NEW YEAR, SAME OLD CHALLENGES

The first week of 2014 has passed.  It has not passed quietly or gently, but we have made it through the beginning of the new year all the same.

We began the new year at Anna's Farm.  January first was a beautiful day filled with warmth and sunshine.  There was work to be done, as there always is on the farm.  Firewood need cut (though it was quite warm, it was still January after all). Despite the work, we spent the morning relaxing and enjoying the weather and each other's company.

Afternoon came and I cut some firewood while Anna started a fire outside to cook our new year's dinner.  Later, we dined on fried chicken (raised on Dave's farm), Okra (grown on Anna's farm) and corn cakes which were, unfortunately, not produced on either of our farms (maybe next year).  All in all it was a wonderful day, though it ended far too soon.

To our dismay, Anna woke up the following morning with the flu, and has been trying to deal with it ever since.  As anyone on the farm knows, the animals have to be fed no matter how bad one feels, so she has been struggling this past week.  It breaks my heart that I haven't been there to help.

The two days after new years day, I was off work.  Thursday and Friday, I spent trying to finish projects left over from 2013.  The old barn I was tearing down in the spring when I injured my foot, is now finished except for some minor cleanup.  A solar panel I started pre-injury also got finished, and the garden is now tilled up.

Saturday found me back at work but feeling unduly tired and achy, which I chalked up to pushing through projects.  Sunday morning was cold and a couple of inches of snow covered the ground.  I also woke up knowing why I felt tired and achy the day before, I had the flu.  Though I could not afford to miss work, the rest of the week has been spent trying to recover and doing only what what is necessary here on the farm.  As an added bonus, it turned really cold, with night time lows around 0 and highs in the teens.

During this first week of 2014, I predicted that we won't reach our goals this year without a fight.  Since Anna and I never planned to go down without a fight anyway, we are confident that this will be a good year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!