Year One Goals

April 25th 2026 - April 24th 2027

Last week I reflected on our first partial year at the farm, Year Zero.

We also already shared our overarching goals for the future of the farm, which has ironically changed considerably in just the few months since we created it.

But I wanted to take a moment to share our task list for Year One. As a planner, especially with a project as large as a 7-acre farm, it’s important to me to break tasks into smaller pieces. This helps me schedule and stay on track, monitor progress, remind myself of how far I’ve come, and adjust expectations in the future so that I can plan even better next time around.

The big goals for this year are to 1) build the small animal house & pasture, 2) start the vegetable garden, 3) set up our recreational space, and 4) fully settle in/unpack. Some things we’ve already begun work on. I’ve added teaser pictures of these, but more posts will come as we complete things.

Year One task list includes:

• Chickens and Rabbits

  • Pasture enclosed and predator proofed

  • Garden shed converted to chicken house

  • Enrichment

  • Food & water management

• Vegetable Garden

  • Place small (existing) greenhouse

  • Prep garden beds (4- 30”x50’ rows)

  • Vegetable garden - 20ish varieties, plant, tend, harvest, preserve

• Start food forest 

  • Use existing orchard and add next layers

    • Berries, horseradish, perennial vegetables

  • Plant new trees towards front pasture

• Plant canopy & border trees

• Memorial/Pollinator Garden

  • Define full garden space

  • Recreational section - (this began with the idea of recreating my grandmother’s arbor swing but conversation has shifted to include a fire pit, pergola, and picnic table - we’ll see.)

  • Memorial Plaque and stones

  • Clean up Pond

  • Toad haven

  • Reinvigorate Rock Garden

  • Birdhouses & feeders

  • Pollinator plants

• Finish various house projects/tasks leftover from last year:

  • Bathroom closet shelves and doors

  • Finish caulking bathroom

  • Find solution for bathroom vanity caulking (it keeps cracking and peeling due to the room’s flexing)

  • Paint remaining doors and trim (interior)

  • Reinstall bookshelf trim in front room

  • Finish trimming out bedroom closet/bookshelves

  • Finish installing & caulking baseboard and window trim

  • Finish going through things left behind in barn and garage

• New house projects/tasks

  • Ceiling planks installed/painted

  • Remove wooden shelving in basement

  • Use barn wood to build coat rack & a table/magazine rack for bathroom

  • Well/Septic/Electric updates

• Recreation

  • Zipline

  • Playground tower

  • Pool

• Farmstand built and opened - this first year the goal is to sell seedlings, eggs, soap, candles, bread, and excess veggies

• Farm Sign constructed

• Basic rain water collection (storage barrels for existing gutters - house and garage)

• Barn

  • Tear out ceiling and wall coverings

  • Remove chicken coop

  • Barn workshop

    • cabinets/counter for soap & candle making

    • Lumber rack for storing wood boards and sheets

• Update farm plans, tree map, etc. based on changes made throughout the season

Wish us luck! I think we’re going to need it!

Year Zero

June 26th 2025 - April 24th 2026

Buying a farm at the end of June was, in many ways, not ideal. We missed all the dates to get our garden started, it was too hot to plant trees, and all the animal auctions were past their prime for the year. 

It also rose the question of how to count our time here. Many businesses follow a fiscal year rather than the calendar to figure their budgets, metrics, and planning. I’ve also read studies that suggest making resolutions in January is a terrible idea because our bodies and our world are hardwired for new beginnings in the spring. This makes sense to me, as I’m very much the type to begin new things with the start of warmer weather. Thus we decided to mark our time here by the start of the growing season. Therefore, the partial year from the time we took possession to the average last frost date for our area became known as year zero.

In the middle of January, when winter was at its peak, SAD was affecting us all, and we were stuck inside under piles of blankets, it seemed more optimistic to think of all the things we had accomplished rather than lamenting all the work going undone due to the cold and windy weather. Andrew and I took turns reminding each other of all that we’d accomplished when our spirits began to sag.

Our completed tasks for Year Zero include:

• Cleared stuff left behind in house

• Plumbing: 

  • removed all old copper and galvanized piping and replaced with PEX and new valves. 

  • repaired low water pressure and hot water odor. 

  • Drained water heater and added electric anode rod. 

  • rerouted bathroom vanity piping from single sink via floor to dual sink via wall. 

  • Replumbed for shower

  • Repaired kitchen sink leak (the only interior plumbing that hasn’t been replaced, will be done with kitchen remodel)

• Bathroom:

  • Removed trim/panelling/carpet

  • Gutted down to studs

  • Cleaned crawl space and added vapor barrier. Covered the hole for the old cistern. 

  • Reworked hvac ducting on crawl space/added second vent to bathroom. 

  • Rebuilt interior (reinforced floor and ceiling + new everything), added water closet

  • New closet/storage (in progress)

    • learned/ing new tools to cut down plywood, shelf pins, new saws, etc.

