Digging In

Phew!  My adventure away from the farm is nearly over, thank goodness!  Next week I will be in heaven, at the Western Colorado Horticulture Society's annual conference, attending a one day conference on, "Tree Fruit for Beginners," followed by a day of touring farms.  I'm going to wear the right clothes this year.  Maybe I'll blend right in in my sweet Carhartt overalls.  Then, I'll enjoy two days of listening to lectures titled, "Nitrogen Dynamics and Nutrient Budgets in Four Orchard Groundcover Management Systems."

Lucky me!  Its really, really fun . . . learning farmer stuff from farmers, farmers and more farmers.

In addition, I will be helping the new owners of my business get started in their first weeks as teachers.  Its an exciting time and I'm very thankful they arrived in my life at just the right moment.  I've been digging in at home, catching up on that mountain of laundry, finally hooking up those heat lamps (sorry chickens!) brushing those sweet ponies, reading lots of books with Francesca, Cecilia and Julian, and cooking lots of yummy food.  I sold my business for a decent price and in return have bought back my own time.  Ahhh, now that's so worth the money!

Next adventures:

• soil preparation for planting 1,600 peach trees, digging in, literally!  
• reading Equus magazines, 
• Western Fruit Grower magazines 
• maybe a little J.R. Tolkien.  What's after the Hobbit?  Lord of the Rings?
• I'm feeling like its about time to bust out those knitting needles.
• Sledding, skiing, cross country?
• What else can one do when its 20 degrees outside?