It was quite a garden year in 2010...the best ever. The larder is full with canned, frozen, dried or fresh stored items in a cool corner of the basement. It was a bit tramatic for me to now visit the supermarket produce department and not just smile and only buy bananas as was the case since July. If I want lettuce, cucumbers or tomatoes I need to buy them now. The seed catalogues are arriving for my winter enjoyment but I am not thinking about or planning for the next season yet.
I am due for some down time finally and some resting for my weary bones after many vigorous months of garden and yard labors. The only outdoor work now involves carring wood to the house for the wood stove and some cutting and splitting of logs and branches already gathered this year in anticipation of next winter's use. I need about three cords of wood each year for my stove and would like to have most of next winter's wood all cut, split and stacked for seasoning now before a lot of snow falls. I do have most of that amount in various piles awaiting that processing. It is sure satisfying to see the small amount of oil added to the tank each time the truck arrives each month, for the price is steadily jumping with each delivery. I end up saving nearly $1,000 per year by using my own wood. I manage to gather the wood for no cost from my neighbor's acerage or other opportunities that present themselves. So the only cost for wood gathering is a lot of sweat labor.
After a great trip to NewYork and Richmond VA for Thanksgiving I now look forward to playing host for Christmas here for my family. The tree is up and will be decorated this weekend. Some friends have decided to purchase many jars of my canned goods this year for some of their gift giving. I also had a few sucessful public sales events thorugh my social groups at Union Church and the Saco Bay Garden Club so can report a good year of sales as well. I made a donation of a portion of my sales to the local food bank and am kept busy with my envolvement with the Mission Committee of Union Church that does a lot of great charitable work on the local as well as international level. I am now the treasurer of the Garden Club so have some new duties with that organization as well There is plenty of jam, salsa, pickles and tomato sauce though to get me through the long winter and spring.
The winter will not be boring for me at all with my local activities and much desired down time to rest, read and enjoy the fruits of my harvest. I now want to send my best wishes to all my blog readers that their holiday season and winter months are also filled with rest, good company and hopeful thoughts for the new year.
