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Thursday, January 29, 2015

Planning & Lists

Two things my husband despises!  I have said many times before that I am a list person, always have been, always will be.  

Each year I talk about projects I plan to complete, ones I hope to complete and those that get on the list because they are a dream, something that someday might get accomplished on this farm.   

Growing Magazine had one sentence that justified my lists this month: 
Setting goals before each season is the only way to know at the end of the year whether you succeeded.

As the first month of the new year comes to a close, I have managed to cross several things off my whole-farm-planning list for January.  There is the outside chance I will accomplish most of the bigger items off the to-do list.

Every night when I get home from my off-farm job, I work on something, even if for only fifteen minutes.  I pruned the fruit trees next to the house in three sessions, mostly due to the severe wind, I could not keep my hands warm in single degree temperatures with winds exceeding 15 mph.  The two others that need to get pruned are planned for Sunday morning wind chill permitting.  There are others that would be great if I get to them, but the goal of the three I usually prune plus two will be complete.

The roof did not survive the winds last year.
A major overhaul is on the list for 2015.
Last night, I spent almost exactly fifteen minutes putting away the last of the saved, dried seeds from last summer.  Placed neatly into their labeled envelopes, they wait for the greenhouse to get repaired or the weather to warm up; whichever comes first.

Monday I listed some planters and decorative watering cans on eBay which I had purchased in my wealthier years, items which are impractical for this farm.  When they sell, it will be a little more cash towards the bills and two more boxes out of the back room.

I took the time that Little man was in the tub this week to go through and draft out an order for seeds.  It will need some pairing down, but the basic list is done.

The taxes will not be done, but they are started.
The de-cluttering will continue, but I don't think that will ever be able to be removed from the list entirely.
My attic, back room, workshop and garage are looking better each day.
The list of things for sale on eBay grows.
The garbage man is earning his money this month.

Every little bit counts. 

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

I miss Girl Scout cookies

I was a Girl Scout for more than 20 years.  I started as a brownie and worked my way up through senior scouts and then went on to be an adult leader.  My poor mother even volunteered, year after year, to be cookie mother.  I remember the 53' tractor trailer driver trying to back down our narrow driveway to deliver cases and cases of cookies to our garage. Each year the driver would arrive, look at the driveway and cringe! 

It has been over 15 years since my involvement in scouts ceased and close to five years since I have had the luxury of consuming a Girl Scout cookie.


How might this post have anything to do with farming you might ask?  Well on my window sill sits a mint plant.  It was one of the few surviving plants in the greenhouse after the windstorm.  I brought it inside, fully expecting it to perish; amazingly it continues to grow.  I decided that I would make some mint extract in hopes of satisfying my cravings for Girl Scout cookies.





I found a recipe for alcohol free mint extract in cyberspace and perhaps this weekend or early next week I will have homemade 'Thin Mints.'