My 22 Goals for 2019
Goal #1 — Spend More Time Doing What I Love
This past week there was a comfortable mix of gardening, checking out local greenhouses, working on wool projects, and I was even able to squeeze in something new in the pottery department. It was a good week. 🙂
Goal #2 — Garden, Garden, Garden
This morning Lucy chased a wild turkey out of the yard, she was so happy! Soon the bunnies will be back for their daily visits and the voles will be playing underground and Lucy will be back doing her hourly patrols and keeping the garden critter free, well, at least during the daylight hours that is.
In other gardening news, I finally broke down and bought a dozen tomato cages. I didn’t want to do it, but last year I tried growing my own tomatoes on handmade stakes and it just didn’t turn out so well. Maybe this winter I can search the internet and come up with something.
We still have about 50% of the garden to prep, but we’re getting there. Once we can get all the stumps and vines out, it would be nice to go back to the lasagna gardening method. We are still pulling out poisonous plants and shrubs, so it will be a while.
Goal #3 — Plant an Orchard
We bought a Meyer lemon tree! Isn’t she beautiful!?
The peeps at Snug Harbor Farm suggested we leave lemon inside until around the end of May and then it should be safe to bring her outside to bask in the sunshine.
Goal #4 — Gussy Up the Potting Shed Done!
Any ideas on what I should plant in the giant galvanized tub? I’m looking for something that likes a lot of sun, and will trail down the sides. The again, it might be kind of fun to plant some sort of vine {mini gourd or pumpkin maybe and have them spread out along the top of the potting shed roof.
Goal #5 — Grow Enough Extra Vegetables, Eggs and Flowers to Earn $1500 at my little roadside vegetable stand.
I won’t have anything to sell for a few more weeks at my little stand {still waiting for the lilac and peonies to bloom} but we did move {most of} the seedlings out to the greenhouse yesterday.
We’ve also been working on tidying up the area on the side of the greenhouse and adding a rock border to the area but I still have no idea what I am going to plant there. That particular spot gets A LOT of sunshine so I might plant a few packets of dwarf sunflowers there but I’m still not sure.
Goal #6 — Finish Every Single Unfinished Rug Hooking Project in My Pattern Bin + 10 Things from back Issues of Magazines/Books I’ve Been Meaning to Make.
I’ve been so busy working on a giant rug, that I didn’t get anything new hooked up for my Etsy Shop update on May, 3rd.
I started the year off with:
- 73 rugs {now down to 55}
- 183 hooked flowers {finished 73, now down to 110}
- 10 “things” from back issues of magazines {finished 0}
Goal #7 — Create 12 New Rug Hooking Patterns {with at least half of them being large ones}
6 down, 6 to go! If all goes as planned, I’ll have 3 new patterns to add to my Etsy shop in May. Including this big chicken rug which I am SUPER excited about!
New Rug Hooking Patterns I’ve Created And Added to My Etsy Shop This Year:
Goal #8 — Split and Stack 2 Cords of Wood for Next Winter
Nothing to report.
Goal #9 — Do Something with the 5,002 Photos on My Phone
I still have 8 months, right?
Goal #10 –Lose the Muffin Top
Working theory: Muffy will just fall off during gardening season.
Goal #11 — Run, Walk or Crawl a 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon
Goal #12 — Read or Listen to 26 New Books {11 down, 15 to go}
Last week I finished The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner {it was good}. Last night I finished up Walden by Henry David Thoreau {excellent!} and tonight I’ll start on Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate.
I am waiting my turn on the library wait list for the following audio books:
- The Long Winter
- The Four Tendencies
- Bunny Mellon {this will be my second time}
- Grateful American
Books I’ve Read or Listened to So Far This Year:
- Marilla of Green Gables #1 Favorite
- Secrets of a Charmed Life #2
- Where’d You Go, Bernadette #3
- Carnegie’s Maid #4
- The Alice Network #5
- The Shape of Mercy #6
- Will’s Red Coat #7
- Walden
- Finder’s Keepers
- Delicious!
- Following Atticus
Goal #13 — Try 52 New Recipes.
12 down, 40 recipes to go.
Last week I made a new Baked Bean recipe.
Goal #14 — Clean Up 52 Old Recipes on the Blog
Seven recipes down, 45 to go. I need to get going on this goal.
Goal #15 — Fill 100 Canning Jars 34 down, 66 to go.
I absolutely love the way this cupboard looks.
