Make 2026 Your Best Year | 6 Permaculture Habits

Happy New Year! Today we're getting chores done without the boys. They're out of town, and I'm sharing 6 plus a bonus permaculture principles you can apply to your life and homestead to make it your best year ever. We're filling up the feed. Don't let them out, just get everything set up. The number 1 principle: know your why. For it will influence and help you make decisions. This is the foundation. So if you're homesteading, why are you homesteading? Is it to save money? Is it for food security? Is it for health? And then when you bring in elements, it can help you decide. For example, if you're growing food to save money and that's your primary purpose, but you can buy eggs from your neighbor for $4 a dozen, you probably want to do that because you cannot grow it for cheaper than that by the time you've bought feed, have your time, energy, have built infrastructure, mobile coops or whatever, it's just better just to buy it from your neighbor. But if you're in it for health and your neighbor isn't feeding organic feed and the chickens just are running around in their own manure, then you probably want to spend the money and grow your own eggs. Don't be afraid to constantly evaluate your why. Look at it every year and say, is this still why I'm doing this? For example, Rebecca and I will be with you in just one second.

I only got 3 cloths.

Okay, let's not give that cow nearly that much alfalfa. One more bit of info on this why thing. Hang on. Well, I guess we started out sort of as a blend. We, we started— Rebecca started us out for health because this was some of the best nutrient-dense food we could provide for our family. I started out as frugal. So instead of buying all this organic expensive food, we could grow it. About $3-ish. Also $3-ish, but there's 100 of these to this one. Just some delayed gratification and some manual labor, and you've 100x'd your money. But over time, it's become more and more about health. We prioritize feeding our chickens organic, and no matter what it costs, because it's for our health. Now we still have that frugal element, so then we soak feed so it'll go further, which also makes it healthier. Don't be afraid to reevaluate and change your why. Number 2, permaculture ethos is people care Earth care. Let's talk about people care. If it wasn't in your why in the previous step, perhaps it should be, at least your deeper why. Check this out. I saw this German ad yesterday. I promise I will get to point number 2 in this commercial as soon as we get nature hour handled. If you control a cow's head, you control a cow. So we got this commercial We have an old man waking up early. We don't know why. We don't know what he's gonna do. Oh, he looks over and he notices— I guess it's people doing Christmas or winding down from Christmas. One, we know it's Christmas time. He's sort of alarmed or triggered, and he goes, finds his old kettlebell, blows it off, and gives it an attempt and fails terribly. Well, then we see the next day he set an alarm. He's getting up begrudgingly. But he gets up anyway and he does the kettlebell again. It seems as though he gets a little bit better. We have a skeptical neighbor, and in another shot we have him getting up early and going on a walk. Gives us this idea that he's training and he's doing something, and it's daily and continually, consistently. And we even have, at one point, the neighbor must have called the daughter to come check him out, and the daughter comes and just sees him and just kind of writes him off. He's, he's trying to lift this kettlebell. He has a strange movement I noticed with it. He's lifting it up and then out. So either he has bad form or you're wondering, what is this about? Man continues to train and he continues to get better. And it seems as though he's starting to take even better care of himself. Finally, at the end, we see what it's all about. And he lifts up his granddaughter to put the ornament on the tree and he's able to do that, hold her out above him like he was doing that kettlebell. That's what it's all about, isn't it? That's our big why. We just want to be useful. And there's no more sense of contentment than being useful to our families. People weren't in our why. They really need to be because ultimately our usefulness is what brings us ultimate joy in life. So we want to make this about others. I can think for maybe, for example, I don't like to eat vegetables, tomatoes in particular. But the beautiful in loves them. So I will gladly help in the high tunnel to get those ready. Now, every once in a while, to bring myself immense joy, I will sneak and take a tomato to a pig or a chicken. But otherwise, I'm happy to help because it brings me— it brings me joy to be useful to the beautiful ones. It's like old times, me and you milking together. It all starts down here milking.

Yeah, I like Flossy. She never kicked me. Except for twice. She did hit me sometimes.

She's only after me, huh? Yeah, she kicked me in the nose. Okay, good to go. Now you got to be careful getting her out.

She's—

she don't like it. There you go, there you go.

Good.

Incidentally, the sheep are due any day now. Look how fat—

vacation, they always do.

