Happy New Year

On the first day of the new year we had our first lamb, a little black ram lamb. He and his mother are part Cotswold. He was up and nearly dried off when Joel found them this morning.

I've never made new year's resolutions, but January is a time to make plans for the upcoming year. We go through all the new flowers and vegetables in the catalogues, talk about what we want to grow more or less of this year. think about what didn't do well and whether or not the weather seemed to be a main factor in which case we'll try again, look to see what sold best or worst, etc. In the fiber department I look to see what is left in my inventory from last year and what needs to be replenished, think about what I am tired of making or my customers are tired of buying, plan for new versions of old things, like new rug designs, new hat designs, wonder if I should try and weave some cotton linen tea towels as I've had a few people ask me if I made tea towels, etc. This is a fun time because everything is possible and it takes very little work to imagine the upcoming year.

It also is a celebration of one year of this blog. I started it last January with the idea of recording a year in the life of the farm. I committed myself to a year as I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy doing it and whether or not I would keep it up, but I decided to give it a try. Well, I have enjoyed it a whole lot. I can't believe a whole year has gone by. I went back and reread some of the earliest posts and found that, well, I do repeat myself now and then. So now I have to decide if I should go one doing this, stop it altogether or try something else. If I do go on I will repeat myself. Nature repeats itself, and the new year will be a new version of the last one.