Week 5 of 2017 was an interesting week around the Suburban Steader Homestead.  I did a little bit of “homesteading” work and a lot of planning to move forward in the spring.  Let me jump in and tell you how it all went down.

This Week’s Milestones

Last week was full of personal milestones that had nothing to do with the Suburban Steader Homestead.  This week was a “back to work” week in more ways than one.

Failing To Prepare Is Preparing To Fail

Yeah, John Wooden knocked it out of the park with this quote.  And, yes, I know that it’s a deviation from a Ben Franklin quote.  OK, enough arguing over who has the best quote.  What do I mean?

Well, this week I dug in deep to Amy Stross’ new book The Suburban Micro-Farm.  While I think it is an incredible book, the important lesson is to plan.  The spreadsheets that accompanied this book were completely awesome.  I’ve used them to not only plan my garden but set up monthly task lists and schedule tasks on my calendar for the year.  I have no reason why my garden won’t be run properly this year!

The planning I did with those spreadsheets allowed me to finalize on my crop selection for this year.  That allowed me to order my seeds.  I always buy from High Mowing Seeds in Vermont.  I buy from them for a variety of reason.  First, I’m a New Englander by birth and love supporting companies local to my home area.  Second, they’ve signed the Safe Seed Initiative.  And, finally, they provide a discount to Member Support Brigade members over at The Survival Podcast.  The quality is great and I’m super happy with the product I get every year.

So, I have a plan and my seeds (they showed up yesterday – I ordered them Sunday).  I set up my little planting area in the basement and now I’m ready to go!

Blog Work

The blog keeps chugging along.  As I mentioned, I did a really in-depth review of Amy Stross’ new book titled The Suburban Micro-Farm.  If you haven’t had a chance to read the review, please do.  I truly believe this book is a must have for the suburban gardener in all of us.

Social media, especially Instagram, have been lacking a little in my opinion.  Unfortunately, it’s that slow time of year where not much is going on.  My injury has also limited what I can do lately.

Next Week’s Goals

We’re slowing going to get into the swing of things this coming week.  I’ll be visiting a friend’s auto body shop this weekend. Pictures will be forthcoming.  Nothing really homesteading related there, but it is interesting to see different shops and how they work.

I’ll also be starting my onion seeds.  They are the first to get planted and also the first to get put in the ground.  I’m very excited about this coming year’s garden.  It’s been a struggle, but I think I’ve finally honed in on the right crops to grow that we’ll actually use.  You’ll, of course, come along for the journey.

In addition, I’m working on a trellis idea that is both a garden project and a woodworking project.  I need something I can “get my hands dirty” with and this might be it.  It’s a simple design that you’ll all be able to make.

Blog posts will continue to come out every Tuesday and Friday.  Next Tuesday’s post is a guest post about pallet projects around your suburban homestead.  I know it’s kind of a trendy, Pinterest-y topic, but I really feel you’ll be able to pull ideas from it to use around your homestead.

Long Term Plans

The shed is still lingering on the horizon.  I sure do talk about that a lot.  Dad isn’t scheduled to visit in the immediate future, so there’s no solid plan on it.  But I do have every intention of doing it.  I’m also mulling over that water delivery system I was talking about a few weeks ago.  One of the things holding me back on that is the fact that we may not be staying here (nothing is imminent) and I’m not sure how much sweat-equity I want to put into a place that I may not stay in long-term.

Week 5 is in the books everyone!  It’s already February! Time is just flying.  Summer will be here before we know it!

What projects around the Suburban Steader Homestead would you like to see me tackle in 2017? Let me know in the comments!

Dan

Founder/Owner at Suburban Steader

I am a middle-age guy with a wife, two young kids and a crazy dog. We live on Long Island, NY and had an interesting experience with Hurricane Sandy. That experience led me towards the self-sufficiency movement and eventually led to the founding of SuburbanSteader.com. I aim to provide suburbanites with the confidence and know-how to become more self-reliant by providing content on topics such as gardening, personal health, financial responsibility, cooking, self-preparedness and self-protection.