Looking ahead to projects for 2024, I feel like I need a bit of a reset. So this year’s home goals list is pretty modest. There are some familiars (vegetable garden), some get back on track (coop), some finish it off (driveway) and some regroup (clean up).
Read on for more details about what I’m hoping to accomplish this year.
Driveway
In 2020 we built the garage and mudroom. In 2023 we built the patio. The last thing to finish off the south side of the house is to pave the driveway. I’m not paving the whole lane, but I would like to have one section with a solid surface. It makes for easier plowing and maintenance. It will also give our girl a smooth spot for biking and scootering, rather than riding circles inside the garage (or testing the limits of training wheels in the snow).
Coop
The coop returns for another year. First up, framing a new wall to close up the side of the barn. This has been on my to-do list for more than a year, and I haven’t done it. I met with one of the contractors who built our garage last week to see how much it will cost to have him build the wall. I expect it will be out of my budget, but talking through the plan with him has made me feel like maybe it is DIYable. And then I can save my budget for other things like eavestrough, electrical and fences.
Vegetable garden
As you saw in my Home Goals 2023 wrap up, the vegetable garden was a bit of a disappointment last year. I’m hoping we can get back on track and make some more progress this year.
Clean-up inside
This goal is probably my biggest reset. I’m currently feeling like every single space in our house needs tweaking, organizing, purging. I’m honestly not sure where to start as I also feel like I’m in the middle of a stack of dominoes. I need to move the old king-size headboard out of my room, but I need a space to put it, which means reorganizing the cold cellar (or stashing it in the barn). Reorganizing the cold cellar means building better lumber storage in the garage. (And I can play this game for pretty much every room in our house.) This goal is a good example of why it’s helpful to “just start,” because anything will be progress.
Clean-up outside
There is always an area to clean up outside. This year I’m focusing on two big brush piles, continuing to maintain the septic bed, and working my way further along the “junk pile.” With 129 acres, narrowing my focus is essential, but I feel like I made good progress on the clean up category last year, and hopefully this year I can build on that.
I’m looking forward to getting back on track, making progress, and crossing some things off my list this year. Stay tuned.
Home on 129 Acres 
I admire your goals settings, documenting what you have accomplished and putting in writing the areas you hope to work on. With a property as large as you have it must feel overwhelming at times to keep up with your expectations. Do what you can when you can would be my advice for what it is worth. Recognizing what you have completed is important.
Here at our home I get overwhelmed with tasks I keep putting off such as cleaning out the filling cabinet, shredding papers and getting rid of it for one. My clothes closet needs purging and reorganizing, another job I detest. I will make a concentrated effort this winter to work on these areas that important to me to make headway on. I already have my sights on a few changes to make in the spring in our small flower garden.
I’d love to visit you Julia when your chicken coop gets underway. I’d be happy to lend a hand if I can be of any help. I think raising chickens, collecting and enjoying fresh eggs sounds like a wonderful project. A wonderful learning experience for your girl too who loves nature as much as you do.
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Thank you for being so encouraging, Pam. (You remind me of someone 🙂 ). We’d love to have you out sometime. Good luck with all of your goals!
Those are some very sound, practical goals. I feel like I’ve been coming through a reset for a few months. We’ve bought furniture that better fits our home and needs, and replaced the propane tank to get the fireplace working, and I’m working through a course called “Take Your House Back” that’s helping me declutter and reorganize in a way that works for my adhd brain. Things are looking up! Of course there are always new projects, old projects that were never finished, and ongoing practices to keep me occupied! It’s like threading beads on a string with no knot in the end…
What an analogy! May I suggest there is a knot in the end of the string, but also a never-ending supply of beads and string, so we keep threading the longest necklace in the world? (And hopefully a beautiful one too.)
Yes! A string trailing backwards, into infinity…
Reset, YES!!
👍