  • Trim (in progress)

• Removed panelling and Re-covered walls (living room & dining room), closed doorway by stove & display cabinet opening

• Painted bedrooms

• Sealed water leak between old front room well pit and basement

• Sealed foundation hole under front room closet

• Re-drywalled half of front room + removed closet + vinyl plank flooring + added door for use as third bedroom

• Refinished hardwood floors (living room, dining room, and 1 bedroom)

• Vinyl flooring in second bedroom

Most of the house work was documented in this post.

• Electrical:

  • upgraded electrical service from 100A to 200A, consolidated to single electrical panel in the house.

  • upgraded service to out buildings from 40A to 100A

  • replaced old outlets, switches and face places

  • repaired electrical junction behind wall by adding new outlet to front room.

• Thuja green giants planted (15)

• Replaced light fixtures in Living room and both bedrooms

• Chickens (8) & Cats (4) moved into barn. Added 20 new chicks in early March. Also added 6 new girls in early April when my aunt retired from work and decided to also retire from raising chickens so she and the hubs can travel :).

• Install new trim (Living room, dining room, bathroom)

• Chicken outdoor run (and updated a couple of times thanks to the the dog and a hawk) & nest boxes

• Purchased Camper 

  • Situated

  • Skirt insulation

  • Propane solution

  • Graywater drain dug

• Kitchen 

  • New appliances

  • Removed trim & decorative pieces around window

  • Removed paneling and recovered ½ of walls + trim

  • Moved cantry cabinet to create island

  • Hoosier cabinet

  • Dishwasher

  • Replace garbage disposal under sink switch with button on sink

  • Drink station

• Doorknobs & blinds, Painted hvac vent covers

• Homestead mouse war: year 0 = victory

• Heating

  • Furnace maintenance

  • Chimney clean/maintenance

  • Firewood & oil delivery

  • learn(ing) how to heat with wood

• Septic:

  • Tank location confirmed

  • Leach bed location confirmed

  • Add exterior septic “clean out”

• Sourdough started (and revived a few times)

• Epic 2-hour bread recipe discovered. Working on mastering. Considering abandoning sourdough.

• Houseplants hung and arranged. Pictures and clocks hung. Mounted tv and sound bar.

• Found, bought, and moved in extremely heavy china cabinet (like Grandma’s)

• Permaculture Design Certificate (detailed property map/plan)

• Vinyl floor coverings (living room, dining room, J’s bedroom, redo bathroom)

• Planning for Year One tasks including the small animal house, trees, backyard fun (zipline and pool), gardens, and more

• Website, social media, and farm logo established

• Gutters cleaned and extensions reworked

• Basement water issues “dealt with”

  • Poorly constructed a basement wall leak diverter

  • Purchased inverter generator and backup pump in case of power outage

  • Panicked a bit and purchased bookshelves so that all of our books (both my own collection and what I inherited of my grandma’s) could be moved upstairs in case flooding does occur.

  • Planning better solutions for the future (in progress)

• Shocked (treated) well water, created brown water, panicked, learned that bleach interacts with minerals and turns the water yellowish brown and—aside from looking nasty—its fine and fades after a week or two - fun stuff

• Repaired(ish) “free” “lawnmower”

• Removed evil tree (don’t ask)

• Installed wooden beam in place of “arch" room divider

• Clearing stuff left behind in garage & barn (in progress - barn nearly done)

• Continuing to unpack and “settle in” (in progress)

• Started spring projects - vegetable garden, memorial garden, chicken house and pasture, and backyard zipline. More to come on these projects soon!

We also realized, that in a lot of ways, the timing was rather perfect. While the weather was nice last summer and fall we were able to get a large amount of the house renovations done. Then we had the whole winter to adjust, settle, and observe. Permaculture techniques advise spending as much as 1 full year simply observing the site so that you are familiar with patterns, energy inputs, and other conditions before beginning the implementation phase.

Through this first winter of observation, we now know:

• The majority of our wind comes from the west, that said wind is so strong we’ll need to plan accordingly when building structures and animal shelters, and we have a high need for windbreak trees.

• 40 degrees F is the threshold for working comfortably in the barn without additional heat, at least until we have more windbreaks to protect from the windchill. 

• Due to the winds - The position and set up of the barn is less than ideal. The animal stalls and doors are located on the west side of the building, which allows wind and rain to gust into and through their shelters, offering little protection from the elements. Their pasture/run areas are also located to the west of the building.

• Where the water flows and pools. Despite how flat our property is, there are minor low spots that get pretty soggy and, thanks to our dogs, quickly turn into muddy pits.

• The county zoning department disagreed with some of our original ideas and we had to make significant adjustments to the proposed layout of our property in order to comply.

• The farmer who has been working our field has been using non-chemical methods since he took over several years prior, allowing us less concern about the chemical usage on our property and a head start for when we transition from field to pasture and food forest.

Some of these observations triggered modifications to our plans and priorities, allowing us a much more confident plan for beginning the real farm work in the spring.

