Happy New Year! How have you done on your resolutions during this first week of 2016? I’m trying my best to stay on track and this post is going to help me.
Every January, I get very excited about all of the things I want to accomplish in the next year. One of the resolutions I always make is to get the blog going again. I PROMISE 2016 is the year. 😉 To get started on that resolution, here’s a post with a bit of inspiration for all of us to get in touch with our inner farm girl. Even if you don’t live on a farm, I hope you find some great “back to your roots” ideas in this post that you can add to your bucket list.
We purchased the farm in 2013, but Scott had been slowly converting me into a farm girl long before that. Growing up in town, allergic to hay, and with a very sensitive nose, I really didn’t think I would end up on a farm – EVER. I’ve have fully embraced it though, and each year, always try to add to my farm girl skills. There is just such a great sense of empowerment when you can pick up a skill, that earlier in your life you never would have even dreamed of trying.
Many of these things, anyone can learn. The modern-homesteading movement is growing, and with the internet, it is easy to connect with people across the country that are making things from scratch, raising farm animals, and providing for their families in ways similar to their great-grandparents – even in the city! Feeling proud of something you have done with your hands and possibly saving money along the way is a bonus to having these skills to fall back on if ever needed.
Last year I:
- Learned to drive a skid steer
- Made cold process soap
- Milked a cow (by hand even!)
- Made my own butter, sour cream, and cream cheese.
The 2016 list is on a post-it on my desk:
- Learn to drive a tractor
- Make mozzarella cheese
- Bake with duck eggs
- Learn to use a pressure canner
Here are some more ideas to help you complete your own list. Some I’ve tried, and others are still on my bucket list. If any of these ideas excite you and you would like some resources to get started, just let me know! Filling the blog with more detail on many of these is another 2016 goal of mine. 🙂
- Render lard
- Start seeds indoors
- Make your own cleaning supplies
- Make homemade yeast bread
- Learn to back up a trailer
- Cook on cast iron
- Make a pie crust from scratch
- Start a compost bin or pile
- Learn to use essential oils
- Tap maple trees & make syrup
- Learn to build and maintain fence
- Make your own candles
- Make freezer jam
- Keep bees
- Start a fire without gasoline
- Go fishing & cook your catch
- Make your own wine or beer
- Grow an indoor herb garden
- Cook a whole chicken
- Trim hooves on a sheep or goat
- Shear a sheep
- Learn to spin wool
- Learn to hem a pair of pants
- Make bone broth
- Hatch chicks or ducklings
- Learn to knit or crochet
- Make pumpkin puree
- Bake a cake from scratch
- Learn to decorate a cake
- Keep backyard chickens
- Make one of your grandma’s recipes
- Plant a vegetable garden
- Learn basic first aid & CPR
- Dehydrate fruits, vegetables, or meat
- Freeze leftover vegetables to make soup
- Make a pie from scratch
- Learn to patch a pair of jeans
- Fix a piece of clothing instead of tossing it
- Trade goods or services with a neighbor
I’m sure I’ve missed some great ideas on the list, so feel free to add in the comments or share your own farm girl goals.
Let me know when you’re ready to can something. I want to learn pressure canning too. We can do it together.
I’m in!
I love your list of aspirations – they are similar to mine, but I don’t know what a steer skid is! Maybe because we don’t live on an actual farm? (I’m a recent transplant to MN from a Colorado tourist town).
I am busy dividing mine into “1 thing a week” goals that I actually schedule on a calendar (or they won’t happen).
I did want to say that repairing bluejeans is a quandary. You can sew holes together but it doesn’t last long. I would suggest the easy more durable way: patch them with iron-on patches. But, there are lots of things to MAKE with old jeans, like really cute things! My latest DIY discovery was a bag for clothespins! The cutest thing by far though was a lap quilt with jeans pockets – making one of those ‘countdown calendars’ for kids (Christmas). You stuff the pockets!
Good luck with your list!