Holiday letter 2016

 As 2016 draws to a close and we reflect on all that it has held, we have to admit it has been a very good year!

One of the highlights of the year had to be all three of Anita's boys coming home with their families at the same time. It was an auspicious occasion for so many reasons, not least being the 90th birthday of Anita's Mom, Margaret and then her own birthday the very next day. We would all sign up to reach 90 in our own homes, with all our faculties working well, and physically able to enjoy life to its fullest as does Margaret. Not only is she an inspiration, teaching us new things on a regular basis, but the hall we rented was full for most of the day. Those who remembered to sign the guest book totalled 155. She even got blisters from opening all the cards and thoughtful letters she received from friends and family. For us it was a joy to be part of the celebration, spend time with Anita's siblings and their families but there was the very real joy of a kitchen filled with the noise and laughter of all three boys and their families. A table loaded to the gills here at home, it doesn't happen nearly often enough with each of the boys living in a different state.

Every now and then we have the privilege of meeting someone who not only becomes a friend but will also have a significant influence on our lives, and this happened to us in April. We became friends with someone deeply committed to enabling women, but also to revitalising downtown Watertown here in South Dakota. Admittedly there was not much choice involved, she is such a good sales person,  but we were 'dragged' into participating in the Thursday Night Live Farmers' Market. We hoped we would be able to sell some of our homemade products but it made us so much more than money. We made new and lasting friendships with people we might never have met otherwise, a retired Catholic priest springs to mind, a truly loving, well informed, well read, and generous man who very unexpectedly has remained a positive part of our lives. The Market became like a small village of people that, to this day, three months after the last market date, is still influencing our lives. A very positive experience that still has us smiling as we look back on it. We were also thankful for Margaret's contribution as she made doughnuts every week that were a very real hit with the Ladies from the Jenkins Living Center who came down every week to buy some. It was fun to be able to include my Mother and my nephew Joe in these events as they highlighted the basis of our lifestyle that is friends, community and healthy local foods.

Gardening was a challenge this year with the lack of rain and the early start to the high summer temperatures. Just getting seeds to germinate was difficult but with trying several times we were able to grow enough veggies to fill our basement shelves with canned goods, our three chest freezers are full and we have a cabinet filled with our own dried herbs, spices and other 'stuff' we put through the dehydrator. We may not have had very much to sell but we do have enough to feed us till next year as well as to share throughout the coming months. Life is good! The goats made a significant contribution to our lives, as usual. They make us laugh every day, they keep us healthy not just with love and laughter but their ability to escape ensures that we also get regular exercise from rounding them up and from building bigger and better fences every year! The 22 babies filled the barn with so much cuteness that we were indeed fortunate that so many of them were boys that have to be sold. We have no room for more than one buck. We did actually keep one doeling and she is already showing promise as she jumps the gate back to the area of the barn where we store feed. A new venture this year is a dozen guinea fowl that we hope will also produce babies and help keep down the tick population next spring. When the weather is so dry and hot, not only do our own animals feel the stress but the wildlife closes in on us as they need to feed and water their young. We were hit particularly hard by the racoons who decided that both our baby chicks and adult hens were a fine way to teach their young the important lessons in life. Fortunately, Anita received a birthday gift of 50 baby chicks and we were able to also buy some full grown hens along the way. We are already seeing signs that they will all start laying eggs on a regular basis.

Each year we make most of our Christmas presents and the start of winter and snow sees us in the sewing room. Even as I type, Anita is sitting at a table in the living room working her magic with glue and tweezers on some very special gifts. All summer long, the sewing room is just a closed door, but as the cold weather starts it is like a siren calling our names, waiting for us to throw ourselves into the stash of fabric and yarn. 

