A customer came in today and made the comment that he missed the blog. At least one person reads it! I knew it had been awhile since my last post but was not prepared to see that it has been 6 months. 6 months!! So much has happened that I couldn’t even begin to fill you in on all the details. It has been 6 months full of ups and downs (mostly ups!), learning, playing and lots of working. We had a great summer harvest and maize season. We took a couple of trips and made it to the beach a few times. I am taking an agri-business management course and one of the topics in my first class was “Learning to delegate and organize and what that means for your quality of life”. I snickered as did all my fellow farmer classmates. Delegate?! Organize!? But seriously it is probably one of the topics I paid attention to most. Doing things you love and learning how to manage work, farm and family was the jist of the session…so here I am, taking time to write and share. During the session I realized over the busy 6 months that I wasn’t taking as many photos, hiking like I said I wanted to or freezing veggies for winter like I have said I would do for the last 5 years. I was floating through the craziness by spending as much time with my kids as I could and trying to keep a normal schedule for them. As a working mom and anyone out there with kids understands, there is a list of “things I would like to do” and the list of “the reality of life that fits into the 24 hour day”. The blog was definitely on the “things I would like to do” list. Hearing someone say they missed it has once again given me inspiration. Thank you Mike!!
Holiday time around the farm means 4 things.
1. The maize is over…finally!
2. Time to catch up all of the things that get put off during the maize.
3. It’s time to make the wreaths! ie: try not to get shot while collecting boughs during hunting season.
4. More time to spend together as a family not business partners
Christmas Magic
Our family enjoys getting together for the holidays (even after spending 7 weeks of working closely with one another) and we always make time to get together no matter what everyone’s schedule is. There are 13 of us humans and 9 dogs. It feels a little bit like being in a zoo sometimes. I will leave out which person represents which animal…wouldn’t want to offend! For us it is about being together, eating good food and laughing. The addition of the 4th generation has made things a lot more exciting for sure. I find myself moving that ridiculous Elf on the Shelf at 2 in morning when I wake up in a panic that the kids might be on to me. Saying things like “Do you want me to call Santa and tell him how naughty you are being?” and watching the awe in their faces when Santa sends them an e-mail video message from the North Pole. The magic of Christmas has a new meaning when you have little ones!
The Farmer's Daughter 
I read your blog too Michelle and look forward to it.
It is always interesting, entertaining and I love the photos and recipes too.
I’m amazed and pretty impressed that you make the time to write such lovely things for us to read.