Hello, Happy New Year, and welcome back to the Vandemonian homesteader. Yes, it’s been a few months since my last post, and I will touch on that in just a minute. It feels like I’ve said that far too much over the past year.
But before I do, I want to wish everyone a happy, prosperous, and safe new year. Hopefully, 2025 will be your time to shine.
I thought, given that it’s been a while since my last post, I had better jump on and let everyone know that I am still alive and that everything is still going according to plan, as well as give a quick update on what’s been happening and to let you know of what’s coming up in the new year.
So, where to begin? In a way, 2024 was a big year in which a lot happened, and also, a lot didn’t happen.
What I mean by this is, as far as the blog was concerned, I wish more had been done. Although there were some great posts, I feel that I could have done better. Specifically, There was, unfortunately, a lot of time between each post. Overall, I would like to have something up weekly. It helps to keep me on track and share my progress and thoughts. Keeping an erratic posting schedule or doing it whenever time allows makes it incredibly difficult to keep track of what I am doing. It also leads to some posts that feel a bit rushed or forced, as well as others that have a follow-up or a part 2 that never eventuates. Which I may be guilty of.
Ultimately, I know this is my own doing, and only I can fix this. Still, as some of you may know, for the majority of 2024, I have been renovating a house, working full-time while heading out to the bush block to do preparation work. With all this going on, it’s safe to say time has been pretty scarce for me. A significant driving factor was that I thought the more I could do, and the quicker I could do it, the faster I could move out of the land at Forcett and finally start on the homestead. However, I ended up biting off a lot more than I could chew.
If you look at many of my posts over the past year, you will see that my plans have changed a lot, both in direction and time frame. At one point, I was planning an urban homestead and started working towards that. Then, there was a jam and preserve stall. At that time, I thought it was reasonable, as I was under the impression that it would still be a few years before I could make the move. So, I had to do what I could at that time.
Then that changed to me thinking that I could be out there in time for Christmas. So, with this thought in mind, I decided against putting any spring or summer crops in once the winter crops died out, as I was not planning to be here to be able to harvest them. Now, 5 months on, I am still here, and there is nothing in the garden other than some potatoes I didn’t find last year and mint that has come from nowhere.
Essentially, I significantly underestimated the renovation work that had to be done to my current home and the time I would need to complete it. At the time of writing this, my house is currently condensed into three rooms, with what was the master bedroom now being a makeshift kitchen, pantry, and storage area for furniture. All these changes and unusual living arrangements make it challenging to do anything.
Add to that the fact that I wasn’t planning for, nor had I allowed for, the possibility that the shed being built in Forcett may be delayed. Which, it turns out, it was.
Despite its initial completion date being between the last week of November and the first week of December. I am told it will now (touch wood) be completed on the 13th of January. As soon as the shed company has finished, I can finally begin setting up the interior so it looks more homely than a tin shed in the bush.
All these factors, combined with my hydra-like to-do list, meant I had little time to devote to the blog or creating content I felt was worth sharing. It wasn’t helped that the majority of the jobs I was doing were not related to anything I could post about. There is only so much I could say about painting ceilings, and as valuable as dealing with rotten timber can be. There was no way I could write about it so that it would suit the blog without coming across as forced.
This is ultimately why I decided to leave the blog on the back burner. I decided that the final months of 2024 would be better spent focusing on wrapping up the renovations and laying the foundations for 2025 than trying to force a post I didn’t care for.
With this in mind, along with the move that will totally, definitely, fingers crossed happen, I have been preparing a list of topics I will cover. I have been busy collecting, scrounging or making bits and pieces that I can use to help create new posts ready for the new year. Some of these are,
- Building an interior of an off-grid shed using reclaimed and second-hand materials.
- Making a greywater system.
- Making a vegetable garden from native land.
- Protect said vegetable garden from your furry native neighbours.
- Making animal enclosures.
- Putting up a greenhouse kit and building a shade house.
- Homebrewing.
And much, much more.
In a way, the delays and timing miscalculations have worked out better than I could have hoped. The current time frame, allowing for delays, means I will be in the new place before easter. This gives me most of autumn and all of winter to prepare for the 2025/26 summer.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, 2024 was a big year in which a lot happened, and also, a lot didn’t happen.
Hopefully, now you can understand what I meant by that. While not much happened on the blog, and there was far too much time when it was inactive, all the progress and work was going on behind the scenes. As I said, this work may not be related to or relevant to this blog, but it must be done so I can take the next big step. And as with many things in life, although it may not be what you want to do, it still has to be done.
And finally, like many other people, I like to spend a few moments on New Year’s Eve and reflect on the year that was. Part of this includes considering what I could have done better and deciding how to improve that aspect.
As I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t happy with the erratic posting or quality of some of the posts from 2024. So, moving forward to 2025, I have decided to improve my posting consistency and the quality of my content. To achieve this, I will now post bi-weekly or fortnightly beginning Monday, the 6th of January. Having a fortnightly post instead of weekly will allow me more time to create and polish the content before posting it while being frequent enough to share my progress and thoughts.
And with that all said and done, I will take my leave and enjoy the rest of 2024 and my New Year’s Eve celebrations. So thank you very much for dropping in, and an extra special thanks to those who have been regular visitors throughout the past year.
Again, from Natasha and I, Happy New Year, and I wish you all the best in 2025.
Until next time, look after yourself and have a good one.
Vandemonian Homesteader 
Leave a comment