New Year, New Blog, Same Farm

I'm not really a "New Year's Resolution" maker type of person. It's not so much that I don't feel like I'm disciplined enough, or that I make impossible resolutions - I just FORGET. I don't remember to make one, or if I do, I don't remember what it was that I decided I would do in the new year. I think one year I "resolved" to get a puppy, but didn't. I definitely remember resolving to not stay up for the ball drop next year a few times - I'm an "early to bed, I guess try to rise early too but ugh my bed is so cozy..." kind of person.

For 2020, I was in bed by 9:30. I did wake up briefly just after midnight because Willow saw her reflection in the window and barked at it, so my New Year started briefly terrifying, then annoying, then I went back to sleep. Since I can never remember what it was that I wanted to do, this year I made a new to-do list in addition to my running to-do list in my phone and the joint Charles/Emma to-do/grocery list on the fridge whiteboard. If you're reading this blog and don't already know me, you may find this list boring (well, you may find it boring regardless):

1. Create the blog that friends and family have been encouraging me to do for years, only to be met with excuses like "I don't have time" and "No one would read it anyway" and "Aren't blogs very 2013?". I spent all day formatting an Excel spreadsheet for work that no one will ever see except me, then didn't save any of my changes and closed it because I'll make it again with tomorrow's data. Surely, I have time. If no one reads it, well, maybe I'll find it entertaining in the same way I find Facebook Memories, years down the line (or possibly do what I do with many Facebook Memories, which is to delete them out of embarrassment because why did I think it was okay to put angsty attention-seeking "Emma is having a shit day...don't want to talk about it" statuses up???). Are blogs not a thing anymore? Maybe, but I also spend a lot of free time on baking blogs skipping the life stories for the recipes. I promise to not put my life story on recipes, for the record.

2. Redesign the Red Bird Farm logo because the idea is good but the execution could use some work. Should I pay a professional to do it? Probably. Am I going to? Absolutely not. (That could be the story of my life, honestly. See also, reshingling my roof in July, removing degraded insulation from the barn ceiling, shipping the farm from CT to MD...)

3. Compete Maya at Loch Moy - specifically, my friend Tara and I have set a goal to enter the "Cross Derby" in March, which is where Loch Moy Farm opens their giant ring space into one super-ring and mixes cross-country jumps with stadium jumps. They have costumes for each event - the December one was Christmas themed, the January one is Roaring 20s and looks to be shaping up to have a lot of riders with flapper dresses over their breeches on tolerant horses. I'm hoping the March one is Saint Patrick's Day themed, because despite owning little to no green items, Maya looks great in green. This one is more of a real resolution, because it actually means "get your ass in shape and ride even when the weather isn't perfect", since we can't just show up out of a field and expect my poor mare to truck our out-of-shape butts around a full length course.

4. Make a recipe book - I'm not trying to publish a cookbook of original recipes, oh no. In a desperate attempt to organize myself, I want to turn my yard sale Lisa Frank Magical Pony binder into a place where the things I make can live. First, I save recipes literally everywhere - Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, screenshots in my phone, pictures my mom sends me, print outs that are probably in a paper pile on my "crafts" table (please note, this table is simply a pile of stuff I think could be craft related maybe, but also contains bills, tennis balls, a stick-on bra I bought for a wedding but forgot to pack, the recovery codes to my GitHub account, and some textbooks from college), dog-eared cookbooks scattered throughout the house...you get the point. I want it in one spot, so when Charles asks "when you make stuffed peppers, what do you put in them?", I can answer with something other than "I have no idea!"

5. Make Sourdough - I've been making bread lately, and when I say that, I mean I've made like four loaves of King Arthur's No Knead Crusty White Bread, and every time I think "this is good but I wish I made sourdough". Following that thought is Googling how to make sourdough, seeing that the starter takes a week or more to get going, and saying "eh I'll try that next time." Spoiler: there's been no next time. So, once, in the next 366 days, I'm going to make some damn sourdough. I started my starter this afternoon, so as long as I don't forget and kill it, I may be able to accomplish this one early.

6. Try out wood carving - this one should be interesting. The handmade gifts that Charles and I made for Christmas were almost all wood-based. Charles did the tricky stuff, I did most of the painting onto already cut wood. I did make myself a desk for my new job, since the new laptop has a teeny screen and I spend a lot more time in giant Excel docs at this job than I did at my last, requiring a very non-work-from-bed-friendly monitor. This seemed like a good crafty activity I could get into without needing to buy a lot of supplies! (wrong) Then, Charles got a couple Harbor Freight gift cards, we found a coupon that didn't exclude the brand we were looking at, I had to coerce the manager into accepting it because Harbor Freight realized they fucked up and didn't intend to put a "premium" brand on their 25% off coupon, and now we have a big ass lathe in the garage. I also have a piece of sentimental wood that I'd like to make some things out of, because I realize it could be odd to just have a 2 foot section of a beam sitting in my house indefinitely.

I'm excited to see what 2020 has in store for the farm. We have a million projects of all sizes to do, on top of our regular day-to-day stuff, and I'll be interested to see what improvements we complete this year. Charles and I opened our Etsy shop in mid December and have sold ONE item - big exciting thing for us - but maybe the wood carving becomes a huge passion and we expand that a lot. Or maybe it's just fun and we don't do anything with it. As long as we come out of the year with the same number or higher of lives as we started (two humans, nineteen animals) and the same number or higher of buildings on the property (one house, two barns), I'll be happy. Here's to a sound, healthy, busy, and entertaining year!