Yeah. Okay, you're gonna process the milk, I'll check out the little animals. Gideon has fed them, it looks like, but they need a little bit of water. Sabbath is coming tomorrow, we don't want to deal with it then. Get as much as we can done today. I just realized it's gonna be frozen this morning. We're gonna need to fill that up this afternoon. Set a timer for 4 PM to water the little pigs. That kettlebell ad though leads me into principle number 3, and that would be self-care, which really should be on the top because you can't do people care without self-care. That video showed it all. The old man motivated— why? To pick up and be useful for his daughter, but he had to take care care of himself. He had to train, which I do every morning. I encourage you to do beyond the farm. You train to help you handle the strenuous activities of the farm. The farm is also helpful for self-care. There are 3 principles I want to lay out today in regards to health, to self-care, and that one went— the first one, let's just go with that one: fitness. Okay, training for your work on the farm to help prevent injuries. Lift training specifically can help you endure just about more than any other health hack that there is. Work the farm. I farmed with a wheelbarrow probably for over 10 years and walked this farm. When we got the side-by-side, I got the side-by-side 15, I'll call it, I gained 15 pounds in that first year. It's a good thing and can help you expand, and I wouldn't take it back. But I do find myself— now, I didn't drive out here even though it's probably 600, 700 feet. I walked. I could pull this mobile pin with a side-by-side, or I could do the first gym and gird up my loins. And I'm not going to move it right now because they've made a nice little nest and it's not quite time, but I could move this thing by hand and get a nice little workout. Broad forking, splitting wood. The second one would be nutrition. And that can be as simple as just eat what you grow and grow what you eat. It's hard to grow an Oreo or a Hot Pocket. I mean, it's hard to grow Whole Foods too, but not nearly as hard as that. Grow meat, grow veggies, grow fruit, and eat it. Make that the menu and you're already eating nutritious food. For example, lunch, me, everything from the land except maybe the sauerkraut, sour cream, Raw egg yolk, beef bits, collards, and beef broth. Super healthy. The kids, pork. This is a hodgepodge meal now. We're getting rid of leftovers. The beautiful one is about to crush some chicken, Japanese-style chicken. How key is growing your own food for maximizing food nutrition?

Oh, it's, it's really big because the government— I don't know who it is, the USDA, the FDA— they're not labeling origin of meat, and there's like some lab-grown meat discussions and stuff like that. So that's for meat. And then for vegetables, if you grow it yourself, then, well, you know how it was grown. But then two, it's gonna have a higher mineral content because you're most likely going to be conscious of the mineral content in your soil. You're going to be getting soil testing. You're going to be putting amendments on your soil as you're growing it. So yeah, I mean, there's just a lot of importance in nutrition. Um, grocery store produce is like 85% deficient in vitamins and minerals than its homegrown counterpart. So obviously, like, we're not gonna have tomatoes in January, so, you know, we can them, and that obviously degrades some of the vitamins and minerals because of the heat and of, you know, the cooking and the heat of that nature, but I also do believe in a seasonal diet as well. I mean, this, this is, you know, a special meal, but normally we're eating produce that's been frozen, winter squash and potatoes and sweet potatoes and stuff like that, which is things that can be grown and then stored. If you can't grow your own because you live in an apartment or a townhouse or a house and you can't grow all of your food, There are farmers in your area that are wanting to sell their amazing products to you. So find a farm.

