Goals Past & Future

Our second year on the farm is drawing to an end, so we're looking back on what we've managed to accomplish and planning out next year's To Do list.  We can only completely cross off half of the 2017 list; one item is postponed indefinitely and we at least made progress on everything else.  Of course there were plenty of projects big and small that weren't on the list!

Speaking of lists here's our progress for this past year's wish list:

1. Buy a tractor - OH YEAH!

2. Finish grading/sprucing up the front yard of the cabin - Not done
This has been on the list since 2016, and each year we make progress but don't get it all the way done.  This year we added azaleas and a crepe myrtle, but still need to do the grading, paint the concrete block foundation, and plant more shrubs.

3. Clear brush and small trees along the lane - partially done (about 15%)
It's a marathon, not a sprint!

4. Prune the grape vine and clear vines from the Catalpa Tree - DONE

5. Start our orchard(s) - We added pear, peaches, apples, pomegranates, loquats, more blueberries, blackberries and persimmons. We plan to add even more, but starting the orchards is definitely DONE.

6. Get our gliders refinished and on the front porch - this is half done, one out of two are finished.

7. Build a farmhouse table for the dining room - On hold. Neta is still deciding whether she wants this or not. More to come possibly.

8. Clean out the little barn and make it a workshop and add a greenhouse - DONE (mostly). Four steps forward and one step back...on the cleaning front. But we have electricity and a workbench and, obviously, a greenhouse.

9. Plant a wildflower meadow - DONE (and progressing each season). It was only a wedge of wildflowers stretching about 75 feet in each direction and about 15 feet wide, but we'll give ourselves credit.  It's a good start as we'll expand each year until we fill the field.

10. Put up bird and bat houses and hummingbird feeders - Partially. We did get the hummingbird feeders up and at one time had over 8 hummingbirds fighting over a spot.

Some of the other things we got done this year include:

• We cleared the underbrush and weeds from the first few rows of pines, expanding our back lawn.   
• We had several loads of fill dirt brought in, which Craig used to fill in low spots and areas where the logging trucks left deep ruts.  
• We expanded our vegetable garden, more than doubling it in size.  
• Craig cut numerous small trees and innumerable blackberry brambles on the island, as part of our plan to make the island more of a focal point in the landscape.  

So that wraps up 2017. We'll be back in 2018 with a new list of goals.

And speaking of new goals:  as we were discussing our plans for next year, our son Robert suggested we take a poll to find out what our readers would like to see.  He also made us promise to give him credit!

This is your chance to tell us what to do.  We've got three options (you didn't think we'd give you free reign, did you?!).  Let us know what you want to see and we'll include it in our 2018 To Do list.

1. Build a vine trellis tunnel - something like this (just not as impressive):
   
2. We've got part of the trunk of the cedar we had taken down when we demolished the old house that we think we can make into a bench.
3. Make some bird houses to put up.  We grew (and are currently drying) birdhouse gourds this year, plus Neta will probably get crafty with stuff she finds around the farm.

What project should we do in 2018?

If you're on a mobile device and cannot see our poll above, click the link at the bottom of the screen to view the Web Version.