2009 already?

I almost can't believe that 08 is behind us. And yet, here I sit, January again, but this time with my little Honey playing happily next to me. She's a wonder, but more on that in a minute.

This time of year on the farm is all about planning, since the weather is either too forboding or too unpredictable to do much in the field. I've been working on garden plans (both for the house and the field), butchering schedules, delivery schedules, website changes, and just plain ole time management stuff. The big things on the horizon this year? Well, first, we're likely going to start work on a new house for ourselves. Travis has been planning our house in some capacity for years, so its with eager and measured enthusiasm that I look forward to the project. If everything goes as hoped, we'll break ground just down the road from where we live now in mid to late march. (Trav wants to have the LR marathon behind him first), then with the help of some returning, fabulous ranch volunteers, get the whole thing (mostly) wrapped up by fall. I'm just so excited to see what he has in mind for our first hand-made home, but also a little nervous about the enormity of the task. I worry a little about the inevitable tiffs that will come with the countless decisions to be made. Travis has built many, many houses now, whereas I have been involved in building exactly zero houses, so I have to have faith in him and the strength of our relationship. I trust him so much.

Also this year, I get the pleasure of welcoming one Betsy Conner into the Farm Girl family. Having just completed her degree in Poultry Sciences up in Fayetteville, she's coming home to Perryville to play farm! We're still working out the exact details of the partnership, but in essence, she'll helm the gardens and laying hens while I'll handle the pigs, sheep, goats, and broilers under the Farm Girl Natural Foods name. I know I should be a little more low key about my enthusiasm, but I am just filled to the brim with excitement over this. Professionally, produce and eggs will be a sorely lacking leg of the business. It seems like every other email is a request involving either veggies or ovum. Personally, I love Betsy. Easy going, hard working, dear friend. My days now can get long, monotonous, and lonely (don't worry, I love my life, I promise). Unfortunately, Honey's not yet much of a conversationalist, let alone a farm hand, so I'm thrilled to maybe get a little friendship injection in my day-to-day. Plus, I think we could work together really well. Calm down, Katie, time will tell.

2009 also brings a move to the Certified Arkansas Farmer's Market. Again, there are details to work out here with Betsy, but I'm planning on at least making my meat deliveries to this market in lieu of Brooke & Trevor's porch, which worked great, but has a few less perks than the market. At the market we'll be able to attract walk-up customers (which will hopefully translate to more sales) as well as more publicity. I don't have aspirations to be a giant corporation, but we definitely haven't hit our production potential yet. The "Certified" part of the market name has to do with the dissapointing reality that the main market in central Arkansas has many vendors that sell produce fresh from the barges, not fresh from their fields. They obviously don't publicize this fact, since the market customers attend the market to participate in the local foodshed. In a move to better support local farmers, and to provide better service to customers, an alternative market has been started where there is a certification to prove that you do, in fact, produce your products in the state of Arkansas. Also, their by-laws are much more producer friendly than the River Market farmer's market, so it's an easy decision on my part which market to attend.

The final big thing in 09? MY PARENTS ARE MOVING TO LITTLE ROCK!! There's a lot of emotion here, since they will be moving out of my childhood home, away from the town from which I sprang, and into my new, very different, corner of the country. I am, however, ELATED. It's been hard to be a stay at home mom with my first baby away from my main support network, ie my parents. We're lucky that they have been able to travel out here several times a year since I moved and settle here, but there's no substitute for regular mommy time. I'm looking forward to simple things, like grocery shopping with my mom, or working in the garden with my dad, and also the free babysitting. I want my kids to know their grandparents in a casual way that I never got with my grandparents. Mine have always been on the other side of the country which meant holidays were it. Four or five days a year to soak up a person is just not enough.

And now Honey, oh Honey. I couldn't imagine an easier baby. She doesn't cry or poop very often, she's easy going, easy to please, sleeps well. In short, perfect. 7 months old already. I can't believe how quickly and beautifully she's growing. Everyday she discovers a new skill, well really I should say I discover she's developed a new skill since she's so blase about it all. For example, she just recently learned that things exist when she can't see them. I try to hide my cell phone behind my leg and she climbs over me to find it where 2 days ago (literally), out of site meant it had completely disappeared. She doesn't crawl yet, and doesn't seem to have many aspirations towards independant movement. She's content, for the most part, to sit (with perfect posture) and inspect things within her reach, especially food things. Forgive me my bragging, but its an unfortunate condition indemic to motherhood...

Honey mimics me when I stick my tongue out, sing, or do something with my hands. Recently she's decided that unless I've been eating something, there's no reason to do more than taste something new, which means she eats what I eat. And by eat, I mean gum into mush or mess. Since she seems so keen on copying me, I'm trying to start a little baby sign language with her. I got a book on Amazon some time ago that features simplified ASL signs to help pre-verbal babies communicate more effectively. Of course, I have a pretty good sense of what she wants without sign language, but I'm excited about having more precise communication with her. The way it works is that before presenting her with something, I make the sign for it while saying the word. For example, when its nursing time, before letting her latch on I make sure she sees me make the sign for milk. My small vocabulary also includes signs for "more", "enough/done", "bath", "mom", "dad", "water", and "dog". They say in the book that the first few signs are the hardest to learn, but once Honey makes the connection that they mean something, she'll start using and picking up signs like wildfire.

She LOVES music. I said earlier she sings with me, which is no exageration. If I sing a song 3 or 4 times in a row, she'll follow the melody with me for a few more repetitions. This blew me away when I discovered it a couple days ago, hearing her sing along with the music for the menu page of a dvd movie while I got us a snack in the other room. Having a baby is like getting the best new gadget ever and then constantly discovering it has amazing features you never noticed before. She acts as though she's been able to do this all along, while I am constantly baffled and enthralled. She also dances in rythm with music on the stereo. It's hard not to imagine that she'll be some world famous musician or dancer of some kind, music seems to just speak to her so deeply since she was brand new.

She also "talks" to me constantly. She talks to objects to, but when she's talking to a person she seems to have distinct words and phrasing as well as a look of serious intent. Again, its hard to shake the feeling that she's being very deliberate and clear and its my fault I don't understand her language. Yet another reason I'm curious to see if we can get this signing thing going.
So I may get a little lonely for adult interaction sometimes, but I am never ever ever tired of watching my beautiful daughter chrystalize into a full size person. It's amazing. I wouldn't willingly trade this for anything.