We are fortunate that our pick up was able to be repaired, we will be able to go and bring it home this weekend and it will soon be performing its regular duty of dragging home firewood. We both prefer to cut and split in the winter and it gives us something to do other than to sit indoors. Having the vehicle out of action has made us late on dragging some equipment to the barn for the winter, but the weather predictions seem to suggest we will still have time to drag the trailer filled with bicycles, mowers and other small engine equipment out to the barn next week. While cold is in the forecast, there seems to be little sign of more snow.

The end of the year not only allows for looking back and appreciating all that has been, but it is also the time for making new plans, deciding on any changes we may need to make for the coming year, it is a time of hope and promise. Our biggest change for next year, and one that we are really looking forward to, is that we will be including a good friend in all that we do in the gardens. We have referred to her as the Young'un, and it is an exciting prospect for all of us. She wants to learn, her daughter wants to learn, they want to garden, their backs are stronger than ours, and we seem to have found the perfect solution for all of us. We each bring specific skills to the garden that make us stronger and more productive as a group. We foresee much love and laughter as we work together, starting this winter as we share, and hopefully infect them, with our love of seed catalogues and garden planning.

As the year draws to a close we wish you all a very happy Christmas, Channuka, Yuletide, or any other holiday you may celebrate. We hope that the memories of 2016 have been kind to you and that 2017 may bring you all that you need and, as the Irish say, 

"May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire."

We thank each and every one of you for showing interest in our lives, for sharing in our happiness and making us so very aware of all that is positive in our lives.

Anita and Edith (Two Old Broads)

It is spring!

It is spring, Mother Earth wakes up, the weather improves and there is a stirring in our hearts. We no longer feel as if we are fighting Mother Nature to keep our animals alive. We no longer feel as though we have to outwit the weather to have enough; enough wood for heat, enough hay for the animals, enough food in storage, enough sales to keep us going. Spring is a time of hope, a belief that pursuing self-sufficiency, while never 100% attainable, is at least improving every year. Spring is a time of babies, goats and chickens for us. There is more bubbling laughter as we watch the babies grow and play, there is just a lightness in our step that has been heavier in the heart of winter. 

It is spring. There is an inexplicable draw to play in the dirt, to plant seeds directly into the ground, to put seedlings grown under artificial light out into the real sunshine. There are the concerns of too windy, will it scorch the plants; too dry, should we water; too cold, will we get a late frost; too hot will it ruin the harvest or drive up the price of hay. Yet with all of that, we are drawn to thrust our hands in the dirt, watch our skin slowly change colour. Our hands and feet get black from the soil, our skin brown gently under the protection of home made creams that drive away the bugs that would make us sick.

It is spring and we no longer turn on artificial lights to mark the rhythm of our day, our bodies respond to sunrise and sunset, or the sound of birds playing in the trees. Mother Nature may not give us straight lines and yet we take pleasure in laying straight lines of seeper hoses that will deliver moisture to the plants we grow to feed ourselves and those in the local town unable to grow their own food. The day extends as we apply ourselves to do just one more thing before we head indoors. We eat when we are hungry, we remember to drink as our bodies need it.

It is spring, and we do not have the heat that summer will bring. We have near perfect temperatures in the 70'F. We bring out our trusty but worn summer clothes and hats. We change the scent of our skin cream from tea tree oil to lemon eucalyptus and cloves to deter the insects. We can dig all afternoon without fear of heatstroke. Though we have planted fruit bushes and trees there is still grass that needs mowing at least twice a week before the summer temps slow down the rate it grows. Yet that too gives us what we need as we use the grass clippings to mulch between the rows of vegetables.

It is spring. We start our year with a list of things to be done that could be daunting, but even that list has its own rhythm. The crops are rotated, there is an order that Mother Nature demands of us. Potatoes and onions, peas and radishes, there can be no rush with tender plants. We have four large gardens but once we decide on the rotation, the timing of each garden is determined by the weather, the strength of the sun and the date of the last frost. There is no fighting these things.

We are both into our sixties, why do we do these things? It is spring and we have felt the earth breathe and knew we had to respond!