Lastly but certainly not leastly, rest! Put it on the to-do list if you have to. It's important to have a daily rest. Every afternoon after supper, Rebecca, the beautiful one, and I go on a walk and no kids are allowed. And it's restful. We go about a mile, maybe a mile and a half. And then we come back and we take turns. She gets to go first and then me, and we kind of tag team with the kids. A bath and a sauna. If you don't have a sauna, no big deal. Just take a bath. Everybody's got a bath. If you're feeling saucy, put some Epsom salt in it. It's a detox. And then we go to bed early. At night, we keep the lights off, and we found that it helps us relax. In the event of needing a light, we have book lights. We have these electric candles. We have red lights that we can put on in the house we need to, but we find it's like going camping. You just want to go to sleep earlier because you just get relaxed when you go down with the sun. And then every week, take a Sabbath. We take ours on the Sabbath from Friday night to Saturday night and have been doing that now for years. And fine, it took me a while because I'm a very doful person and it feels like I'm not getting anything done and there's all this stuff needed to be done. But just practicing it, I look forward to it each week. It regenerates, it rejuvenates me every week. Ideas end up flowing from it by the end of the Sabbath. You go into it very tired, you sleep in. By the end of the Sabbath, you've got all these ideas and you're raring to go. It's amazing how just one day can charge you for six. And I don't think it's hurtful if you can get away and get away from the farm. Notice we walk every evening, we're away from the farm, we're not seeing the problems and all the to-dos. We get away. But once a week— I mean, maybe a week out of the year, go somewhere. Even if you can't afford it, go local. Make chores easy. Go in the winter when chores are easy for a farm sitter and get off the farm. That one I'm still learning, to rest and relax and enjoy it, because I get antsy at about, at about 3 or 4 days. But also a rejuvenating thing that could set you up for the whole year. The fourth rule of 2026 is a permaculture principle called grow right outside the door. Don't know where to start? Just start outside the door. Don't worry, don't know where to go next? Go outside your door. There's the door to my bedroom. I'm taking this so serious. And look right here, pole barn for winter housing for our cows and sheep. And also, let me add this to grow right outside your door: do it right and do what you have. Already right. And also, that's my front door, and this is my front yard. I mean, it's a little scraggly right now. Austin, throw a beautiful picture or photo of this in its prime. Yes, that is literally actually not even a yard. From my step. And the right way to do this in the winter— ruminants, if we're not moving the animals, they're on deep bedding. This is wood chips. See those wood chips? It's their carbonaceous diapers, Joel would say. The cows are on it. See that? That's a nitrogen source to the wood chips' carbon source. And over time— oh, you want to see what that turns into? That's a big old pile of compost, y'all. Compost! Not only do we sanitize the place, we get compost. So do things right. And in the summer, you want to be moving everybody. Since you're in your bare feet, can you go inside and get that kale and get that salt lick? You're probably wondering why the heck do I have kale in my house. Uh, yeah, we'll get to that in a minute. But oh, oh, why? It'd be funny that I have kale in my house. That's a rare event, actually. Rebecca hosted some ladies for a weekend and they brought the cow. They brought the cow, but I'm going to show you a good use for it. It's not mine, I swear to God. All right, that's going to be rule number 5. But rule number 4, we got to do this right. I haven't had minerals in these cows in too long. They don't just need water, they don't just need feed, they need minerals just like us. So before advancing or doing any other project The cows need at least salt. Redmond's salt on a rope makes things easy. At least a salt. We'll get a feeder in there from loose salt and kelp. I would say thorn kelp and salt for sure. Shall we talk about that kale? Kale?

No.

I take grow outside your door a little further, and I say grow outside the door of your heart. Don't grow anything you want. Hold on, let me, let me get that shot in just one second. Let me say this: do not grow anything because it's cool. You know, they say kale's cool. That was garnish for Pizza Hut, y'all. Kale ain't cool. Just say kale no to that stuff. So be honest, how many of y'all actually like kale? Dare to raise your hand. Dare to comment. How about this? If you don't like kale, feel free to admit it. It's so freeing. Put it in the comments. If you do like kale, give us a like. Be with Rebecca and give us a like. She likes it. You like kale? Not that bad, but now, yes, one second. If you do like kale, be honest, do you like it more than lamb? No. No. Or pork or chicken? No. Or feed it to the sheep? Or cow? Feed it to the sheep. Nobody likes it like they do. They have the longest digestive track of all of them and can handle this crazy stuff. Don't do like us and grow eggplant because it's just— you do, and then when the bugs come, you don't care, and it just eats it. Grow things you love because then you'll love to care for it. You'll go out at night when the animals have gotten out, or, uh, you'll go put the the bug cover over the cabbage because you actually like cabbage. Our cows aren't too tame, so I don't know if they'll eat it out of her hand, but let's see. I was coaching somebody once. They said they were growing food— see, this is why you need to know your why— to feed their family. Come to find out they had 40 goats. I said, you eat the goats? They're not eating the goats. You've missed—

look, Papa!

Even you won't eat kale, huh?

Sheep like it though.

Nature's greatest miracle, turning kale into lamb. Tell that gentleman, hey, we don't need 40 goats if we're growing to eat to feed our family, and we're not even eating the goats. Should we go check on Henry? What's he doing?

He's trying on a swimsuit that was meant for him when he was 6 months old, and it still Fits him around the house.

Is he bothering Mom?

No, it's like a whole body suit and it's like really tight on him.

Yep, yep, good job. It's already getting easier. Nope. Oh boy, oh boy, hang it tight. Don't, don't pull too hard. Better get back in there. Good, good, perfect. Tying that good knot.

Everything you teach from the left, you have to teach from the right.

