January has arrived and filled our farm with all the cozy vibes that come with lots of fresh-fallen snow, animals happily hunkered down in their straw beds, and never-ending outdoor fun for the children and the dogs.
Personally, I love the turning of the calendar year. I keep a farm journal with a section for each specific species of animal, tracking their breeding, feeding, birthing, milk production (or meat/egg production) and all our farm projects. It makes it easy for me to make good decisions for our farm this way- because otherwise this can quickly become an extremely expensive hobby vs a farm that pays for itself. We found a new hay supplier after drowning in hay costs for the last two years, and I’m excited to see how our cost savings affect our bottom line in this new year.
I also love using this season to reflect and reset my priorities. My children are early risers (most of them before 6:00 am) and so rather than having early morning time to myself, I spend my mornings chatting with them by the fire about their goals and dreams, and tell them what Mike and I are dreaming of.
In 2023 my word for the year was healing. I had two major surgeries and truly needed to focus on rebuilding my body after years of inflammation and depletion. Thankfully, the farm allowed me to do that. I spent time with friends doing cold plunges in the river, ate more protein and gut healing foods, nourished my spirit by reading with my children, and even found my energy levels back to normal- to the point that I wrote a cookbook!
All that healing has left me feeling so blessed- but also helped me recognize the areas that need tending to in my every day life. We can’t spend our entire lives on a healing journey, you guys. Sure, healing can be part of our journey, but other things have to happen. And so this year, my word for 2024 is anchored. The definition is “rooted in a source of security or stability.” For me, this looks like truly setting down rooted routines so that my children know what to expect day to day.
This is hard for me! As I prayed over the way I spend my time each day, and as I discussed this with my husband, I realized I leave him out a good bit too. Mike travels a lot for work, and it’s easy for me to identify our home as my office and my territory; for us to split up duties and just operate in silos. And that’s not what I want for myself, for Mike, or for my family. So we made a commitment to incorporate more intentional togetherness this year.
Here’s how some of that breaks down:
- Regular Bible and bedtime WITH my husband (I’m the worst about staying up all night doing projects) we started this in December and it’s so life-giving. We read a Psalm and a chapter of another book (right now we’re in Ecclesiastes, before we read Proverbs) each night. Then we head to bed together. Anything I haven’t finished just has to wait for tomorrow.
- Reading together with kids at bedtime (we’ve gotten into the bad habit of dad and the kids watching football while mom does dishes and makes bread- now Mike is doing dishes when he’s home, and kids are doing dishes when he’s not, so I can make bread and be done at a decent time for reading)
- Organized daily cleaning routines instead of mom cleaning all night long, we’ve split chores into days of the week, so the house is clean by our Shabbat on Saturday, and the kids are helping me do these after school each day
- Homeschool routines since my kids are early risers, and since it’s so cold here, we’re tackling schoolwork until the sun comes over the mountain behind our farm, so we can milk in the warmth of the sunshine (when it will be 20*F instead of 5*F)
- Dedicated time with my teenager I call this “Coffee with Cora.” Cora makes great coffee and we get to talk about whatever’s on her mind. I can’t tell you how valuable it is to have together time with teens.
- Continued wellness routines For me this looks like weekly cold plunges, daily vitamins and supplements, 2-3 meals a day (which is a struggle for me- but I’m working on it), journal time, and time in nature every day- some with and some without my children.
I started working on these routines in December when I stepped away from social media- not on purpose, but just out of necessity. I found that with a wide-spread age group of children at home, and managing the farm primarily by myself, and focusing on my marriage with a husband who’s job keeps him on the road, it’s hard to be all the things to other people. Home has to win first.
And as I started letting go of the things that were not the most necessary of my focuses, I found that honestly, without good routines, it was still hard for me to take care of everything without staying up all night, every night. I’m pleased to report though, that with solid routines in place, the days go much smoother, and not surprisingly, I get so much more done.
Below you’ll find an example of our daily routine as it stands now, after about a month of working at it, plus you can follow the link to my free editable weekly household cleaning routine.
I hope your 2024 is off to a blessed start. It’s never too late to start fresh.
