check them off the list. Alternatively, you could be someone who really wants to master that one big thing. Whoever you are, you get to set your own goals. There’s no wrong choice here; what are the most important things to you? In our fantasy homestead example, let’s say that our new homesteader chooses these 5 goals as her most important things to tackle this year. orchard laying chickens dairy goats pork garden Those are all big homestead goals in my opinion, but they’re all doable in a short period of time using this method. Break It Up Into Actionable Steps The next step is to break up each specific goal into little steps that will help give you some direction. For example, If you know you want to raise some pork at home, ask yourself what do you need to accomplish that? You need to research ways others successfully raise pork. Figure out if you can pasture-raise pork on your property or if you’ll need a stationary pen. Most people are going to attempt a pen when they start out. What materials do you need to build the pen? What kind of bedding will you need? How much feed will it take to raise a hog from feeder piglet to butcher? These are all details that you need to write down. What about breeds? Are you looking for heritage breeds that may take longer to grow out? Maybe you’re only interested in growing fast meat, or you’d prefer to raise a lard breed such as American Guinea Hogs. Make a separate list for each of your primary homestead goals that you hope to accomplish this year. Don’t forget to figure in time and budget as your most important resources to accomplish these homestead goals. Schedule Baby Steps Now, you have your lists of what to do and how to do it. Let’s break those down into even smaller steps, and write it down on the calendar. Let’s say, for example, that you’d like to have piglets on your property in two months. As you scan your list of what needs to be done, look at your personal planner. Now schedule each baby step with a deadline so that you’re able see the target in front of you. In the first two weeks, perhaps you’re saving funds, researching breeds, and finding breeders local to you. You’re beginning to look for supplies to build your pen, and asking other locals where they get their hog feed. Next, begin to source materials. Do you want to be thrifty and check Facebook Marketplace for used materials or run to your nearest big box store for new lumber and hog panels? Then keep going through all of the steps until your pen is built and your piggies are home. Now do this with each goal on your short list. Don’t Overestimate Yourself Remember, this is your homestead. Give yourself more or less time to complete each goal if you suits you. If you find yourself drowning in unfinished projects, take a step back, and focus on just one of your goals at a time. If you’re married, make sure that you and your spouse are on the same page. Don’t expect him to be okay with your big picture plans if you didn’t brainstorm together. Don’t forget that manageable goals don’t cause chaos in your life. Grab yourself a support network. Find your community either online or in person to help you. Maybe you can work on your homesteads together, or maybe you just need some feedback from others. Find the people that will help encourage you along the way as you work towards completing your homestead goals. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone It’s okay to push yourself. You’re doing something new and learning something new. It’s probably going to be a little uncomfortable as you figure out what actually works. Remember that phrase we like to use “failing forward?” If you’ve dropped the ball, pick it back up and keep going. If you’ve done something that didn’t work, you’ve at learned from it, and you can try something different. Keep going back to the original to-do list that you made to keep yourself on track. It’s Not a Competition Finally, don’t fall into the comparison trap. We see all the different goals being achieved by others in picture perfect squares on our social media pages. Their homesteads are not yours, and we often forget that everyone has to start somewhere. Building a homestead is a huge undertaking that takes many years. Some Ideas to Start on Your Homestead If you’re brand new to the homestead lifestyle, maybe you don’t even know where to start. You may feel overwhelmed by all the possibilities. First, relax please. You have a lifetime to learn all the things. Here are some good homestead goals for starters: 1. Learn to Cook From Scratch Homesteading largely revolves around food. Growing food, harvesting food, preparing food, and preserving food. We’re growing ingredients, not packaged meals. Learning to cook from scratch will help you to know what to do with all of your fresh, homegrown foods. Anyone can accomplish this anywhere, which is why we often tell people to start their homesteading journey in the kitchen. Take a cooking class, or cook your way through a cookbook. Additionally, understand how fats react with grains, or how herbs meld better with fats, etc. Knowing when to add salt, acids, or sweeteners will help you become a better from-scratch cook. Before you know it, you’ll be able to take a look at a few random ingredients and easily figure out how to put them together for a delicious meal. One day, that’ll be your homegrown ingredients in your homemade meal. Learning to cook is a skill that’ll carry you through life no matter where you homestead. 2. Canning to Preserve Food You don’t have to grow the food to learn how to preserve it. Buy some produce in bulk at a local farmers’ market or go have some family fun at a local U-pick farm. I learned how to can jam with frozen berries from the grocery store. That doesn’t mean that I cheated. It means that I learned the skill with inexpensive ingredients. Later, I learned how to grow the berries, and I already knew what to do with them. First, learn the reasons that we can and why we have rules to canning. I do not recommend beginners follow any recipes or tips given by self-proclaimed “rebel canners.” Know how to do it properly before deciding to bend any rules later. Start by canning single ingredients, such as tomatoes or green beans, that can be used in any dish or as a stand alone side. Once you’re comfortable with that, you can move on to combinations like pasta sauce or beef stew. If you’re terribly nervous about canning food, find a friend to hold your hand as you learn or take a class. We’re seeing more canning classes popping up here and there, and we’re cheering for them. Go sign up, and invest in yourself. 3. Gardening Anyone can start a garden, even a simple container garden. Get some grow bags, a bag of soil, and start a few seeds of just one kind of plant. Before you know it, you’ll have researched everything you can about that plant. You’ll learn how to thwart disease and pests, how to trellis it if necessary, and when to harvest your fruit. Next season, add a second vegetable that you can learn about. Before you know it, you’ll be ready for a full garden plot. 4. Make Your Own Cleaning Products This isn’t often something people consider when they think of homesteading, but it is. Making some simple swaps will clear your home of toxic chemicals while saving money, creating a more sustainable living environment for you and your family. That sure sounds like homesteading to me. 5. Learning Herbal Remedies Herbs are some of the most cost effective plants that you can grow, but what do you do with them? Start with medicinal herbs. You don’t have to grow them to use them. Order bulk herbs if you can’t find them locally. Choose something that you personally struggle with in your health. Find the herbal remedies that will help you combat the ailment. Learn why they work and how to prepare them properly. Learn to properly steep a tea at the right temperature, or make tinctures and decoctions. Understand contraindications between herbs and pharmaceuticals. Eventually you can learn to grow them for sustainability and resilience at home. 6. Make Something By Hand Handicrafts are a great way to creatively find what you have a knack for. Sewing, crocheting, painting, and more will not only provide you the outlet to express yourself, but you’ll end up with items that will save you money. Frugality is a big part of homestead life. Conclusion of Achieving Homestead Goals Setting homestead goals is the easy part. Making them realistic and breaking them down into action plans is the key to success. Don’t forget to set deadlines for your goals so that you’ll be on the road to seeing your homesteading dreams come true in no time. My best advice is to try lots of things, but seriously focus on just a few at a time by taking these action steps to meet your homestead goals. The end result will be finished projects, skills learned, and self sufficiency. Happy Homesteading! Donna at Hazel Belle Farm Donna and her family have been homesteading for most of their 20+ years together in some shape or fashion. She currently lives on their 20 acre farm where they grow as much food as possible. What started as a just a few laying hens, has grown into large gardens, pastured poultry, pork, and lamb. They are continuously evolving their small farm to not suit their family’s needs, but also providing to their local community. Donna’s favorite part of the family farm is her self-built micro-dairy, where she gets to love on dairy cows while serving her local community. Milking, cheesemaking, and processing dairy have become the soul of their homestead and the center of their farm. Homesteading