Our Month in Flannel- February

What happened this month on the Homestead?

This winter really felt like winter. Like how you remember it feeling as a kid. We had times where it felt like it snowed every day for weeks, and we made it through basically the entirety of January and February without losing any snow. Others may not agree, but we thought it was glorious. Magical, even. But now that it’s officially March, the snow can melt all it wants. I’m ready for spring (and maybe one more quick snowstorm).

Garden and Farm

Andy spent quite a bit of time this month plowing and pushing back banks; by the time the snow started melting this last week our driveway was getting quite narrow.

The seeding schedule is finalized, and the basement is (mostly) cleaned and reading for spring. The last of our seed orders arrived and I’m finally starting to get in the mood to think about the garden.

On the 27th I started my first seeds of the year, 100 each of Impatiens and Vinca. I don’t have a ton of luck with either of these, but I’m hoping to have the hoop house will help with that since I can move them out of the cool dark basement much sooner.

We’ve been spending some time researching goats, and got word that our goats will be born within the next couple weeks. So March will be filled with baby goats and everything that comes with it.

The House

In February we didn’t really do anything to our house. Instead we helped other people with their houses.

My dad and I helped my Aunt redo her laundry room (fixed some holes in the drywall, painted, and installed a new washer and dryer) which was a weekend project. Next, we’re going to replace her dishwasher. She moved to Vermont a year and a half ago and is still deep in the process of renovating her house.

We also helped my in-laws rip up some carpet in their house so they could get it replaced.

Andy’s Activities

Andy spent some time enjoying the snow this month. He went snowshoeing with the dogs a couple of times a week, and trail riding on his snowmobile every weekend until his crankshaft broke. Then he spent his time in the garage, rebuilding the engine from the bottom up. It’s become a yearly tradition to basically rebuild his snowmobile.

Most evenings, Andy spent his time editing video. He redesigned the website for his families video business, and has been practicing video and photography skills. He recorded a snowmobile race just for fun, and then raced in it on another weekend.

He’s trying to pack in as much snow time as he can before winter is over.

Finances

The only noteworthy expenses this month were Andy’s insane spending on his hobbies. We make sure to account for this spending ahead of time, so the $845 on snowmobiling wasn’t a hit. We keep a separate savings account just for this so it doesn't jeopardize necessary expenses and he can have his hobbies guilt-free. Andy works hard as the sole income earner, and we think it’s only fair that he gets to spend some of that money on things that he enjoys doing. Luckily, Kiley’s hobbies aren’t quite so expensive.

Half of this months ‘hobby’ expense was the engine rebuild for the snowmobile, the other half is mostly fuel and oil for trail riding, and the cost of the snowmobile race ($139).

We track our expenses using Personal Capital, which combined with automatic payments, and automated savings eliminates the need for a regular budget. We’ve used it for years now, and love it. Now that we have a general budget, a quick check on account balances now and then to make sure our spending is inline with what we are comfortable spending is all we need to keep our finances in check.

If you’d like to see all your accounts in one place you can use this link to sign-up and we each could get $20.

Reading

Spudly, feeling cozy one night in some sweats, because he prefers comfort over fashion (but honestly, he pulls it off).

Now that we’re getting into spring, our reading is on the fast decline. We’re gradually spending more and more time outside or working on our other hobbies and less time snuggled up reading. Nevertheless, we did finish a couple of books:

Andy’s Reading List:

Raising Sheep the Modern Way by Paula Simmons

A very old book, but a nice overview of raising sheep.

Kiley’s Reading List:

Shake The World by James Marshall Reily

This was an ok book, it started out good but by the end I found myself skimming it. It had some very nice, motivating stories of people starting large philanthropic businesses (like TOMS).

The Life of Emerson by Van Wyck Brooks

A Biography from 1932 on Ralph Waldo Emerson, while it was an interesting read, I would recommend just reading the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I kept wondering why exactly I was reading it. The most interesting part of the book was seeing the relationships between people who are now well-known names, and just how many were congregated in that time and place.

Next Month

If this warm weather keeps up, hopefully we’ll be spending a lot of March outside. I have some sewing started in February that I need to finish up, and we have lots and lots of seeds that will be started in the basement. I also plan on doing more painting for my Aunt.

Last summer I was kicking myself for not making more freezer meals in March, so that needs to be moved high up on the priority list. I waited until April and even May, thinking I’d have plenty of time before we got busy outside with the garden, and then we ended up eating pasta over and over and over again after long exhausting days outside. This year I want to try and get on top of it before we get busy outside with who knows what (goats, firewood, culverts, painting, the garden, perhaps chickens?).

Spring always sneaks up on us and before we know it, it’s here and gone.