Last updated on April 12th, 2021 at 08:59 pm
Dreaming of Building a Country Life?
When thinking of building your country life it’s easy to see the finished picture. You know exactly what you want and where you want to be.
QUESTION IS, “HOW DO YOU GET THERE?”
A common mistake is believing you can just jump in and land at the end. If your country life is like mine, then you will probably have multiple projects. Trying to do everything all at once can get overwhelming and leave you with half-finished projects. When we moved to our farm I made this mistake and years later still have things that aren’t complete. Learning from this mistake is what helped me develop my country life building process.
Prioritize Your Needs and Wants
- Make your list of dream projects.
- Decide which projects are needs
- Cross off the Projects that You Want
- Then prioritize the list again
- Decide which projects are realistic for this year
If you are just starting out it is best to pick something that is small and work your way up to bigger projects. For example, this year my one big project is to move our garden and create much needed space. I recommend starting with a garden if that fits into your plans, Planning Your Garden can help you get started with that!
Plan Your Country Life
You have decided on your project/s for the year, now it is time to develop you plan to complete it. Research the how-to and what you will need. Develop a timeline, set goals for each month and each week until your set finish date. You may need to have multiple dates for projects that will be done in stages. A garden will take all growing season, but you can set dates for each stage.
Write it Down
Writing down projects, plans and goals helps give a visual and make the project real (This is what I am Completing this year!). I keep a journal with different project lists, with a need’s category and a wants category. Each project that gets completed gets checked off. This is also where I keep track of new ideas and inspiration that I have found throughout the year. It helps to be able to go back and have something to look at for motivation.
Motivation is important, at some point during your building things won’t go according to plan and you will need to remember why this was your dream!
Be flexible
When you are building a homestead/farm unexpected things will happen. Storms happen, animals get sick, your basement might flood, things happen and your plan may have to change. Living in the country, in 150-year-old house I have learned to roll with it. It is frustrating and the things you planned get put on hold. This year we had an uncommon amount of rain and the area we decided to move our garden to turned to mud. It didn’t work out as planned but we learned from it, we found out that our location would flood if we had a lot of rain. Learn from the things you can’t control, modify your plans and keep moving forward.
Enjoy Your Results
After the planning, goal setting and maybe a few setbacks your project will finally be finished! Nothing feels better than checking that project off your list (well other than seeing the results). Take a minute to enjoy your hard work and be happy about what you have accomplished.
Building Your Country Life is Never Done!
Once your project is finished, be prepared to start all over again!
One thing about country living, there is always more to do. Your next project might be a need or something you just want, but you will always keep adding and checking things off your list.
Building your dream country life should take time. Remember to be patient, work hard, and keep moving forward. Learn and enjoy your journey to building your dream country life.
