Plans for 2016

First day of the new year and I spent it in the garden! My main plan for this year is to be a proper smallholder by the end of it!
With that in mind my first task is to get my greenhouse sorted. We were given a large one free years ago and brought it over from England. We built a concrete base and erected the frame. And that is how is has been for several years. The brambles and weeds took over. Today I have cleared it ready to start putting the glass in. I aim to have it usable by the end of January. I will put some black plastic on the floor to kill the bramble roots.
I also pruned the fruit trees and the new Hazel bushes around the outer edge of my veggie patch. Along with cleaning out duck, geese and chickens houses and collecting the eggs that was my lot for today.
I have plotted out in my head where I can put a pig house and the goats. It is possible but work is needed. I need to fence the perimeter of our property securely to stop the ducks and chickens wandering into the adjoining fields. They are more at risk from the fox in the field.
The plan is to buy two weaners in the Spring and raise as porkers (for the freezer). The goats I would like to a couple as I want to breed them for meat and for selling on. I want to use the milk for making cheese. Both the pigs and the goats will help clear our wild areas and fertilize the ground.
I am slowly getting my head around raising our own meat although I must confess I have not made much progress with eating it!
I plan to continue to move away from Supermarket shopping, using them just for very basic things.
I have taken on another six hens, from an expat returning to the UK. They are settling in well but no eggs yet. My other girls give me 5-7 eggs each day with the ducks giving three! I keep several people supplied and use a lot myself.
I hope this year the geese will hatch some young.
Next Tuesday our English house will complete and we will be mortgage free! Really looking forward to that!
We had a week over there recently to remove the washing machine and tumble dryer and for the first time since we left I felt I did not belong there. Maybe because dad has gone and both my girls are now here with me. It was a strange feeling. I wandered around the big supermarket and was not bothered about stocking up! I have adapted things and mostly manage with what I can get here. The things I really cannot do without I can mostly get on line.
So, lots of reflection but also lots of positive plans.