I’ve never really liked New Year Resolutions, as a child I felt there were enough rules already and I didn’t like the idea of adding more just because the calendar changed. And I felt the same way for a very long time after my childhood, except I added another reason – if I needed to change something about myself that badly why wait until the New Year? I wish I could say that this spurred me to make immediate changes, it didn’t, it allowed me to carry on as normal. But things have changed. it doesn’t really have anything to do with New Year but at the same time, it does.

As farmers, we live pretty close to the land. Everything we do is tied to the seasons and how much daylight we have available. The weather of winter matches the tasks at hand all too well. Taxes, dreary. Nutrient Management Annual Implementation Report, dull. But at the same time, the days start to get longer and we get to order trees and seeds and we make plans. Grand plans. The anticipation of sunny days and light evenings is quite intoxicating when you live in an old house with small windows and inadequate lighting. But the plans we make with huge amounts of optimism tied up in every one, are also invigorating.

We are adding Pawpaws and Medlars and Quince and cherries to our orchard along with more persimmons. We have never grown pawpaws or medlars before, our last quince tree died (this one will not) and I honestly can’t remember what happened to the cherry trees over the years but we currently have only wild cherries.  We won’t actually get the trees until March, but the anticipation is so motivating.

We have a new cultivating tractor (I love it for so many reasons – it will get its own blog post soon) and with that comes efficiency (always exciting when you do all the work yourselves).

We get caught up in the possibilities and I make ridiculous promises – I am going to be so much better at the paperwork this year, I say. I won’t lose any receipts. I will keep up with the accounting. But what if that wasn’t ridiculous? It really is and I couldn’t possibly count those as resolutions, but what if I used this feeling of invincibility to make a personal resolution or two?

To new beginnings. Happy New Year Everyone!