On a lighter note, we had the pleasure of enjoying a few farm fresh produces that were already growing around the property.

• Gooseberries

• Blackberries

• English walnuts

• Winter radishes

• Asparagus

• There was rhubarb growing near the shed, but I feared we may have trampled it in our efforts to winterize the camper. Fortunately, it started to pop through and I was able to dig it up before it got good and dead. Hopefully it will take to the transplant in our new vegetable garden.

• If we ever get around to spraying, there’s a few apple trees already established.

• We found a few locals selling eggs and now have 12 hens of our own laying, which has allowed us to stop buying store eggs. As spring arrives, our daily egg count is going up significantly and we are starting to have enough to share.

• And we have a freezer full of pork that, while we didn’t raise, we did help butcher. We even bought a slicer and sliced our own bacon!

All in all - not too shabby for year zero! We’re pretty excited to see what the first full year on the farm brings!

Demo and Updating

Chip and Joana may call it “demo day” but ours took over two weeks.

Not fun.

(You can see the entire “Before” gallery here. )

Flooring was the first thing to go. The carpeting in the front room was the same as when my grandparents first bought the home. They never updated it. I can’t even comprehend what that carpet has seen in its 37+ years. Equally crazy, the carpet in the bedrooms was installed when they bought the home, making it exactly 37 years old. While updated from its original form, the bathroom also had wall to wall carpet. Can you say gross?

Next to go were a few pieces that bothered me the most - the fixtures throughout, the medicine cabinet, a display cabinet in the living room, and the decorative trim above the kitchen sink. 

Then there was the paneling. Originally the whole main area was covered with this dark wood panelling, but over the years, the living room and the kitchen had been replaced. Nonetheless, they were not my style and they had to go. The only paneling that remained was a single wall in the dining room (my girls talked me into leaving it as an accent wall, which I originally resisted but am really thankful for now). Removing them really took a lot of the old house smell out as well.

Then there was the kitchen. This was the heart of my grandmother’s home and the vast majority of my happy memories were right here in this very space. My love for it is deep and I wanted to preserve as much of it as I could while also modernizing it and making it more functional for our family. I hoped to keep the cabinets by rearranging them and giving them a makeover. I knew this would be a challenge and a large undertaking, but I also believed it would be worth it in the end. However, a few unpleasant surprises led us to put the kitchen plans on pause. For one thing, the cabinets were not modular. They were entirely custom built in place which meant that removing them would be a very big chore, they would not be as easily re-used, etc.

For another thing, we discovered that the bathroom could not wait.

Originally I had hoped to replace the floor and rebuild the awkward corner closet. It was a wonky, inconvenient configuration and with only three closets in the entire home, they were all going to have to pull their weight. This one just wasn’t going to work. Out it came.

Unfortunately, removing the walls of this closet exposed the poor state of the ceiling. The drywall was “squishy” and it became quite obvious the entire ceiling was sagging. The floor was already questionable, but with this discovery, a full gut and remodel was the only way to go. We stripped the room to the bare studs, which revealed a few electrical, insulation, and framing problems and reassured us we’d made the right choice. Also, with the full gut, we discovered that rather than removing building materials during previous remodels, they had merely layered them. We were able to strip out the layer of old wood siding and turn this dividing wall into a proper width interior wall, gaining inches inside the room.

Then, finally, construction began. I started in the bedrooms since these would be the quick and easy areas. They got a fresh paint job, new lights, and some blinds. (Swirl wall for J’s bedroom, drawn and painted by A with help from M)

The living and dining rooms got new planked walls, fresh trim, and refinished floors. In the process of recovering the walls, we also closed in the window/display case (that used to be a window before the front porch was enclosed) and the pass through door from the kitchen to the living room. Losing this door would change the flow of the home, but set the stage for a better kitchen layout in the future. The living room also got a new light. The existing chandelier in the dining room will be left for now, as a nod to the past (its original to my grandparents purchase of the home). My children also begged me to keep some of the old paneling - they loved it and I had no idea why, lol. We compromised by keeping just the one wall as an accept piece, and I have to admit, I’m really glad they talked me into it.

We added a door to the front room to turn it into a third bedroom for our college-aged daughter, removed half of the closet, replaced the light fixtures, painted the exposed walls, and installed new flooring. The bookshelves were left alone until we decide what to do with them. They are dark, but I love them (my grandparents custom built them and grandma had them crammed full with books) and can’t quite bring myself to remove them just yet. I also have a lot of books and would like to eventually make this my library.

We also spent a couple of very long days and nights refinishing the hardwood floors.

Then there was the bathroom. After gutting the room, hubs worked hard to overhaul the electric and plumbing, reinforce the floor and the ceiling, build a water closet, and hang drywall. He also replaced the old vanity with a double (thanks to the inches gained by removing old layers of construction material), installed a new shower, the vinyl floor, the planked ceiling, and some modern fixtures.

After a month of hard work to update the interior of the house, we moved into the home with our youngest in the fall of 2025.