I was thinking we'd get on her on this side. Well, why don't you go get her some more alfalfa to give her some more training time?

It's better to do Oh boy.

Fifth rule of 2026 is— what, let's call it the 1% rule. You're overwhelmed, you got more to do than you have time, money, and energy, you don't want to do a particular task— just make 1% change, 1% move towards it every day. That's me with my water system up at the cows and the sheep. It's a big project. But I'm just gonna do one step at a time today. This is 1% change technically out here. We're doing it. If you're not gonna— if you don't have a pole barn and a deep bed system and you still have cows, hay bomb. Take them to the crappiest part of your pasture and feed hay in a different spot every day. This is where the hurricane washed out our soil. We're treating it with cows. Look, before hay bomb, look, just sandy rocky soil. After hay bomb, organic matter of the wasted hay, they spread it nice, plus the right on top mixing together, healing this land one cow turd and hay bale at a time. 1% every day, you don't double in 100 days, you actually double because of the rule of compounding in just 72 days. I see your udder start to swell. My 1% this afternoon may be just a single quick connect. Watch this, we're just filling this up by hand right now. Now we don't have to worry about it staying cool during the day. 6 rule constantly. This is what— this is what I learned.

This—

hey, hey, hey! This is why they're so effective. The guard gates just make so much racket. That's what I've really set home with the 2025. Hey, hey, hey! This one's particularly ornery. If they aren't ornery though, they don't really guard the chickens good, so I don't personally mind them a little ornery. If I want my eggs clean this afternoon, I'm gonna give a little gift to myself. I'm gonna give a little gift to my future self right now. This is what you call delayed gratification. In there. We're gonna come out here, and this is annoying to clean out the chicken's poop from the bins. I really should come out at night and do a nest blocker, but I'm more of a morning person, so I'd rather do drudgery at morning than at night. So I'm knocking off all this manure, and then this afternoon when they lay most of it— they'll lay most their eggs this morning. I remembered they're clean. Future self, that was a little gift to you. Please enjoy. Thank you, past self. Oh my gosh, is this what you've been doing? Mm-hmm. Are you a pro swimmer? That's what it looks like. Uh-huh. I have to cream separate right now for my future self. Drinking cream, butter. Sour cream, ice cream. It's basically a game of delayed gratification. Haven't you heard that the difference between rich people and poor people is they actually have the ability to delay gratification? And we don't have to talk about monetary richness. This is a rich life, growing your own food. So to win in it, it's constantly thinking about the future, and it's consistently doing it. Remember that 1%? It's getting up rain, sleet, snow, Christmas, Easter too, and getting things done and just being consistent about it. And delay that gratification. Invest in your future self. Ironically, I'm about to use that very Training. Oh!

Mmm!

This is a nice view. We got a view right off the bat. I got a bonus rule for you. Rule number 7. We're human beings, not human doings. Ah!

Ah!

I learned that saying from a a mentor of mine, Mark Lucas. I was reminded about it last night when I saw Ryan Holiday's video that actually inspired this video. Here's the play, Meadow. Go for it. It was new to me and sort of surprising what Ryan had to say about goals.

But I would also urge you this year to set a big goal. Something hard you're gonna try to do. Something that's gonna challenge you. Something that feels like a stretch. So you have to be the person who stretches to get there. So you have the opportunity, the motivation, so you are facing the temptation to quit, so you're having to make trade-offs, so you're having to make adult decisions, and then do it and commit and push through and come out the other side. My writing, my relationship, my, my raising my kids, all of this is informed by the hard physical stuff that I do.

Yeah, and it made total sense if we always have these goals We may not take time to appreciate the fact that we're there. I mean, at one point we wanted kids and we've arrived. Take a moment to realize that and enjoy the dream realized and stop always focusing on what's next.

I guess I feel like, you know, the homestead— I feel like we've kind of got that down pat. Yeah, it doesn't feel as bit like hard. You know, because we've done it so much. So like, for instance, I'm hoping to take a pottery class.

There you go.

I want to become a doula. These other dreams past the homestead dream, because that dream's been realized, I guess. Yeah, do you know what I mean? Because we're doing it. It's like, yeah, it's, uh, it's— I don't want to say a habit. I feel that familiar.

I guess I got a double bonus for you guys. You want to design your own homestead? Designing your best homestead ever. How about a free PDF? Link down in the description. Get it printed off or just use it digitally, but this is how to design your best homestead ever. Link in the description. Happy day!