At the beginning of every year, I start planning my garden. I choose seeds by determining which ones are best for this zone, which are disease and pest resistant, how long it takes until they produce the desired food, etc. A lot of consideration goes into it – and then it’s still just a guessing game.

The peas came up thick and nice – and then they just sat there. They refused to bloom. I was ready to tear them up to free up space for something that might produce, but then I saw one or two blossoms, so they got a reprieve. I waited. Nothing else happened. No more blossoms and no peas on the vine – which means no peas in the freezer. I pulled them out and planted some ornamental corn so at least we will have Indian corn and corn stalks for decorating this fall.

Other plants – like the beans – have taken off! In fact – they need to STOP! I pick colanders full of beans every morning and have them in the freezer by each night. The freezer is  full of beans.

The squash are going crazy. We’ve been eating zucchini every week and I can see that we’ll be eating acorn squash and butternut squash all winter long.

The tomatoes I can’t quite figure out. The Big Beef slicing tomatoes are doing great. They are big and juicy and plentiful. The San Marzano are few and far between and the ones we do get are empty inside. Most years the garden overflows with cherry tomatoes – this year we only get a handful or so each day. Unless my Amish paste tomatoes come through, we won’t be making much sauce this year.

The star of the garden has been the potatoes. Last year I got tiny potatoes – barely larger than the pieces of potato that I planted in the first place. This year, I tried some other varieties and gave them more space to grow. We now have 36 pounds of really nice potatoes – and some small ones too that are always fun for smashed potatoes cooked in bacon fat until they are crispy and ridiculously fattening!

And who knows what else we will get before the growing season is over.

To take a line from Old MacDonald’s farm – we now have goats here, there and everywhere. I’m not sure how that happened. We had just two goats – Heidi and Peter. They are brother and sister. Heidi is a year-old doe, and Peter is a castrated male (because male goats stink and are aggressive, and we just needed a companion for Heidi). But, I thought we needed to add another doe. We were in search of a baby so it would be a year younger than Heidi – to liven things up around here. And, because eventually I’d like to have goats to milk so I can make cheese for something to do in my old age – so I need females (does) to make babies and give milk. You know, Biology 101.

A friend sent me a link on Facebook to some sweet looking babies at a farm about an hour from here; we piled into the truck with Arianna, took a dog crate with us and off we went. Somewhere along the way, our plans derailed and we came home with two one-year-old does. They were so cute, how could we say no. Hei-Hei (which is weirdly close to Heidi) took an immediate liking to Arianna and followed her everywhere. We didn’t want Hei-Hei to be lonely and feel left out when we introduced her to Heidi and Peter – so it seemed like Hei-Hei should bring a friend. Rory is also a year-old goat with a shiny black coat. We renamed her Black Beauty.

Black Beauty was a bit more skeptical of us and needed some coaxing to leave her pen, so we decided it was safest to put her in the dog crate. With two goats to transport home, Hei-Hei got to ride in the backseat of the truck with Arianna who didn’t seem to mind sharing the ride.

When Hei-Hei and Black Beauty met Heidi and Peter there was some excitement in the barnyard.  Everyone was running around, checking each other out and butting head; but then Pono (the miniature horse) kicked up his hooves, reminded everyone that he “rules the roost,” and everyone settled down. Now, they are inseparable, bunking together in the barn, grazing together in the pasture and giving Pono a headache as he tries to keep track of four goats!

And what to our wondering eyes did appear – but a new barn! It’s a pole barn with a gravel floor; perfect for storing all those extra “implements” we seem to have collected since we’ve been here on the farm. There is plenty of room for the big tractor, the lawn tractor, the grader, the tiller and a myriad of other things like spare bee equipment.

But the barn isn’t all about farm implements – it also has a loft… with a ship’s ladder to make it easy to climb up there. And once you’re up there, the little window gives a bird’s eye view over the tree tops. It’s the perfect place to hang out with Arianna – and Hannah too when she gets a bit older.

The barn came festooned with Christmas wreaths – the perfect touch for the holiday season. And now I’m looking forward to spring when we can pull all those farm implements out of the barn and get busy in the garden!