2023 Plans and Goals...

General Homestead Stuff

We are moving forward with the homestead in 2023. There is, as always, lots to be done on a farm of any size. We have fences that have been in place for many years that need mending, or complete replacement. We have a water project we have been wanting to do for years and think we finally have a plan for. Over the last several years the property has been slowly taken over by juniper bushes; we want to rent an excavator and pull them out. The list is extensive. 

On the web we are looking to finish and polish this website as well as get it regular monthly updates. We want to start posting to the blog regularly with the happenings around the place. We have even discussed starting our own youtube channel. We will see what happens.

​As far as the critters go (the true heart of the homestead), we acquired IPPs (Idaho Pasture Pigs) last year. We hope to have our first breeding this spring and are hoping to sell feeders and possibly full, half, and quarter shares this year.

We also are working towards having our own flocks of heritage turkeys and chickens. Our plan and hope is to have a sustainable flock where we can breed our own birds in the future. We are looking towards being able to supply fresh turkey, chicken and eggs sometime in the future from true pasture raised, sustainable flocks. 

Also a poultry item is quail. We experimented with our first round of quail this past years. Suffice to say it was a learning experience. We are looking at our process this winter with plans towards giving quail a second shot this spring. 

Brace of Coney's Rabbitry

2022 was a rough year for us. We had several miss breeding's, dead kits, and other issues. We changed out a few breeders selling some and acquiring others. In hopes of getting back on track we have an aggressive breeding plan and a list of goals for 2023...
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1. We have 20 planned breeding's over the course of the year. 
2. New housing for our breeders with improved ventilation and maneuver control
3. Begin working towards pedigrees for Erebus' and Nike's blood lines. 
4. Ad at least one additional pedigreed doe to our herd (Blue preferred). 
5. Establish 3 distinct pedigreed bloodlines within our herd.
6. Test all of our doe's for REW (Red-Eyed-White) genetics.

Goals 3 and 5 are multi year goals and will not be achieved until late 2024. ​

Other Projects

If you have been to our site before you may remember empty or under construction pages for other projects. Against the Grain (our woodshop), Twigs and Twine (Homecraft) and The Sugar Bush (our... well... sugar bush) have not gone away forever. We decided to remove those areas for now in order to focus on completing the website. Those projects will come back as they are structurally finished. Some are long term goals, others may be back sooner rather than later. 

Wrap Up

Thanks for stopping by for this inaugural blog post. Stick with us this year for more updates, thoughts, and dreams from Maple Grove Homestead.