Farm Friday and Happy New Year

Happy 2016! Once again, the year seemed to have flown by and I'm grateful that we've made yet another trip around the sun. I've been trying to wrap up some loose ends this week. I finished some of my annual reading and have selected some new books for my morning reading in 2016:

Morning reading

I didn't do "Farm Friday" last week due to the Christmas holiday. These past weeks have been full, with family visits, homesteading chores, and future planning taking up a good chunk of time. I was able to get some serious down time Christmas Day, even taking a mid-morning nap with the cat joining me (so very unlike him). Here are a few updates:

• Had to take my car in for service. Had some kind of oil leak that turned out to be a loose line from when the transmission was rebuilt. Yay for work under a warranty!
• Cooked up a storm. We had to harvest the last of the cauliflower and a lot of the broccoli, plus some of the cabbage so I: blanched and froze some; made broccoli soup (froze some of that, too); made a new cauliflower casserole with green olives, pine nuts, roasted red peppers, and other yummy goodness; made more of the faux oyster po' boy sandwiches using cauliflower; and made a big batch of vegetarian minestrone using some of the cabbage.
• Picked up our granddaughter on Christmas day so she could spend some time with us and her aunt who was visiting for the weekend.

Enjoyed spending time with my "girls"

• Picked up the pork we had processed. I managed to clean out our second large freezer so we barely had enough room to store it all between the two freezers.
• Met with our handyman and talked to him about some repairs and upgrades that need to be done to both our house and the farm house.
• Had last minute guests at the farm stay over the weekend - a homeschooling family of six that wanted to spend some time on the farm. They opted out of the farm tour and instead walked the loop that goes to our pound, into the woods, and then back out onto the road just a short ways from the farm house.
• Had our last "date" of the year. We had an order to drop off at our farm-to-table restaurant so took advantage of being in town by going to a Thai restaurant then heading to the movie theater to see the latest Star Wars movie.
• Made a big decision for 2016. Out of the blue I was presented with a job opportunity that was an offer I really couldn't refuse. It's an amazing opportunity for me, doing the kind of work that suits me, working with someone I've worked with in the past, and telecommuting most of the time. Bill and I have talked about how much need there is in the world and he believes that you just need to pick one passion and work on that. Although I'm all about food issues - I did get my master's degree with a focus on health and wellness after all - but I also am passionate about other issues:  lack of clean drinking water, human trafficking, disaster relief, the refugee crisis, and of course food insecurity (my list can go on and on). With this new position, I can work in all those areas.

Wishing you a healthy and happy New Year!