Here that it is halfway through 2014... I still have not given up on the 13-in-13. Sometimes it just takes me a little longer to get something accomplished when other things have taken priority. We are always doing 'prepping' type projects around here, and the ones I chose were large tasks to accomplish. I knew I would likely not get them done in a year's time, but they were still goals I would like to finish in the next few years.
So where I am at now.
Animal Husbandry — Learn how to drive a draft horse team - Still in Progress
Got to drive the team a TSPer generously allowed me to do. Still looking for a work collar to fit "Whiskers", but I have a buggy harness which has a breast collar on it. Been driving him around with that to smarten him up. Still not trusting this horse yet. He still has poor ground manners. Granted, I could be working with him more on them. I am wondering if this is why he was dropped from working as a logging horse. If it were up to me, I would consider selling him and getting a new one. He is a nightmare to worm. Z has built him a sledge to pull as soon as we get the work collar and get him to work on something and maybe that will chill him out. I may put the harness on him today in fact. I know I need to do it more often than I do, but once we have the work collar, I can see me utilizing him on a daily basis, even if he is slower than using the tractor or the quad. I want to have him in 'working order'.

Don't worry, we had not finished harnessing him up yet.. That one line is really short and it kept slipping through.
Gardening — Crash course in Silviculture - Still In Progress
Managing, using, conserving, and repairing forestland. I am currently learning about how to selective cut for the health of the forest. How far apart they should be. What to look like in culling individual trees as well as which ones are going to gain more worth over the years. We have bought a 'portable' sawmill to cut our own lumber and are in the process of designing a permanent mill shed for it built before Autumn. I will not allow either of us to actually cut trees larger than 'poles', so we will hire someone who does this as a living (we have lots of loggers around here), to drop them. I have identified at least 3 more types of trees in our forest this year.
Carpentry — Always In Progress
The house is built and even if I did not get to do alot, I gleaned alot of knowledge from it. We have been building many things around the farm and repairing infrastructure which is here. Sheds, barns, bathroom remodeling, shelving, root cellar bins... each little project teaches. Soon we will be building a real hog barn (called on concrete yesterday), and then a 16-20'x 60' overhang on the east side of the North Barn. One of my projects is my log studio. I need to install three windows, in the logs. My biggest worry is that the logs will fall and crush me when I am attempting that, or falling off is foundation. Also replace a door which I think is there, but has no frame. Then installing wood flooring (maybe cut from our trees.
http://owic.oregonstate.edu/oregon-ash-fraxinus-latifolia )
Beer Making — At a standstill. Alot of projects on the the go and this one is a low priority.
Animal Husbandry — A.I.ing Hogs - On Standby
Z and I took classes at Oregon State University on this. I have AI'd various other animals at the vet clinic as part of my job in the past. But we have since bought our own Berkshire boar, so we have not had to AI our sows. But we have the knowledge if we need to attempt it. So far our sows have produced us four litters.
Weaving — On standby
It needs to be on standby until I have my 600 sf log cabin studio to use as my teaching space and office. I have two floor looms, and they are not just a small piece of furniture to set up in the house.
In the pic, the log building over the concrete basement is my studio. With the help of my WWOOFer who is coming, perhaps we can tear off the siding over the logs on the South-ish side of the building. Get the three windows in it, the large picture window over looking the south side, and two windows which open on the creekside. Maybe this summer we can start to chink it, put the rock in the wood cookstove alcove and get a little further on it. Someday, I would like to rock over the concrete to dress it up. The bottom part will eventually be our farm store.
Alternative Energy — Always reading up on it and looking at other peoples setups. I still think we have a good chance at
Hydro power (pelton wheel) but I think it needs to wait on the Spring House being built.
Food Storage — Spring House - Planned
Spring House on same water source as above. A spring house is practical for me to store extra produce from the garden, extra milk/butter from the cow. I have been in spring houses before and if the electric does go out, they are just about as good as a refrigerator. Not to mention pretty nice to hang out in on a hot day. I have a WWOOFer who is coming to stay with us. She is the mother of a TSP member from Texas. And I believe she would like to get into this project with me. Part of the reason I have not done this project yet, is I have a window of August/September/October when the water it at is lowest and I missed that window last year. I also need to go scavenge rock, and if I am going up into the mountains to get it, I want a partner to go get it with me.
Communication — Ham radio license - In Progress
I have contacted the 'local' ham group a few times and they keep telling me they will have classes soon. This is something I really feel like I need to actually sit in a classroom and be taught.
Water Catchment/Filtering — Partly Accomplished
I have set up five water catchment systems (there are 5 of them, but 4 are for watering livestock). One of them is a 55 gallon drum for human household use when the power goes out. I want a larger system, either with more 55 gallon drums or a 227 gallon IBC tank system. I would like to catch rain from the roof of the North Barn and pipe it down a a huge bank of IBC tanks for the greenhouses. I want to base it off a system that was used in the 1860's in a historic town in northern BC. I would like to put a spiggot on the bottom of the one we use for household, but I think I wouldlike to move it over a bit and put it on a concrete brick pad, but I want to put it right where I need to put in a 'foundation' on the backside of the woodshed.
Bio Fuel — Nixed, but still learning about it.
I have had an interest in biodiesel and would like to try it even small scale to see how it is done. There are a few guys in the community running their large trucks on SVO and I stuck my head under their truck hoods last week and learned what they had to say about their trucks, their pre-heaters and such.
Electronics — Still Planned
Learn basic electronics, like build a radio from scrap like they did in WWI. This goes back to my 2012 New Years Resolution for learning electronics. My brother built a small radio when he was in 4-5th grade and I remember it working quite well. I know during WWI they used scraps off the Jeeps to make radios for the trenches. It fascinates me that something so useful can be made out of so little. I would like to know the knowledge on how to make one. So for entertainment, learning and one day could be security. This will be a winter project I am sure. So likely I will attempt it again in Winter 2014/15. And get SP involved in it too.
Education — Economics - Still working on it.
Learn basic economics better than I have a grasp on now. It is more of a bit of a read here, a bit of a read there, rather than sitting down with a college economics book.
Cedar