2025 - A Review & Looking Forward

It's about that time of year again, where we look back on the past 12 months - not only to review, but to look forward at what comes next. Overall, I'd say 2025 wasn't horrible, at least from a personal perspective.

Career

The last time I did a review like this was in 2023 and I had recently landed my position at PetDesk after going through a period of job hopping, trying to find the right place. Luckily, I think PetDesk was it, and I'm still there. I've had the opportunity to take part in and lead multiple projects while growing as both a developer and team member.

I do still have a desire to run a business that I can call my own, however - similar to both of my grandfathers. The challenge I'm facing is discovering a mission that I'm both dedicated to and passionate about. I'm making progress though!

Projects

I love to stay busy and learn new things, so of course I worked on several projects over the course of the year.

Farmstop Online

Over the past couple years, I've focused a lot on the local food economy and tried to discover ways that I could help build a more robust system that supports local growers.

The first few months in 2025 were dedicated to building an online farmer's market that I was calling Farmstop Online. It was coming along quite well, and I made good progress - launching a site that accepted registrations (producer and consumer accounts), offered a directory of producers and products, and had an admin portal where farms could manage both their business and product listings.

Similar to when I was running XKM Springfield though, my marketing fell flat (or was non-existent). I also began spending less time on it after collaborating with a few other people on a similar project that was less progressed and taking much longer to develop...

Of course, I still have the repo, so I may (probably) pick this up again in the future.

KTech Farms

I also took a break from selling produce this year, and only attended two markets in July. That doesn't mean I stopped growing though! Kale, lettuce, mint and cherry tomatoes were my main crops this year

That being said, I did need to change directions around May - some storms destroyed my greenhouse, so I ended up building a small ebb and flow system in the garage.

KTech Industries

KTech Industries isn't really a project or company - it's what I'm calling all of my maker / artisan endeavors. I spent a fair amount of time in the second half of 2025 thinking about what I wanted to focus on and landed on the combination of electronics, 3D modeling, and 3D printing, which encompass the majority of what I enjoy - solving problems and building things. Moving forward, I'll likely incorporate other crafts as well, such as leather working and wood working.

The biggest outcomes so far have been setting up a new Prusa Core One (by far my favorite printer), and designing some Gridfinity bins to organize my workspace. I have a lot planned for 2026 though, so keep an eye out for that 😉

What Comes Next

In all honesty, I don't think there's anything happening in the world right now that I can say I like or am looking forward to - in fact, it's quite the opposite. That's a whole other post in itself, but as far as looking into 2026, I think these are the main things I'll be focusing on

Fitness

I've been off and on lately when it comes to fitness. Next year (and even in the latter parts of this month) I'll be working to build a consistent fitness regimen and tracking my progress / results.

KTech Industries

As mentioned above, I want to run my own business. I also want to reduce my dependence on a traditional job and start having multiple streams of income. I plan to do this by focusing on my website and building skills such as

• Speaking
• Writing
• Marketing
• 3D Modeling
• 3D Printing & Post Processing
• Electronics engineering

Expect to see a lot of content and updates in the next few months 😄

Gardening

Similar to fitness, my gardening and growing efforts have been haphazard over the past few years. I have grand designs to build a market-garden, grow a lot of produce, can and preserve my harvest, and sell at farmer's markets. In reality, I'm missing the mark by a large margin. Hopefully I can address that in 2026.

Leading by Example

I'm not happy with the direction things are going in society and the world at large. I also can't single-handedly change the direction that we're headed, influence events on a large scale, or change how people act. What I can do; however, is hold true to my beliefs, and live them every day. I can show people that there is another option than the one that we're currently being given.

• You don't have to use AI and subject yourself to mass surveillance, data collection, or contribute to it's environmental effects.
• You can abandon big tech and take back control of your data
• There's more to work than speed and efficiency - care, quality, and craft still matter
• Privacy, personal freedom, and self-reliance is more important than conforming for the sake of convenience and an illusion of safety

So...Here's to a happy, productive, and successful 2026!