And I am currently working on my stash of jams for my little vegetable stand. And because I know someone will ask, those quirky little half pint, almost square jars are made by the Anchor Hocking Company. 🙂
So far this year I’ve I canned:
- 15 jars of Carrot Cake Jam
- 15 jars of Spiced Pear Jam {recipe coming soon}
- 4 jars of Almond Pears.
Goal #16 — Finish Furnishing Our House
There is nothing new to report this week, but we did move things around in the morning room and Miss Lucy was happy to have her couch back. Also, eating breakfast in that room, is pretty cool.
Furniture pieces I’m still on the hunt for:
Coffee table for the family room- Console, cupboard or sideboard for the one and only tv in our house which is in the family room. I could totally live without a television, but my husband says the tv stays.
Long rectangular table for the craft room.- Table for the formal dining room {We moved the kitchen table to the dining room and so mow we are looking for a table for the kitchen/keeping room area}.
- 2 wing back chairs for the family room.
- I’d also like to decorate the mantel in the keeping room as well as put up some sort of decoration above the other 3 fireplaces in the house. I’m not one for a lot of things on the walls, but it would be nice to throw up a little pilgrim bling on the plaster.
Goal #17 – 52 Dates with the HH {15 down, 37 to go}
This past week we visited 4 different greenhouses, went out to lunch once and bought a lemon tree. I tried to convince the HH we needed ducks, but he said no.
Goal #18 — Take One Adult Education Class
I’ll be taking my first class of the year next weekend and I am super excited. A little nervous too because WHAT IF I’M NOT GOOD AT IT? It will make me crazy.
Goal #19 — Secret {for now} Holiday Project
Still a secret. I suspect I’ll get started on my new idea sometime in May. I have given myself a deadline of the middle of September though.
Goal #20 — Create 12 Wowie Zowie Party Platters
3 down, 9 to go.
Goal #21 — Visit 12 General Stores
3 down 9 to go.
We had plans to GO INTO a general store this week but as we approached the store the parking lot was totally full and with no off street parking, the HH didn’t want to circle back so I didn’t get to go in. 🙁 Husbands.
So far this year we’ve visited:
- Zeb’s General Store in North Conway, New Hampshire
- Dan and Whit’s in Norwich, Vermont
- Hussey’s General Store in Windsor, Maine
Goal #22 — Compete with Carole….. Get on My Front Door Game On
I need to get my front door game on, so here is a picture of Mrs. HB’s front door. This goal, in the middle of winter sounded like a good one, but now, it has sort of slipped to the back of my mind.
Front Door Bling I’ve Made So Far This Year to Compete with Carole:
- Late January : Valentine Heart
- Late February : Shamrock
- Late March : Giant Carrot
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How about YOU? What are your goals for 2019? If you told us about them HERE, check in! We want to know how you are doing. Because seriously, it’s so much easier to get those goals checked off your list when you have people rooting for you! 🙂
♥ Mavis
You can read more about my 22 goals for 2019 HERE.
Pauline in Upstate NY says
Hi Mavis, do you know what those plants with the gigantic leaves are that you are standing in the middle of? Please tell me it’s not giant hogweed, which is extremely dangerous to touch… (Should it actually be hogweed, leave it alone and get professional help to remove it — it’s not an amateur’s job.). Still looking for spring here — it snowed off & on yesterday (sigh…)
Mavis Butterfield says
The plant is Great Gunnera. 🙂
Tamara says
I really enjoy your blog, even though I am exhausted each week after reading about your activities! I admit, when I used to hear “lasagna gardening” I thought it was simply planting herbs & vegetables that go into making lasagna! Ha! After your post this morning I looked it up and we are going to try it this year instead of building garden boxes. You provide so many ideas and inspiration – just wished my physical energy matched my mental energy! 🙂
Mavis Butterfield says
Don’t forget the noodles! 🙂
Emily E. says
Hi Mavis! Your potting shed is adorable! I vote for sunflowers beside it and for the giant tub beside the front of it, I like the idea of mini gourds or pumpkins because that would be a perfect way to decorate for fall without having to decorate. It would be nice to add some sweet potatoes for lovely trailing vines and you would get sweet potatoes too! I also really like nasturtiums because they are easy to grow from seed, are bright and cheery, edible, and there leaves look like mini lily pads! I can’t wait to see what you plant!
Nancy says
I was thinking loofa gourds or birdhouse gourds would be pretty growing there.
Jen says
Any chance that was HB Provisions? it can get rough with maybe 15 spots…. Love your Meyer lemon tree! Mine loved being outside last summer but they can get a little sad in the winter.
