2026 Here We Come | New Year Plans and Goals

"This is a new year. New beginning. And things WILL change." - Taylor Swift

I can not believe that 2025 has come to an end and that 2026 is here to start. I have so many thoughts going through my head on what I want to achieve this year, along with thoughts about everything that has happened this past year. 2025 was better than 2024 but still a tough one so this year I am determined to make it a good one!

2025 Recap

There has been so much that happened this past year I don't know where to start to be honest. There has been a lot of death as far as livestock goes. Rabbits, dogs (at work), and the newest death from earlier in December the donkey. I got out of rabbits as well, or more so took a break. I was sick a lot which is partially my fault, I really need to get better at taking my medicine. When I don't take my iron supplements is when my immune system get pretty bad.

Amongst all the chaos 2025 has brought us there was so much good that went with it. We have brought in two new heifers and we even kept back our first home bred heifer! All cows had healthy calves even though Marvel's calf had to join me inside because she had her in the freezing rain. Once she was warm and dry she was taken back to momma and nursed like the healthy girl she was. Cattle market was really great this year and we have enough money for possibly a couple more heifer or young cows next year!

With being sick I didn't really get to do a lot of the stuff I wanted health wise. Yes I am still doing walks here and there but it is not consistent at all. That's okay because I have already started again! This year I went on a couple of different trips though which was nice! Thomas and I went to Missouri for a weekend. I wish we did short trips like that more often but honestly free time is our enemy. I also took a girls trip with my mom and sister. It was a cruise and was such a blast. I got to swim with dolphins! It was just a magical trip. At home I started my sourdough journey again and it has been nice and giving me an extra income.

It wasn't the worst year I had but I really wasn't in the best head space for a lot of it. I felt like I was always complaining about something and I was just not happy. I try to be and I had no reason for it but something was just off this year. I am hoping and going to do all I can to make 2026 better. For starts I am going in it with a completely different mind set.

2026 Here We Come

This year I am going to make many changes, I am hoping I can get everything I want accomplished. If not those things will be my top priority for 2027. New mindset and a whole new start I am ready to kick off this year! I have two wedding to go to and we have not one, not two, but four new babies joining our family! Three of them are boys and the fourth just found out that they were expecting. I am so excited to meet all these babies!

Personal Goals

• Weight Loss/Health - Includes Taking My Meds

• More Income

• More Organization

• Learn More About Mechanic Stuff To Help Thomas

• Start Remodeling The House (Not doing much, mostly painting and maybe some new furniture

I have more personal goals than homesteading which may be weird. They all tie in together some how though. I fell like all of these things listed will help improve my mental and physical well being. That is my main focus for this year. Above everything else I want to get back to a healthy weight and that may help contribute to boosting my mood.

How do I plan to achieve some of these goals you may ask? Weight loss and health is easy on near daily alternate workouts and better eating habits. No more eating only one meal a day! I will force myself to eat at least two and maybe a small snack in between. I do have a workout app that I will be using called FitOn. I've used it in the past and do enjoy it. Meds are a bet tougher and something I will need to have out and ready before I go to bed.

There are a few different ways I want to bring in some extra income this year. A lot of it lies in the homesteading side of things. I want to be more involved with baking and selling, an extra $50-$200 a week goes a long way for us. I want to get more into rabbit hides which will involve tanning for crafts and dehydrating for dog treats. I am hoping to get monetized in some of my social media pages this year as well, just to bring in just a little bit extra. With bringing in income I also want to be a smarter spender. I fell like I am already pretty good about it but I do have my moments of buying the most random stuff. That is something I want to limit a little.

Organization... I always start off strong. But after a month or two it just dwindles into a hot mess. We have boxes and papers everywhere and all of it is completely random. At the beginning of this year I want to get a filing cabinet and actual tote boxes to put stuff up with labels.

This is more so for Thomas. He's always wanting me to be out there with him when he's working. But I just feel like I get in the way. So this year I will be tagging a long to help on some of our flipping vehicle he has. I would love to know the basics this year and maybe more. I also feel like it's always great to have a learning goal every year and this one is mine!

Our home. As much as I love it, it is definitely more man cave vibes. I have slowly been adding my touch here and there but it's still dark and not my vibes. I am a white wall girlie and he despises that. However I am absolutely tired of the yellow bathroom and the poo brown of the rest of the house. I hate it so much! We have a couple colors picked out that should be light enough for me but dark enough to make him happy.

Homestead Goals

• RABBITS ARE BACK - Bettering The Breed

• Starting Honeybees (this one is a maybe)

• Gardening - 1st Spring One In Oklahoma

• Getting Better At Not Wasting Food - Canning/Dehydrating

I honestly could add to this list but this year I want to put most of my focus on myself. However it wouldn't be a homesteading blog is there wasn't any homestead related stuff right? This year rabbits will be making a return! I just miss them so so much. I will be starting mini rex very soon and I am ready for it! My main goal is to better the breed obviously but I also want to better the pet world as well with friendly and healthy animals. Meat will always come first however I want to keep the best and friendliest rabbits for show, brood, and pets.

I really want to add something new and I have such an easy access to it with one of my closest friends having many hives of her own. Honeybees have been an off and on plan just because we do spray chemicals in early spring. I have found a way around it harming them and I would love to give it a try. I will make a blog post further explaining this.

I started a fall garden last year where I got okra, tomatoes, and jalapenos. This year I am starting a spring garden and can't wait to have some fresh produce to use. The last goal ties into this and that is canning and dehydrating to make more self stable and longer lasting food.

I am super excited about this new year and I hope y'all enjoy following along! I would love to follow along everyone else's journeys as well! So if you have a blog, Facebook, Instagram, and/or TikTok I would love to give you a follow.