I am working on building the entire business which includes my fiber arts, vacation rental, and honey bees. Fall is a time to clean up and get organized around the homestead, the cold crisp mornings remind you that time is running short. And all those tasks need to be wrapped up before winter closes everything down in a cold icy grasp. The woodpile needs stocking, key equipment needs maintenance, winterize the beehives, and the garden will soon need to be laid to rest with a fresh layer of compost and leaves.

I have been lagging on posting anything new to the blog because I have been running at mock speed trying to mold and shape where this business is heading amongst completing those seasonal chores. And let us not forget that fair season has been in full swing! (The fiber demonstration at the Douglas county fair went very well, save the windy conditions.) We were asked to bring angora rabbits to show next year and plan to include some of our honey as well since not a single soul entered this year! 

Luke and I hope to have 100 hives by the end of next year so that I can work full time on the homestead. Bees are a seasonal income as well as the vacation rental so I have been growing my fiber arts to keep me occupied during the slowest season of all, winter.

Step one was to make more dryer balls for the market as their popularity is increasing.

Step two is to get reliable internet on the homestead so that I can increase my internet-based sales.

Step three is to create more fiber art items.

Step one, complete. Below are a few of the dryer balls I created this past week. I added a bit of pizazz to them in order to get more shoppers eye while they walk past my market booth.

This whole process has sparked my desire to participate in more vender fairs and craft bazaars in the future. These types of fairs are also seasonal but each component of the homestead income is very important and creates a flow from one season to the next.

Step two really had more components to it than just scheduling an appointment for an installer to bring a dish and router. I needed to update my battery bank system so that it could sustain power to the modem. Running a generator every time I want to work on the website or upload a new item in our store was not ideal. So, I finally broke down and pulled out the solar kit I had purchased months ago!

Why did it take me so darn long to do that?

Time is my enemy on the homestead, let’s be real; I can never quite find enough time to get all the things done! One bite at a time out of that “whole picture” cookie.

Luke and I rewired all of the batteries with a larger 8 gauge full copper wire to maximize the amount of power that could travel from the solar panels, then the charge controller to the outlet sources or in the case of this photo the inverter as we have not wired the system to the house outlets yet. One bite at a time, remember?

Once the wires were completed then it was time to hook up the solar, set them in the sun and watch them go to work. It was a beautiful sight to see the charge controller lit up and communicating with the panel and battery bank. Praise be! I have quiet power. *swoon*

This solar panel was the test run. Luke and I still need to construct a mount for the full set of panels that I have. But again, you eat the elephant one bite at a time. Small victories are still victories.

And I completed step three by purchasing a loom. I will now be able to weave my yarn into scarves, shawls as well as create other items like hand towels, dish towels, and rugs out of cotton. I am looking forward to showing how my yarn can be highlighted. Maybe I will be able to offer my other woven items at the local kitchen store or other small businesses nearby and enhance not just my online store but my local small business presence as well.

So here I am, rejoicing in this new season as I tick off one more item of making this big-picture life a reality.

Do you have an elephant of a goal looming over you? If so what is it and how have you started to tackle that beast?