Mavis Butterfield says
No, but I’ve been there before for tea. 🙂 That whole coffee/tea center island thing was confusing at first but I have it down now. 🙂 I love the spot it’s in and that you can walk around and see cool stuff no matter where you park there.
Jen says
I still don’t understand the center island!but we love HB and it’s around the corner so I deal with it.
Mim says
Mavis, this was probably on the instructions that came with the lemon tree, but you need to hand-pollinate those blossoms until it gets outdoors where the bees can do the job for you. It’s pretty easy and my tree (much smaller than yours — I have tree envy looking at yours) is now loaded with fruit as a result.
Enjoy the week. Supposed to be in the low 20’s here in VT tonight!
Sue R. says
RE: tomato support–We made circle cages from concrete reenforcing mesh years ago and they are still going strong. Cut, shape into circle, bend the wires to hold themselves together and use. I leave them outside in the winter and they have rusted but not lost their strength. I put them on when I plant so no damage to the plant later on as they grow. You can search on the internet for better instructions. (There is some initial cost but they last so many years that it is negligible over time.)
Pauline in Upstate NY says
A strong second to this suggestion — we have some rusty-looking but very functional ones that we’ve been using for well over 10 years! We just pull them up at the end of the season, brush the dirt off, and store them outside under cover so they’re not coverered with snow. The only drawback is that, due to their cylindrical shape, they do take up a lot of space to store. But, since the cages are so tall, those non-determinant varieties that just keep growing & growing stay well off the ground.
Christa H. says
Love those giant leaves!!! Wonder if that grows here in NC?
Week 17 of 52:
1. Establish our farm- had our first party at the farm! My brother’s welcome home from Afghanistan. He’s in the military. Everyone enjoyed checking out the farm, garden, trails, and the water. I cooked for two days!
I picked up the last load of items that needed to be moved. It was a bunch of garden potted plants and tomato cages and stuff that I had left at my neighbors house since we didn’t have a placed to store them at the apartment when our previous house sold. I forgot how much I had as everything filled up a huge work van. Now I am trying to decide where to put everything.
We had a reverse osmosis faucet installed next to the kitchen dishwashing sink.
A contractor visited yesterday. He will scrape, shape, and install more grey/white crush and run so we can add a storage building/carport tucked in the woods next to the house for our 65 Ford truck, mower and garden stuff. He will also start cutting down various old Christmas trees that need to be thinned. Our neighborhood was a former Christmas tree farm and we have around 3 acres of them in rows but they are extremely tall and too close together to survive 5-10 more years so some need to be removed for the health of them all.
2. Decide upon side hustles for farm money- honey for sure. Had five people in the last week ask me for some to buy. I did get a spinner for honey frames but haven’t put it together yet. I have about 12-15 frames with honey to harvest but they aren’t full.
3. Build a chicken coop- hoping to build it by the end of the year. I want to raise my own chicks and get a variety to have different egg colors to show my students.
4. Establish my bee/butterfly garden- I installed two bee packages by myself for the first time. I was scared to death I was going to screw up. One package I ordered had a dead queen in the queen cage. I called the store the next morning and dh drove over an hour to go get me a new queen since I was busy. I had to check to see how the bees would react to placing the new queen cage on the open hive. They looked like they were accepting her and not trying to kill her so I installed it. I checked a few days later and both queens were released from their cages and were active. I have marked queens this time so hopefully the bees will not remove their green mark so I can find them easily. Planning on opening the hives today to check on them.
5. Plan the fruit/vegetable/herb garden- we keep having conversations about where money should be first spent. I think I have him talked into garden fencing rather than a new mower. We do need a new mower at some point that cuts wider paths. We are also getting a quote for garden dirt. I have some wild violets that popped up so I dug up a lot of them and moved them to one area where they can spread and not get destroyed once the garden goes in. I’ll harvest them next year.
6. Grow broomcorn and mammoth sunflowers- bought seeds
7. Create a bee lawn on the west side of the house- bought seeds. Can you plant the seeds in the fall?
8. Start a fruit orchard- need to go back to the state farmers market
9. Create a sitting area near the beaver dam- have a bench but need to clear weeds
10. Begin a wish/prayer tree on the path to the beaver dam- decided on the tree
11. Water bath can at least 10 items- summer plans
12. Learn to use the pressure canner- summer plans
13. Ferment at least 10 items- summer plans; want to make kimchi
14. Try at least 10 new recipes- 4 of 10 done. Made your meatloaf recipe and it was the best I ever had! Also made fresh salsa and jalapeno ranch dip similar to Chuy’s restaurant and smacked cucumber salad with sumac onion and radishes. All are keepers.
