2013 Goals & Giveaway

lil, rachel, alex picture hawaiiLast year was a busy one, as always, for our family. We some of our 2012 goals by traveling to San Salvador Island, Bahamas and the Big Island of Hawaii with extended family and we finally moved to a new homestead-to-be. The stress of moving, an injury, a major summer storm, and some minor illnesses kept us from being as healthy as we would have liked. In my individual pursuits, I joyfully provided freelance web services for Watershed Distillery and City Folk's Farm Shop and represented Swainway Urban Farm at farmers' markets. The American Dairy Association Mideast and Pork Checkoff provided me with tours of farms and facroties to learn more about food production. I reached hundreds of people through classes at Franklin Park Conservatory and City Folk's Farm Shop and programs with Granville Homesteading group, Clintonville Farmers' Market, and the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. I love this work because it provides me chances to exercise my educator muscles and interact with creative, smart, supportive people.

Alex, Lil and I are excited to turn over a new leaf (or, in more appropriate seasonal terms, shovel a new path) in 2013. We want to fulfill the potential of our new homestead and continue to grow strong bodies and minds. In 2013, we hope for and will work towards:

-a garden and hoophouse full of produce -a pantry full of preserved goods -eating meat we raise and slaughter on our property -collecting more eggs from more chickens -a way to offer unusual but important workshops on demystifying guns and meat animal slaughter -a more energy-efficient home -better health through lower stress and homestead exercise -travel to new places within our city and beyond -an updated name and website to more accurately reflect our new activities beyond the kitchen

City Folk's Farm Shop gave me three beautiful Igloo Letterpress 2013 wall calendar posters to ring in the new year for some lucky readers.

Enter to win by sharing one goal you have for 2013 in the comments. Be sure to leave an email address so that we may contact you if random.org picks you as a winner. The contest will be open until January 12, 2013. We will pay shipping to anywhere in the world, so enter away foreign friends.

From our homestead to yours, here's to a fulfilling new year!