feeling inspired...

We have been having a little break from winter this weekend.  It almost feels like spring.  It got to the predicted 40 degrees today and we got some major snow melt.  After last year's disappointing garden season I am so looking forward to the start of a new garden year.  And inspiration is everywhere.  Garden bloggers are publishing their goals and their garden plans, writing about starting seeds and plant choices.  My daughter and I spent long phone conversations debating the merits of our past seed choices and putting together a new garden order.  And then our seeds arrived.

On the first of the year, or maybe it was the second :).  I started a list of goals, kind of a brainstorming session, if you will, and then let it percolate for a bit.  It is time to finalize that list of goals.

Jim and Mary at Old World Garden farms blogged about the system that works for them.  They each separately make a list of 24 goals, two for each month and then around the first of the year they share their lists and make a joint list from their separate lists and put it on the refrigerator where they can see it every day.

Their system would not work for me as I garden alone but I like the idea of having a system.  Here is what I am going to try this year and if it seems to work it might end up being my 'system'.  I am going to try to come up with one or more goals/projects for each of the different gardening spaces at the farm.  At the farm the projects fit into different categories, those that are quick, those that require a lot of effort by me, those that require help from others but also those that are cheap to do and those that require significant financial resources.  I will try to balance all of these categories and come up with a list that is doable but aggressive.

2015 garden goals

Organization, planning and records

Create a master calendar/to-do list/journal

create a four year rotation plan.

weather record?

The potager

Keep the gravel weeded.

Repair the trellis.

The orchard

Enlarge the circles around the two pear and two plum trees to make for easier mowing.

Research other fruit trees that will survive in our zone.  Peaches?

Do something with that pole.

The vineyard

Prune the arbor and start hardwood cuttings from the prunings.

Layout the new vineyard rows.

Purchase wine making kit.

The berry garden

Replant any 2014 new fruits that do not come back.

Add strawberry bed (see below)

The cornfield

Build pallet wood crates to grow potatoes.

 Finish building the south raised rows.

Finish the asparagus rows.

Finish the raspberry rows.

Install the final fence post.

Scarecrow/fence/flowers.

Finish building tomato cages.

The compost pile

Move and use the completed compost.

 Turn the pile from last fall.

Pitch out the barn in the SPRING instead of waiting until fall.  What a novel idea.

The greenhouse

Increase growing space by adding wall shelves, hanging shelving.

Explore options for heat and light.

Keep the weeds from coming up on the cement (flame weeding?)

Cut down the saplings.

The hoop house

Get the plastic on the hoop house.

Landscape around it where the mower won't fit.

The fence garden

Remove the old water feature and fill in the hole.

The flower bed

Evaluate this garden and whether it can be salvaged and rescue plants if needed.

New fruit to the garden

Replant the nut trees that didn't come last year.

Install a strawberry bed.

Farmstand

Frame the chalkboard and install it on the farmstand or make a secure stand for it.

Letter the cash box.

Come up with a way to share printed recipes/business cards with blog address.

So, here it is.  I have to admit that a lot of these goals will need to be done when the weather is cooperating.  I have actually listed a couple of goals that are already in progress.  Is that cheating? 

a look back and planning for the future

I have been spending some time reading blog posts written on or around the new year.  Some of the posts have been a look back at the year just ended; things accomplished, projects completed, favorite or most viewed posts.  Some have been posts looking to the future; goals, resolutions and plans. I have done neither.  My friend Kim at Exquisitely Unremarkable has done both.  She recapped her favorite projects here and then looked forward by choosing a single word as her inspiration for the year here.  Jim and Mary at Old World Garden's blog who are my inspiration for my garden/farm set their top farm goals for the new year here and then planned their garden layout for the new year here.

I think that I am going to try to do both, a look back and a plan going forward.

Since I don't  have a bunch of finished (finished being the key word) projects to share I will share a memory.  Looking back on 2014 what I will remember most was the absolutely viral ice bucket challenge.  We did our challenge fairly early (August 16) and then watched in amazement as the numbers of dollars donated just grew and grew and grew.  Not only did people contribute nationally (and internationally) but our state ALS organization blew past their fundraising goal and our walk team, the Jay Walkers, exceeded our goal as well. Many of our family contributed recipes to an ALS cookbook and then purchased said cookbook at the walk in September.  All in all it was a really good year for the folks trying to combat a really, really awful disease. 

Looking forward I have been spending a little time considering what single word would inspire me all through the year.  I am just drawing a blank.  I have considered and discarded several.  Nothing just seems right.  I will keep working on it.  I do have a partial list of goals.  The obvious one: finish painting the house and the ongoing one: to add new fruit to the farm landscape each year and the same one that nearly everyone has: to eat healthier, get more exercise and lose weight.  I have started brainstorming garden goals and have decided that I will organize my list by area. Making a goal or two or three for each of the different parts of the farm and then separate them by requires mostly money, requires mostly labor, needs help from the kids or parents and quick (one day) projects.  I will post it when I get it done. Happy New Year!