Happy New Year Friends!!! 2014 was a great year for us as we ventured into un-charted (for us) waters.

I hope your year was wonderful also, but even if it wasn’t, that’s the beauty of a new year. It gives us a chance to step back, reflect, plan, and forge ahead with a clean slate! I know for me I’ve suffered from a little thing called “analysis paralysis”. I’ve spent many hours researching and planning, but have rarely taken the next step of actually implementing the things I was studying. For that reason, my word for 2015 is ACTION, and that is my reason for creating THE GREAT HOMESTEADING CHALLENGE of 2015! I introduced this challenge in a previous post, then spend an undisclosed amount of time looking for information on how to create a challenge group. 😉 It turns out, I didn’t find a ton of information, so, guess what, I’m going to take ACTION with what I know!

The best way to get involved is to subscribe to our blog. Subscribing simply means that you can provide your e-mail over on the right, and you will get notified when new content is on the blog. You will only get notified if there is new content, and I promise I will never take advantage of, sale, or laugh at your e-mail address. 🙂 If you subscribe, you will get an additional monthly e-mail outlining the projects for the month and a shopping list. Also, as part of my challenge, I will be creating a notebook with recipes, information and spreadsheets for the various challenges. After all, information on “how to survive a long term electrical outage” won’t do much good if it’s all on my Pinterest account. Subscribers will also receive links to all notebook pages I create throughout the year. If you choose not to subscribe, we still love you! You will have access to all how-to videos/instructions on the blog–just make sure you pop in and check for new content!

Soooo… Without further ado, here are monthly topics for the year! We look forward to learning together! Let’s make 2015 amazing!

January: Homemade cleaners. We will be making laundry detergent, soap, all purpose cleaners, etc. The goal is to reduce the amount of chemicals in our home and save money.

February: Gardening. It’s still cold here on the homestead, but it’s a great time to plan and get a head start on a great spring garden.

March and April: Frugality. Tips and tricks to get out of debt and stay out of debt, even while building a homestead.

May: Chickens. Chickens are a great way to get into livestock. They are relatively inexpensive, provide both meat and eggs, and are tons of fun! They are even allowed in many municipalities and backyard chicken keeping is on the rise as more and more people become interested in knowing where their food comes from.

June: Preparedness I. We’re not talking in a crazy prepper way, but when you live 30 minutes from the nearest urgent care and electrical outages could last for weeks, basic first aid and food storage is a must!

July: Food Preservation. Now that the garden is producing, it’s time to harvest and store some of those yummy veggies for the cold winter ahead!

August: Preparedness II. Preparedness is such a broad topic that we can’t possibly cover it all in one month.

September: Winter Prep. Winter’s coming! It’s time to get the garden, animals and buildings ready!

October: Replacing the Grocery Store. It’s amazing how easy it is to make many of the things that we buy at the grocery store weekly!

November: Skin Care/Beauty Products. Now that we’ve reduced the chemicals used our home, let’s reduce those that we use on our body, too.

December: Year In Review/Planning. What worked? What didn’t work? Let’s use what we learned to plan for an even BETTER 2016!