INTRODUCTION
Homestead Roots Newsletter - 1/23/2025

It has been pretty quiet on the homestead over the last couple of weeks. No major projects or work completed. We’ve been working diligently on planning this years garden and just got our major seed order completed yesterday. Next up is to plan where everything is going to go. We have done some light planning work but until we confirm if we will have an additional high tunnel it is tough to fully plan everything out. We should know for sure in February. We have had some REALLY cold days and very little snow. Kind of the opposite of what I hope for in winter. 🙂 We are a little more active these days on social media. Here are some links in case you care to follow along.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BarlowRootsHomestead

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barlowrootsmarket/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barlowroots/

Enjoy this weeks newsletter!

HOMESTEAD UPDATE
Cleaning Up Logs, Finishing Indoor Projects, Ice Fishing

We made some really good progress on one of our warmer weekend days and got a bunch of the logs drug off of the hillside. It was a pretty nasty project. Most of the logs were frozen to the ground and of course there was head high, nasty weeds everywhere. I had Ingrid and the boys on the hillside working to hook up to the logs and then I would drag them down with the skidsteer. Once on the bottom of the hill I was able to grab them with the grapple and stack them up. We made great progress in just a few hours! The plan is to do a controlled burn on the hillside this spring. I need to cut down a bunch of the stumps and then we plan to get some pollinator seed planted. I have a guy at the DNR locally that is going to advise me on the process. I am thankful to learn on a small canvas as we have a lot of ground that needs to be rescued from overgrowth. The problem is always what to do after you cut everything down. Something needs to be planted to prevent the nasty weeds and brush from coming back. We are learning!

The goats returned home this week from their month long “vacation” with the buck. Let’s hope they are all bred. The certainly smelled like the buck when they arrived. If you know that smell… you know that smell! We gave them what was left of our Christmas tree as a welcome home gift. 🙂 One of the does is still giving a little milk. Not sure how long Ingrid will keep up the effort of milking her. At some point we give all the does a nice break before they have their next kids.

I finished up a LONG lingering project to get the trim up around our skylight. It was delayed because we had some weird water dripping. Somehow warm moist air was getting into our vaulted ceiling around the skylight frame. That moisture would then freeze on the underside of the roof and then if we had a nice hot fire inside the ice would melt and drip to the floor around the skylight. All that to say, it wasn’t a cut and dry project. I tried several things without success and then consulted with some good builder friends and came up with a plan for sealing the area off. And then just a day or two before I was going to finish the trim… more drips. Ugh! So I plastered some more caulk up there and called it good. And then powered through the challenges of doing trim work and got it done!

Not really homesteading related but the boys and I got out for some ice fishing a couple of weeks ago. And the bonus was we actually caught some fish! It was a really fun trip and we came home with a nice mess of panfish for supper. We initially walked out, over a mile dragging the fish house. UGH. But of course when we got to our spot there were full size trucks all over. So I walked the mile back and drove the truck out which made the return trip easier. Hoping to get out with them a few more times.

MARKET GARDENING
Seed Ordering and Garden Planning

We’ve spent some good time over the past couple of weeks focused on the garden. Ingrid has been trying to sneak in an hour or so of good work time while the baby naps to go through last years notes and create a plan for this year. We got our seed order in this week and were basically able to get everything we wanted from Johnnys. There are a handful of items that we will buy locally as well.

I put together a video this week about the seed order and how we are planning out our garden. You can find that here: https://youtu.be/RQGSYR0J6NE Feel free to reply if you have any gardening questions as you start planning out your garden for this year!

I’ve also spent some good time recently researching high tunnel manufacturers and getting bids. I think I have the company I want to use and the plan in place for what we are going to get. As a reminder we are hoping to be approved for a grant to help us purchase the high tunnel. We should have that news in February. I want to have everything in place to get things ordered and shipped right away when we get approved as we would like to use the tunnel yet this spring and summer. It is going to be a real push to get all the work done but if we get decent weather I think we can pull it off.

I did a little research on hiring out the build but the quotes were just a little high for the $$$ we have available. Thankful I know some great guys who are younger and stronger than me who have offered to jump in and help.

FINANCES
What Are You Saving For?

The greatest gift we ever received in our financial journey was a plan. 6 years ago a friend and I sat together at a restaurant and he OPENED my eyes to the wonders of personal finance. Using simple numbers and math he told a story that quickly caught my attention. I opened up all of our “books” to him and he built us a super simple plan for how to save for the future and reach our goals. It was life changing!

Prior to that meeting we really had no direction for our financial future. I mean yes, we wanted there to be a day someday when we would retire. That was about as specific as we got. We knew that we should be doing something so we were investing in ROTH IRAs and 401Ks through a local advisor. But we had ZERO vision and absolutely no clue what was possible.

Fast forward to today and we are in a place where we personally manage all of our finances, no advisors involved. Our investment plan is super simple and hands off and yet we are sitting in a good position for our future. We have the freedom to work less and take on our own entrepreneurial dreams. For our personality those things wouldn’t be possible without a really good safety net. Our savings and emergency fund are that safety net. Do not let anyone convince you that managing your savings, investments and retirement are too complex for you to do on your own. It just isn’t true.

The book we started with and now my favorite book to recommend is A Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. Here is a link: https://amzn.to/3ClOlaY. If you are interested at all in finance and have just a little bit of time to invest in learning it, it will change your life. Of course if you have questions just let me know and I can try to help!

CLOSING
Marriage

Ingrid and I took some time last weekend to invest in our marriage with our church. We left Thursday at Noon and returned Saturday afternoon. 19 other couples from our church joined us on this retreat. What a gift! The bottom line for me out of the weekend is that marriage is worth investing in. It is worth the fight. Our God loves marriage and our enemy hates marriage. We are in the days of our marriage where the distractions are never ending. I LOVE our kids but parenting is hard. 🙂 It is a good time to make sure we are prioritizing our marriage above even our kids. It was a great weekend away, thank you to my in-laws for hanging out with the kids for a few days to make it happen.