2014- Looking Back

We are well into the second week of the year and I am still uncertain about what I want to focus on for 2014. I feel like my plate is pretty full so I don't want to add a bunch of stuff, yet at the same time, I do. I want to explore all kinds of interests, too many, and I am not sure which should be my priority. So for the time being I am taking my time to re-evaluate where I am and where I want to go. Actually I think I will start by turning back to my simple focus for 2013...

I had two things on my agenda:

1. Have a baby- check!!! Not only did I have a baby, but he has been a true delight. I am over the moon with my three boys.

2. Feed our family from our land- hmmmm, not sure I can enthusiastically check that one off the list. With baby in a sling and bigger boys in tow we built 10 garden beds and tilled six 15 foot rows, filled them with organic compost, seeds and transplats. We fed them, watered them, checked soil ph, picked off bugs, pulled endless weeds and got very little. The only three succesful crops were tomatoes, green beans, and paprika peppers. All our varieties of squashes, pumpkins, carrots, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, jalapenos, banana peppers, cabbage, onions and broccoli provided very little if any results. Harvesting the potatoes and sweet potatoes was practically heart breaking as I had really been hoping to fill our cold storage with as many as possible to eat through out the winter. I think we spent more on the organic compost then we actually saved on groceries, nevermind the effort.

During my husbands brief break from school he built me a beautiful chicken coop, using mostly reclaimed wood and an inexpensive window from the Restore. The eggs the hens produce are lovely, but not enough to meet the need of our family since our city only allows four hens (and these girls haven't been the producers our last batch of feathered friends were). We planted fruit trees and various berry bushes, those should produce some results next year if they survive the extreme cold we are experiencing.

I guess I am unsure of how to proceed this coming year, I know a bad year of gardening shouldn't cause me to call it all off, especially since we've already invested in the dirt and made the garden beds (using reclaimed bricks from the property, so at least our only real expense was the dirt and a few transplants we purchased since I was busy with a newborn during seedling raising time). Perhaps this year I will try my hand at turnips and radishes instead of potatoes and focus on a beautiful herb garden instead.

All things to ponder.

Hopefully next time I share I will have more direction.