Reflecting on 2010

Reflecting back on 2010. i have spent the last few days sorting through pictures, and reflecting back on some of the highlights of our year. Here are a few of the things that stood out for me.

January.

Our January was full of cold and snow. My boy missed almost the entire month of school due to the weather. The winter of 2010 was truly one of the longest winters i can remember. We spent a lot of time reading, crocheting, watching movies and playing board games. i kept my bird feeders full, and this little opossum became a regular visitor. My boy turned 8 years old this month.

February.
February brought us more snow. We read the books Eragon, and The Dragonrider and built our very own snow dragon. We grew crystals, and did lots of other fun crafts and science projects. On the few days that we saw the sun, we played outside and hiked in the woods. Kenan built a small goat shed next to the chicken coop, and finished the goat fencing.
At the end of the month, our kitty Kali lost her fight with an unknown illness and crossed the rainbow bridge. :(

March.

In the first days of March, Sookie, a short haired border collie found her way into our hearts. A day or so later we lost our Sati kitty, only a week after loosing Kali. :( We went hiking at Pandapas Pond, and added another goat to our herd. Delilah is a Dwarf Nigerian/pygmy cross and our first doe. Our goat Casper developed Pneumonia after we moved him out of the chicken coop and into the goat shed. i learned quite a bit about treating pneumonia and developing a healthy rumens.:) Later that month, we bartered with a neighbor to castrate Casper, turning him into a wether. We traded a 6 pack of beer and jar of blackberry jam. :)

April.

We went hiking often, and played in the creek. We had company almost non-stop. Aunt Tabitha came to visit for a week and we took her hiking at the Cascades. Grandma and Grandpa T. brought her down and stayed for a weekend, and we all went to Mabry Mill and took a drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway. Around this same time, Kenan's Grandfather passed away, and he flew down to Florida for the funeral. My parents arrived a day or so before he left, and my mom stayed for a couple weeks.
Kenan bought himself a farm truck for hauling manure, firewood and livestock. He put it too good use when he got a hook up for free fire wood. He spent several days cutting, made several trips and made sure we have more than enough wood to last us through the winter.
Yay, for free heat!

May.

In May, we bartered classes with a glass student from NJ for help with electrical work in our addition. While he was here, we were all surprised by this bear that stopped by to check out our chickens and goats. The bear sighting made it into the local paper, and we haven't seen him since. We got a good start on the electrical set up, but didn't get it completed. We went to the Natural Science Center in Greensboro, NC. We worked in the garden, took a lot of butterfly pictures and hatched out lots of new peeps.

June.
We adopted a beagle puppy and named him Rufus Von Bigglesworth. We spent lots of time outside playing, chasing chickens, swimming at the creek and blowing bubbles. My baby girl turned 4! We had a surprise visit from Nana, Pap and Aunty Kris. We had not seen Aunty Kris in about 3 years, so it was very special.






July.
We took a weekend trip to Raleigh NC. We went to the Lego Games Tour downtown, and to the Raleigh Science Museum. We also went to the Durham life and Science Museum, where they have a huge butterfly house. We made Fairy houses and Woodland Elf crowns. i milked a goat for the very first time.

August.
We raised and released over 20 Monarch butterflies! We spent much of the month harvesting and canning our garden bounty. We were also blessed with an abundance of organic pears and grapes from a generous neighbor. We played outside a lot, and made giant bubbles! We went hiking along the New River trail and crossed the Hiawassee Trestle Bridge. We went swimming/hiking at Fairy Stone Park. Sequoia started the 3rd grade!

September.
We picked and processed over 100lbs of free local organic apples. i canned apple sauce, apple butter and pie filling. i made my first batch of Chevre' from fresh goats milk, from a goat i milked by hand :) We had two sweet little stray kittens appear, that are now a part of our family. This is Tellulah and Tom-tom kitty. Nana and Pa came for a visit, and Nana stayed with us for a few weeks. Kenan got the swine flu and was unable to work for almost 3 weeks.
We cleared around an acre of land, and planted lots of clover. i got a year of my life back, when on my birthday i turned 37. i had actually spent the entire year already thinking i was 37, so it was pretty awesome to realize i had actually only been 36. Bwahaha!!

October.
We visited Sinkland Farms Pumpkin patch, which will now be an annual Oct. tradition. We went trick or treating twice and went hiking on Buffalo Mountain. We also dug our potatoes, and sweet potatoes and harvested winter squash. i volunteered to chaperon Sequoia's field trips to Mabry mill and the Floyd Agricultural Fair. We read the City of Ember and People of Sparks.




November.
November was cold. We spent a lot of time inside. i jumped back into my crafting, and started selling a few things online. i got an early start on my Yule gifts. Kenan worked on a play fort for the kids. It's not finished, but still fun. Nana and Pap came to visit again for Thanksgiving, and we enjoyed good food and company.

December.

We got our first snow the first week of December. It stayed the entire month. For some reason this month went extremely fast, and i can't seem to remember what we actually did. We had been planning a trip to Florida to spend the holiday with family. i think the impending trip, and the need to get all of my projects finished cause the month to just fly by. We ended up canceling/postponing our trip and enjoyed a quiet holiday at home.
~*~

Reflecting back on the year, we really had a pretty good year despite a bit of a rough beginning. Although we didn't accomplish everything we had hoped, we took more steps forward, than we did back...and that is saying something.

i am really looking forward to 2011, and feel very optimistic. Sage will be starting Kindergarten in the fall and i will be able to jump back into my crafting full time. i am already feeling motivated and inspired and as a way to commit myself this, i registered for an Artfire Shop on Jan. 1st. i don't have any thing listed yet, but i will be working on listing a few items this week. i also plan to put more into this blog, so i hope to be posting more of my work, more tutorials, more family photos, and more artist features, reviews and giveaways.

i came across this quote the other day and thought it was too perfect not to share.

჻☆჻“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art ::: write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can."჻☆჻
~Neil Gaimen