Adventures in Babysitting Noah

I almost missed sending the newsletter this week. We got back from digging sod out in a landscape and my shoulders were burning like they haven't in a long time. And so I started procrastinating. Should I write it now or wait and write Thursday to send Friday . . . I won't lie, procrastination almost won, but then I realized that I barely missed a week in 2018, and what kind of example would it set to be lazy on the first days of a new year.

The real reason that I'm pushing up to the last minute is the topic of this newsletter. After Christmas we had a little family adventure. Do you remember the 80s movie called 'Adventures in Babysitting' with Elisabeth Shue? Our adventure wasn't quite movie worthy, but it was definitely a little adventure in babysitting. On the day after Christmas, my 6 month old nephew Noah came to stay at our house for the week. It has been five years since we had an infant in the house and it wasn't a rude awakening (although he did wake us up during the night a few times), but it took a little while to remember all the things you have to do with a little tiny one: change diapers, feed every few hours, nap every few hours, repeat.

Noah and Abby in the garden.

The great thing is that we had two big helpers in the house. Abby started to get the hang of changing diapers and they both had fun pushing him for a walk in his stroller. We got out to a couple of parks for fresh air (and to burn off Christmas cookies) and let him sit on a blanket and say hi to the chickens outside.

We think he wanted to stay at Camp Bokor after his fun week, but he reluctantly left with his parents. And Kim and I? We celebrated New Year's with some islands off the coast of Africa and went to bed around 8. We were exhausted. Didn't even get any complaints from the girls. We had a great week and we are looking forward to doing it again. I mean look at his little face. How could you not want to squeeze him all up?

Hopefully, since it is only three days into 2019, you are still holding strong on your New Year's resolutions. At home, we need to get working if we are going to follow through on our gardening resolutions. But now, with a quieter house and a fresh year in front of us, I think we are going to make them happen.

Welcome 2019!

Garden Tip
Gardening Resolutions
With a new year, we're all looking to create new habits. So below are some of the things I'm going to try to do in the garden in 2019.

Grow Spinach - Our garden always has a mix of success and failure. Usually the successes outweigh the failures. Not with spinach. We've grown a variety of lettuces, lots of aruglua, kale and greens, but every time we put out spinach seeds, we get a few sprouts and nothing. This year, I'm determined to get a good spinach harvest.

Pay Attention - I don't know about you, but I get really excited at planting time and then forget to pay attention to the garden in the weeks and months after planting. This year, I'm going to pay attention to my gardens.  I'm going to fertilize on a regular schedule and spray when needed to keep pests away. 

Feed Our Family - #HomeGardentoTable. This year, I want to feed my family from the home garden for at least one day each week. I know that we won't be able to produce everything needed to make three meals, but the goal is to have the the garden as the primary source of food for one day's meals. Time to work on some vegetarian recipes!

Add a Garden - I love gardening of all kinds: veggies, fruit trees, butterflies, roses, basically, I've never met a plant I didn't like. This year, I'm going to add a new garden somewhere in the yard. 

Whatever your plans are for 2019, getting in the garden is always a fun way to spend some time. So make some resolutions and have some fun.

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