It's A New Year

It was -14°F this morning and the sun was shining.  I was happy thinking about the holidays as I checked on the chickens.  They like it when I sing to them so I sang them a song, held the ones that pecked my sleeve to let me know they wanted to be held, and gave them fresh warm water and food.  None seemed too bothered by the cold and there were even a few (frozen) eggs in the nests.  I have happy chickens.  And I think everyone who graced our hearth with their presence or voice this holiday season had a merry time, too.  Good people, fine food, glad times . . . and hopefully good memories to hold close to their hearts. I accomplished what I wanted to do this Christmas.

I'm in heaven with all the seed catalogues that have arrived in the mail.  Now that life will get back to normal, it will be fun to slowly go through them all.  Tom bought me a pH meter and one of those electric Ball jam and jelly makers for Christmas, and I am already planning to use it to make salsas, jams, and jellies to sell at the farmers market.  So, I will need to find a good determinate variety of tomato to grow and put aside money to buy canning jars and lids.  I'm also going to bite my tongue and find out from the Wisconsin Department of Trade and Consumer Protection what hoops I have to go through in order to sell eggs at the farmers market.  I have a good feeling about my garden this year.

But for right now, I'm going to do like Sandy The Swamp Creek Dog and bid you all a Happy New Year and Good Night.