One Year Old

Today is the anniversary of launching this blog. I looked back at my first month of blogging to see what I wrote and what I thought I would do with it.

I uploaded wordpress and tried out the software. Used a friend’s sunset pic, and off I went. I wrote mostly about my CSA the first month, and a few random posts. I didn’t know if I wanted to be a food blog …

my “frozen” pizza

… or if I wanted to post about retirement, or the west county where I live. Turns out, I run all over the place, so I suppose I fit most in the category of personal.

Life in retirement in west county keeps us busy, between hobbies, projects, volunteering and traveling just a bit. I settled on being a locavore, locapour, foodie, retiree. Too many interests? I think not. Add to that our birding, and amateur radio, and we keep out of trouble most days.

Life continues out here as we clean up the small mess the storm left behind. This puppy is one of our favorite purchases, as it becomes invaluable to me as a gardener.

the leaf vacuum, branch chipper, my mulching friend

Right now my better half is creating mulch from all the small tree limbs I collected off the property, for me to use to cover the garlic for the winter. The garlic has sprouted, so it needs a warm cover to overwinter. It obviously loved all that moisture the past week and came up with quickly. I noticed it this morning.

organic garlic planted in October

Besides the tree limbs, the mulched leaves turn into compost for us and our rake and take partner.

Also around here at home, the antennas were re-hung yesterday in advance of this weekend’s contest. I will be hitting markets and shopping, and my husband will be calling CQ. He got the 80 meter antenna up yesterday with a little help from me, and is now on all bands but 160 meters. Not bad with wires. The crank up towers should be going up soon, which will get him better directionality once he gets a beam or two in the air.

Obviously we have enough to do and I have enough to write about, just here in Howard County. Let’s see if I can continue to find inspiration and new topics, as well as report on what’s happening. Saturday I will be popping up to Glenwood market, then heading over to the Fairgrounds to check out the Craft Spectacular. Sunday, up to Olney to see how they are going to transition to an indoor market this winter. I want to talk to their organizers.

Out at the Conservancy, we are working on having a one day, market fest, winter style, in January. Who knows? Maybe we can get something going more often here in Howard County. Can’t hurt to look into it. At least, by having a market in Olney this winter at the Sandy Spring Museum, we have some local goodies to buy year round.

Another project I will love to put on my plate. Year round locavore. With lots of friends around here getting interested in supporting our farms, we could do this.

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