An end...

We are yet at the end of another year. For me this year didn't work out as I had planned. But then again, no year really works out that way. The gardens did not do well at all at the house or the farm. They just, well I really don't know. All I can do is try again and see what works.

Something new that has been started is a new eating plan. The food is Asain, primarily which means we head into Philadelphia to do our shopping. The Italian Market and Chinatown allow us to do our shopping at a much better price than here at home. Plus we have the adventure of being out in the city.

Also for this Christmas, we have received Fitbits to help keep us on track. Due to timing when we went into New York for our Christmas trip the tree was not yet lit. So we decided to go in Yesterday to see the tree and we headed down to Chinatown and did our shopping there.

When we got all done and home we checked to see how much we walked. Realizing when we head into the city, walking 10 miles is not unheard of for us. It actually turns out that I walked 14 miles and Ed walked 15 miles. The only thing we can think of is he takes an extra step to keep up with me. A very interesting unexpected experiment.

This year, as every year has it's challenges, not as many as there could be. Enough that it is time to start a new. A blessing of letting go and saying goodbye to all that you need no more. An may I see you in a new light in the New Year.

It has been a couple of years but I finally got to go back to the PA Farm Show. As part of my normal routine I of course went on sheep to shawl day. This year there was a lot of blue for one reason or another. I actually didn't stay for the awards ceremony. I wasn't staying for the auction so I decided to head out before the big crowds left.

Besides the wonderful shawls they changed some things around on me. They added a calfing arena and moved the bunnies in with the fowl. They didn't have the duckling slid this year. The goats and sheep came in late and they redid the goat barn.

They also changed the main hall around a bit. They added some new areas that at one time were part of a large area or just didn't exist. I never new that there was a cheese guild in PA. Some of the buy local was in several places. In same areas it worked out really well. The rest was just a bit confusing for us, just because it became new.

We did get to see the horses get hooked up to wagon. Something I have never seen before and very impressive, plus a lot of work. The goats and sheep seemed to like the attention as well. All in all it was a really fun time with new experiences.

Happy New Year!!! I have noticed that I have been complaining about how the previous year had more problems then I anticipated. An I do try for that to not happen. So perhaps I need to try harder. There are always extenuating circumstances that are beyond our control. But perhaps we can do things to minimize them.

I actually do have several things that I would like to do. Plus I have things I started that I would like to finish as well. I do have the goal or have always had the goal to be more organized. Have a schedule to work by. In the past that just didn't seem possible. I think more so I just didn't give it a chance.

So this year let us try to make our lives more fulfilling. Let try to make our lives a better place to live. Let's make our live have more meaning. Let us live instead of just be. I think those are admirable things to do. An if you are already doing it good for you, keep it up. But if not let's make this the best year ever.

Well we are at another New Years Eve. This has been a very strange and at point, difficult year. I had lost my computer in the spring. Which meant I was limited with hat I could do. Blogging was one of those things I wasn't able to do.

The gardens didn't work out as well as I would have liked. But in my defense we had a very wet year. And as I am typing it is still raining. So somethings took off like crazy and the rest just rotted in the ground.

I also had family issues to tend to. That in itself was a very stressful situation. It did get resolved, not in a positive way, unfortunately. But resolved non the less. An that we take one day at a time as we do with everything else.

So here is too a New Year of endless possibilities. See you in the New.

Well Happy New Year!!!!!! We made it to a new year. As I said yesterday last year didn't work out as I had hoped. I wanted to do more nut that just wasn't a reality with everything that came in to our path. We do have plans to extend the gardens at the farm. I would love to put espalier trees here at the house. I would also love to but in a wash line (you have no idea how I love to hang wash out to dry). We would also like to start selling from the farm. Not just produce but also my creations as well.

I have personal goals of making sure I am more creative. Taking projects with me so that when there is time I can be working on them. I do need to hash out a decent schedule and stick to it. So these are some goals that I would like to do. I will work on keeping them to the best of my abilities.

On a totally different note I would like to share with all of you a new member to the family. He is five

years old and just a doll. A coworker of Ed's did try to guilt us into taking him. We would not have that. We met him and took him in for a few day's. He liked us and grew attached as we did to him. So Ed has him spoiled which means we can't give him back. No he is a sweet heart who has filled something with in us that we didn't know we missed. So with no further adiue, may I present Chewy Verba Bickert.

Another New Year's Eve

It has been  roller coaster of a year. As you can see from my post's I did well in the beginning of the year. But piddled out at the end. The normal life stuff got in the way. There was a death in the family and my father-in-law became the administrator for the estate. The estate is in Florida and that means my mother-in-law needs to be taken care of. So there have been several sleep over weeks at the farm.

So with that and there was a period of some tightening of the belt. An still we made it to the end of the year. This is all good and I of course wanted to post my New Years Eve post. Which I have done for quit a while now.

As tradition hold I will not talk about plans for next year until then. So for the moment please enjoy your plans to ring in the new year. For I will see you all tomorrow.

Herb Sale

This past Thursday was the Philadelphia chapter of the American Herb Society annual herb sale. So yes I happened to attend. We weren't able to attend last year. So we made up for it this year. I got some common plants but the cool things that I got are fun.

I picked up a Bitter Orange plant which I just found out is bergamot which I had thought was a leafy herbs. Well at an rate i have a bitter orange tree. The second is Turmeric witch I thought would be fun and something I have never grown. They did have ginger but you can go to the store and pickup a couple of roots and plant them. The final interesting and different spice i picked up is Cardamon. Another plant I have never grown so we will see how they all work out.

As always this is a fun sale and if you are ever in PA in May. They hold the sale the Thursday before Mothers Day RAIN or SHINE. You need to stop by you will truly enjoy yourself.