The year 2010 has finally ended. The champagne has been drunk, the ball has dropped and we have jumped that final hurdle of the holiday season, into the doldrums of winter 2011. I've decided to post highlights from my year in photo form.
January - We found "the kitties" on the side of the road and fostered them, keeping and began raising Harrison (right) into our own little mischief-making-mouser.
February - We had our wonderful engagement photos taken by my brother, in the dead winter of February.
March - This was the month I almost didn't make it through. I hate waiting for the ground to dry up enough to work in! I did however revel in the fact that I had the presence of mind to plant pussy willows the previous season, and I managed to began starting seeds for the 2010 garden
April - I began work on taking out the large box elder tree that happened to be growing where I needed a fence to be. I also planned, prepped and planted an 8 bush blueberry patch and 35 raspberry bushes and put together a few additional random flower beds around the property.
May - Our ducks hatched their first duckling, Neville! He was such a runt, and I'll never forget the phone call I got from Jeremy while I was teaching. He was SO excited to be the first to see the duckling. This was also when I prepped the 2010 "new" veggie garden in the first field and planted peppers and tomatoes out WAY too early!
June - My very close friends over at Roheryn Farm had their first foal, Minya. They had to spend so much time teaching her to suckle, and she was still trying to suckle off of the wall days after birth! lol. June was also the month that I had to pry a baby deer out of Connor's mouth and carry it out of the orchard fencing while it called to it's mum. Weather was weird, and we experienced a plague of intense Michigan thunderstorms and tornadoes and felt the Ontario earthquake shake the arena while teaching!
July - Harvesting began with squash and currants, and I spent a good deal of time lounging around the yard coming up with new tasks and endeavors. Late July brought horned worms, but it also brought tomatoes. This was also the first month I made cheese, and had a blast serving it to my family.
August - We began work on putting in the fences, beginning with the wooden post fence out front. I also got to try my first attempt at splinting a duck's broken wing at a friend's house after a visiting dog used it as a tug-toy. August was the biggest month for tomatoes too, and I discovered the black krim tomato is, so far, my favorite.
September - The garden was in full swing, and we were finally able to do some wedding prep including pumpkin purchasing and mass baking. This was also the month that the house was so humid we had a tree frog try to move into Jeremy's studio!
October - The wedding day came so quickly! We had a wonderful time with friends and family, despite the cruddy weather, and the whole thing was beautiful. Afterward we went camping in the upper peninsula for our honeymoon.
November - The mad dash to prepare for the sheep began in November. I thought I'd been preparing all summer but when it came down to it the biggest job of all was the fencing! We put up all of the posts and woven wire in just a few short days and I cleaned out the barn and bought hay so that I could be prepared to bring them home the first week of December. I also discovered in November that I can fit over a cubic yard of compost in the back of my station wagon, and used it to prep my veggie bed for spring 2011 and built a new raised bed out front!
December - The sheep came to their new home in early December and autumn came to a close with a massive snow storm leaving everything covered by a blanket and leaving me with a blank canvas to think about for next year's farm and garden planning.
Happy 2011! Only 123 days until last frost date in Plymouth, MI. :)
I'm pretty sure Gertrude could care less, as long as she continues to get alfalfa mixed in with her grass hay each morning!
Hi Emily!! What a super fun blog!! I love it!!
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