Farm Friday and A Day in the Life

The beginning of a new day

We took the week "off" for the holiday. However, off just means we didn't do deliveries. For the most part, we had our usual farm routine. We also had our son and his family visit, took care of our granddaughter for several days, and had our daughter home for Christmas. 

This week is a good time to do a "Day in the Life" post to give a little peak into my daily routine as a homesteading farmer during this time of year. Here's a sample day:

Part of my morning routine is to take care of the pets, tidy up a bit, do my morning inspirational reading, write in my journal, make my "to do" list, brew a big pot of tea for our iced tea, cook rice for the week or start beans or another dish in the slow cooker as necessary, then have breakfast.

Next I usually sit down to tackle emails and Facebook messages (respond to orders, answer questions, etc), record orders, and update our social media as needed. My office work also includes updating our financial spreadsheets (personal and business), balancing checkbooks, and paying bills. Later in the day, I'll usually make a double batch of granola to fill orders. I use brown sugar in my recipe and, if I'm getting low, I also make more.

We're still making deliveries of a few items (mainly pork, garlic, sweet potatoes, and granola), so on a delivery day I go over the orders, pack them, total them, and then head out the door, making sure to bring my cash box and have the hardware for using credit and debit cards on my smart phone. I also try to fit in errands before, between, and after my drop points, both to save time and fuel.

Although vegetable season is technically over, we still have some produce to harvest for our own use. This helps feed us now and during the lean season when we have plants growing in the garden but aren't ready to harvest. The last couple of weeks I processed some cauliflower and broccoli, making a cauliflower curry to eat during the week and broccoli soup to freeze for later.

In anticipation of spring planting, we did a seed inventory and now I'm working on a spreadsheet to help make the best decisions when ordering the seed. I've been poring over the seed catalogs to determine which carry the particular varieties we need, noting which have organic seed available, comparing the prices and shipping fees, all to help me place orders that make the most sense. We need to get our orders in soon as some varieties sell out quickly.


In addition to helping run our farm business, every day I tackle some type of major household task, be it doing the laundry, cleaning the floors, scrubbing the bathrooms, or taking care of something outside the house, such as sweeping the garage or cleaning the farmhouse after we've had guests. I also cook dinner almost every day and we use the leftovers for our lunches.

On most nights, after we've had dinner and I've cleaned the kitchen, I'm ready to curl up with a good book. I'll read for an hour or so before getting some much needed rest.

Have a great week!