On this episode of Homesteady, Kendra and Aust sit down together (with their adorable baby!) to talk about the change in their plans to sell their farm, and their exciting new plans for 2017.
Why were Aust and Kendra going to sell the farm? Where Aust and Kendra live in Connecticut, land is very expensive. In selling the farm and traveling, they were hoping to find a larger homestead in a more affordable part of the country. A large homestead would allow hunting on the property, increased permaculture practices, and the ability to further diversify the homestead.
With the intent of traveling and moving, Kendra and Aust worked hard to ready the house and the farm. They made repairs, had a tag sale to minimize their belongings, and sold their sheep and goats. They listed the house with a realtor.
BUT.
Life happens. Family circumstances have changed, and Kendra and Aust now see themselves in Connecticut, near family, for a few more years. A cross-country trip is still in the works, but the house won’t be sold.
The HOMESTEADING BUG Caught Kendra and Aust (again). The chick catalogues came. The seed catalogues came. And they realized: they have brand new ideas for 2017.
On Learning Lessons…
Many discouraging events occurred on the homestead in 2016. However, Aust and Kendra are encouraging:
If you learn from the mistakes, then they are ok. Don’t treat it like it’s the ‘end all’ to your endeavors.
Make plans for this year based on last’ years’s lessons. Infrastructure is the homestead priority for 2017, and this is going to be THE YEAR to work on it. Aust and Kendra are committed: THIS is the year they are going to learn to farm together. As a team, they are going to work to balance their needs for form and function.
Focusing on infrastructure has Kendra and Aust asking themselves: What works on the homestead? What doesn’t work? What can we improve upon? While they admit replacing hinges isn’t as exciting as getting new livestock, they have made a commitment to spend two-thirds of their time working on much-needed repairs to the homestead, as opposed to taking care of livestock.
Big Projects for the 2017 Season:
- A new poultry house
- A new pig house
- A new road (You’ll see Austin run an excavator!)
- Purchasing a livestock trailer
And don’t worry- Kendra and Aust will still have livestock.
In addition to the big projects, Aust is going to continue to do pig farming and raise six feeder pigs, in addition, Aust and Kendra will be raising forty meat birds for their own consumption. Each of the Martin children are having their own special project on the farm. As homeschoolers, raising the animals and having a small business as part of their education.
2017 is going to be THE YEAR on the farm, as Aust and Kendra draw on their five years of experience to homestead better than ever before. Do you want to see the Homesteady Improvement Projects as they develop? Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!
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