New Year Bits and Pieces

Phil asked yesterday night if I had had a good year. I mentioned my feeling of general malaise; perhaps I didn't have a large project completed, and that left my year feeling flat.

"What? Your project for the year was to work to earn money so we could live! You did great at your project for the year!"

Interesting how a single comment can reframe a mindset. With that happy thought, I welcomed the new year.

***

One of the self-help books I read years ago suggested going through files annually. Doesn't that sound like a pipe dream? I got through about ten folders a year ago before I gave up.

With a bit of down time over the holidays, I started again. I have filed "Gardening" articles for the last five years, popping them in the folder and never looking at them again. Going through the file now, I can see that most of the articles would more properly come under the "Someday/Maybe" rubric. Yes, it would be interesting to grow bayberries and make bayberry candles. Is that a priority this year? No. Someday (maybe).

Some files are simply fun to look through. I like looking at our cow's registration papers, or lists of beekeeping books. And I like reminding myself of the various information I've found interesting. I no longer need to keep articles about, say, goats.

I also snip recipes sometimes. I needed a few folders for those: ones I could try imminently, and ones I might like to try someday, when I don't have to buy all the produce required. It's a Someday/Maybe file for recipes! (I once read of a mom who would date a recipe, and put it on her refrigerator. If she hadn't used it within ten days, she figured she wasn't that excited about it, and threw the recipe away. I'm not that disciplined.)

***

I no longer need certain seed catalogs: I like the companies I buy from (Turtle Tree for good biodynamic seeds: the packets I've bought from them have the best vigor overall; Southern Exposure Seed Exchange for good regional varieties—friends in Colorado and California should find more local sources; Johnny's Selected Seeds for large quantities, like cover crops). I placed the bulk of my seed order last Saturday.

I considered trying to retry some of the seed from the last few years; I have overbought lettuce seeds. But I think I'm sprouting-shy after last year's disappointments. Two year old seed, surely not stored in ideal conditions: if I really want to have broccoli, should I rely on such? I have more peace of mind buying new.

One of my favorite flowers, the brilliant pink "brain-like" flower celosia, had sold out. I was walking through the moon bed today and noticed a single dried celosia, loaded with seeds. Perhaps I will have my pretties next year after all. What a little gift!


***

It's been some time since I saw the bees. The cold weather has finally forced them into hibernation. I peeked at their boards. Celadon, with the single super, was the weakest, with a scant bit of droppings near the front.

Damaris was the strongest, with a clear pattern of waste along the frames.

And Daffodil was holding its own.


***

The older boys helped Phil and I move the cows today. We worked well as a team. While Isaiah and I set up a lane through the orchard, down the driveway, and into the grass down slope from the greenhouse, Phil and Jadon drove the reluctant cows up and around. It was heartwarming to see the cows graze the one thick sward we still have. (I don't have a photo of the grass: we have one spot that remains a gorgeous green, unlike the rest of the winter brown.)

Phil has also finished the revised mineral feeder. After going through two rubber mats last year, and sometimes losing a batch of minerals because the rubber mat was up during a rainstorm, Phil designed and made a new version.

Hopefully the cows like it!