Changes In 2020 For 15 Acre Homestead

It’s hard to believe that 15 Acre Homestead has been in full force for 3 years already! There have been many ups and downs and certainly, numerous lessons learned. All of that experience we have gained has brought about a few changes in 2020. This post is for you, my loyal reader. It is an update on the homestead and what is in the future for 15 Acre Homestead.

Changes in 2020 For 15 Acre Homestead

Changes in 2020 on How We Use The Property

The biggest struggle we have had is keeping up with 15 acres between the 2 of us. It is a lot of land for 2 people and has caused a lot of stress for us. In 2020, one of the biggest changes we are making in 2020 is to minimize our working areas. From the animal pens to the gardens everything is moving closer.

As far as the wooded areas and the front field, they will just be mowed and maintained but not used for the next year. It will allow us to keep the property looking good for passersby but will require less time from us.

We may utilize the front field which is about 4 acres for planting in the fall of 2020. But that is only if we decide to do a large crop of wheat, corn, or for hay only.

Animal Pens and Enclosures

Many changes in 2020 are coming for the animals of our homestead.

The sheep will be moved from the north side of our home to the south side of our home to allow them a better and more grassy area to graze on. We will keep their original pen so that when the new area starts becoming barren we can switch them back to allow the grass to return. Changes in the location of their new pen will allow them more sun and will be a bit bigger giving them more room than they currently have.

The pigs have all been moved to the East side of the house and into 5 different pens instead of 2 as we had before. This allowed us to separate males and females and babies and adults. They also received new houses and a different watering system as the nipple system they used to have seemed to flood the pens too many times.

The chicken coop will stay at the backside of the property. Changes include them being free-run during the day and returned to the coop at night. We are down to 9 chickens and 1 rooster until spring. The 3 ducks are in with the chickens and a duck pond was installed in the back yard for them.

Gardening Space

The west side of our house has been fenced in completely and will be turned into a combination of edibles, perennials, herbs, and an orchard. I have a post coming this week all about our changes to the “edible gardening” ideas for the new year. Our reasoning for this was again to make things we do naturally easier by being placed closer to our home.

We have already installed the fencing and most of the perennial plants that we love. We also installed a covered patio on the house and a fire pit patio in the yard. Lance even built me a wishing well that we will be planting in and around.

Changes in 2020 include our fall garden planting that needs finished and fruit and nut trees in the spring.

Changes With The House

Our home will be remodeled over the winter as things on the homestead are generally slower during that time.

These changes will include:

• all new flooring throughout the house
• new installation and wooden wall paneling
• new tin on the roof
• the installation of new windows and doors.

Our exterior changes in 2020 will include:

• new shutters
• finishing the painting of the trim and patios
• screening and installing plastic on the greenhouse on the back of the home.

Business Ideas and Changes 

Other changes in 2020 will be include the way we make our income from the homestead.

The pigs will be old enough to be bred and sold, new chickens will arrive which means the sale of plenty of eggs, the sheep will be bred and the babies sold, and I will be selling plant starters and seeds as well as blackberries, vegetables and herbs locally.

We will be operating under Florida’s Cottage Laws. We will be selling baked goods, spice mixes, and other goodies here on the homestead as well as at the local farmers market.

There are so many ways to make money on the homestead, and we intend on using many of them in 2020.

Homesteading can be difficult for anyone. We decided to make it a bit easier on ourselves for 2020. What do you think of the changes? Do you have any advice? Please drop us a comment and let us know your thoughts!