2025 Homemaking Goals

 Happy New Year again! This morning, we were blessed with a fun winter surprise! We woke up to a whole 3 inches of snow! (my husband measured it too) This is our first snow in the new house! We took a winter forest walk on the property, had a snowball fight, and of course, we built a snowman.😊

Today as we're stuck at home, I thought I would write down some of my goals for 2025 in the area of homemaking, then at the end of the year I can see how I did. 

I feel like there is SO much that can be learned and practiced when it comes to homemaking. I have a tendency to make plans for all of it and of course that just isn't possible. The goal is to commit to trying my hand at 4 things. That doesn't seem so overwhelming to accomplish in a whole year. 

1. Chickens!

 This is our current little chicken coop. (those chickens didn't know what to think of the snow😂) It's a mix between our cheap Amazon coop and my sister & brother-in-law's homemade coop. Either this month or in February, we are going to build a new coop with the help of my father-in-law. We're also planning to get about 10 chicks! My goal for the year is to learn about chickens. I want to handle them when they're small, so they trust and love us. I want to pull out my farm knowledge from when I used to nanny and be the one out there taking care of the chickens. 

I've really enjoyed our two red chickens that we've had since we lived in the old house. I got them to eat out of my hand and follow me around (basically I trained them to think I'm Cinderella) and that sparked my interest in learning more about chickens. They really are interesting little creatures. This is a goal I have high hopes for! Besides befriending them and learning about them, I also want to do things like make homemade feed and treats for them, and set up fun games for them in the coop. I don't think we will free range them so learning how to have healthy, happy chickens in a run will be fun to learn too!

2. Sewing

Ever since I got an old sewing machine for my birthday, I've been afraid to use it! It's an older model that has all metal parts which makes it a bit intimidating.  I know all I need to do is look at the manual, or even better, look up a YouTube video on it, I just haven't made the time. But this is the year!! I must sew something and hopefully before my birthday in March so I can tell my aunt, "Yes, I have used the sewing machine! I made a skirt!" It's also a good homemaking skill to have. I probably won't get too ambitious with mending and hemming. If I can sew a simple A-line skirt, I will be proud!

beautiful cardinal on our snowy day! The birds are flocking the feeder like never before!
(sorry for the reflection of the lamp)

3. Sourdough Bread

I've realized I'm very good at gathering materials for hobbies that I want to get into. I've been gifted a sewing machine as mentioned above, I've saved up and bought a nice camera, bought knitting needles and crochet hooks, and this year for Christmas, I received the tools for making sourdough bread; another intimidating hobby! I think I'm going to just go for it and try Leila Lawler's sourdough starter and see how it goes. If it goes south, we have a family friend who makes the BEST sourdough bread I have ever had. I'll see if she has some time to teach us the art form. Because I really think sourdough is one of those things that has to be exact, do be worth doing. I can make bread. Beer bread is my favorite. It's as easy as making brownies from a box! But sourdough is a challenge and when done properly is so worth it!!

4. Intentional Planning

This one is kind of hard to make a title for so here is a bit of explanation: First, I've been getting the School for Housewives emails daily (use the sourdough link to get everything else) One of the themes maybe a month back, was planning your week for Sunday. Basically, making sure everything is done from Monday through Saturday, so that Sunday can truly be a day of rest and worship of God. I love this idea and have started putting it into practice. My husband and I have also been reading Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family and in the book, they talk about how America's Sunday differs from the Old-World idea of Sunday. You can probably imagine where she goes with that. We've also listened to podcasts about keeping Sunday a holy day and with all of it mixed together, there is something in me that just doesn't feel like we do Sunday like we should. It's hard to explain what we do each Sunday and why it doesn't feel restful, or God centered, but I do know that I want to ponder and pray further about it and see how we can make it better. I do know that the wife or mother of the household, does hold a lot of influence over this. Is she planning and cooking the meals on Saturday afternoon or rushing around all day Sunday to make dinner? Is she reading spiritual books in the living room for the family to follow suite or is she on her phone like everyone else? Those are some things I want to work on in regard to keeping holy the Sabbath day. 

That does it for the goals of 2025! I'm feeling confident as we begin the new year, starting strong with blogging (which is another goal I have) I hope everyone is enjoying the rest of the Christmas season, and the winter months with lots of beautiful snow and lots of hot chocolate!

May God bless you!

Gina💕