15. Find and make a good Vietnamese beef pho recipe- summer plans; did unbox 4 large bowls to serve it in but one was chipped in the move
16. Get new pantry very organized- DONE. I do want to label some items with new stickers since I noticed some are yellowing from age.
17. Organize art supplies/paint glass jar lids- art room is half organized now. I spent 3 days over spring break working on this.
18. Hang art on the walls- 4 items are up
19. Inventory all my cookbooks so I know what I have- summer plans. The library book sale is this week and teachers get two boxes of free books so I know I’ll pick up more cookbooks. I just love reading them and sharing with my students.
20. Make Christmas ornaments and garland- summer plans
21. Make potpourri from foraged and garden items- summer plans
22. Finish at least 2 embroidery projects- summer plans
23. Make at least three paintings- bought canvases; organized paints
24. Find furniture for the screened porch- still looking
25. Get my Instagram up and running again-soon
Amy says
For your side hustle, could you delay thinning your Christmas trees until the holiday season and sell cut-your-own trees?
Christa H. says
That’s a great idea if they were normal size. I bet they are 50-70+ feet tall though.
kathy says
Here in WA state, trees like that would bring good money. Perhaps that is the case where you are? Worth looking into.
Lynne says
I had a friend like your neighbor Carol. She spent January and February buying or making her door bling for the year. Some got spruced up or used different colors to be used different months. Like you, she was far too busy the rest of the year.
Mel says
We use folding square tomato cages, which were a little expensive, but they hold up great, they’re easy to store, and they stay in the ground better than round ones for us. We have them in raised beds though, so I still need to get some stakes to lay across the top of the cages in between beds so we can mow between tomato jungles.
Could you make a gardening wreath until your hanging baskets or whatever are ready? My friend made me a wreath out of a short garden hose with a bow and some garden gloves on one edge. It’s what I put on our door this time of year until summer.
I’m still light on goals and heavy on baby chicks. They are 4 weeks old, and I cannot wait to get them out of the house. We also still need to order a second Eglu to hold them all.
Rebecca in MD says
I second the recommendation on the square tomato cages. I like the extra tall ones and love that they fold flat. At the end of the season we fold ours flat and lay them on top of the cardboard that we put on our raised beds for the winter. The cages have not rusted (because they are coated), and they keep the cardboard from blowing off during the winter. The cardboard keeps any weeds from germinating so the beds are ready to be planted first thing in the spring.
You can get the square cages from multiple sources, but I believe I got mine at Gardener’s Edge: https://www.gardenersedge.com/xl-tomato-cages-58-in-x-18-in-2-pack/p/VP-TC582/
Our experience with the round cages was that they weren’t beefy enough to support the tomatoes once they really got going. I use the round ones now for my peppers.
Mama Cook says
I saw a fun wreath made of seed packets. The Botanical Interest packets would look so beautiful on a wreath. When I saw Mrs HB’s front door, I thought, “Wow! Carol’s front door looks just like Mrs. HB’s!”
Thank you for buying tomato cages! I feel like it gives me permission!!! We did the “weave method” last year. I felt like it was too much work!!!!!
I LOVE the cupboard!!!! So beautiful!
Diane says
Look into building a few Japanese tomato rings. My dad built a few when I was little and we had huge tomato harvests. He used very heavy wire with squares (like for concrete?) and you basically make a compost pile inside the ring which feeds your tomatoes. Your tomatoes are placed around the outside so easy to reach the fruit.
Erin M says
Oh Mavis….I am so happy you are back in the Meyer Lemon game!!!!
Pj says
If you don’t plant an edible in the galvanized tub, consider geranium and million bells. They come in popping colors and the mIllion bells trail over the side of the container beautifully. I plant the geranium in the center and million bells around the edges.
Love Mrs. HB’s door!
amy says
mavis, check youtube for videos of the florida weave method for tomato plants. I thik you would love it!
bobbi says
Do you eat all your picky bits on the tray? 🙂 It looks wonderful!
Judybee says
Tell the HH that they are now putting round tires on cars now so you can turn around and go back! That was funny.
The large rug is looking good. Looking forward to to seeing the finished rug.
Sue says
Her name, of course, is Maya. Miss Maya Lemon. 🙂