The Year in Review

I think too often we focus on the things that didn't get done in the preceding year. I've found myself doing that often since moving to the farm. I decided to inventory what we did accomplish and was pleasantly surprised...

First and foremost, we bought a house. It wasn't just any starter house either. It was my dream house in the country. For Chad, I think he thought it may end up being his nightmare house, but he finally learned how wonderful it is to live in the country. I told him until I was blue in the face, actually, I was more red 'cause he wouldn't just take my word for it and pack up and head for greener pastures. He is hooked completely now. We've both been happier than we ever dreamed possible. When people ask me about living on the farm, I say, "I've never worked harder in my life and I've never been happier".

We acquired a barnful of animals. While this may not sound like an achievement, it really is. We've learned so much about the animals we have and luckily for them, most of it has not been at their expense. Most of the animals, we got by choice. Taabitha, we got by accident. Most of you haven't met Ivy yet. She is our first alpaca. My step-dad went to the livestock auction one Wednesday and came home with her. Who does that? An alpaca is not a typical surprise gift! Well, she was surprising, I'll give him that. She's very entertaining, and we've grown fond of her.

We've started Tilton Hollow on the road back to becoming a farm. In the coming year, we hope to provide most of our own food and a little extra to sell. We should be having goat kids(which means creamy delicious goat milk) in the next couple months and we will have pigs any time now. We plan on raising and breeding Gloucestershire Old Spots. We have a gilt(young female) and a feeder(raised for meat) coming in the next few weeks.

So, when you take a look back, don't focus on what you didn't get done, focus instead on all of the accomplishments. What you didn't get done either isn't important or it can stay on the to-do list. We sat down today and made a list of 2012 goals. I'm a firm believer that you can't get where you're going if you don't know where that is. I like to write my goals down on a piece of paper or put them in a computer file that is visible all the time.  I like to keep them in the forefront so they don't get forgotten.

In closing, we did suffer a couple of losses in 2011. We lost a super sweet little banty hen, Chipmunk. She was one of the original 8 chicks I got at TSC. We lost her partner in crime, Puff. He wasn't very sweet, but he was spunky. All in all though, it was a great first 'year' at the farm and we're looking forward with great excitement to 2012.

What are your goals for 2012?