Happy New Year ! While there are still a few more 24-hour interval left in 2023 , I ’m always mad to welcome a new yr and ca n’t wait to see what 2024 has in store . I ’m already lay down design for farming projection I intend to harness during the approaching class , what I suppose you could call New Year ’s resolutions , though I consider of them more as inhalation . I go for they serve as such both for myself and for reader .
I ’ve share myfarming resolutionsevery year since 2016 . The end of this annual employment is n’t to compile a tilt of resolutions that must be followed at any cost , but to boost proactive thought process about fun and rich projects to accomplish during the coming twelvemonth .
With this goal in mind , here are four of my 2024 New Year ’s farming resolutions .
1. Start Pumpkin Seeds Indoors
The growing time of year on my northern Wisconsin farm is n’t very long . you may bet on having frost in May . Frost in September is n’t rare either , so works that take more than 90 - 100 days to mature are gainsay to grow .
That include many varieties of pumpkins . I be intimate maturate pumpkins and commonly opt for varieties that mature in 95 days or less , but this year I want to thrive my selection . That ’s why I ’m be after to bulge out my pumpkin seed indoors , underneath grow light .
By grant my pumpkin an indoor head start before spring frost season is over , I hope to develop assortment that postulate 120 solar day or even more .
2. Upgrade My Orchard Fence to Welded Wire
The perimeter fence that surrounds my orchard is built from wood and welded telegram on one side and dark plastic deer fence on the other three side . It ’s worked great for year , but in 2023 at least one stubborn deer figured out how to nose underneath the black-market plastic and even push right through it in blank space .
As a result , I spent a lot of time in 2023repairing and heighten my deer fence . I upgrade one of the side ( the most problematic side , from what I could recount ) from black plastic to welded wire , and that significantly reduced deer incursions . In 2024 , I think to instal more weld conducting wire along the remaining two sides and hopefully put an end to cervid invasions once and for all .
3. Repaint Farm Buildings
Some of the older buildings on my farm are in need ofnew coats of paint . Not only will they look spiffy with fresh paint , it will facilitate protect their wooden side of meat from decay . It ’s going to be a self-aggrandising problem , but if I set up early ( there’splenty of rouge scrapingto be done ) and start painting as soon as the atmospheric condition is quick , dry and not too humid , I ’m optimistic I can make a lot of progression in 2024 .
4. Invest in Soaker Hoses and/or Drip Irrigation
In 2023 , I buy garden hosepipe to cross the ~600 feet divide the raised garden beds in my orchard from the skinny water informant . Itsped up the process of watering my bedsand allowed me to irrigate more thoroughly than I could with a 35 - gal peg armored combat vehicle in the back of a tractor - tow dawdler .
In 2024 , I ’m thinking of take my watering plot to the next level with soaker hoses and/or drip irrigation lines . The finish is to get where I can turn on the H2O and knowmy plants are quenching their thirstwith minimum supervision from me . Then I can take the meter I ’ll carry through and pass it on other orchard projects .
What are your New Year ’s farming resolving power for 2024 ?
