Wishing you a Happy New Year!

I wish you all a wonderful new year! I hope the old year was a good one for all of you. I think it was a good one for my family. Of course there were challenges and I don't think I will ever accomplish all I hope to during the year, but today shouldn't be one for regrets, but for reflecting and refreshing.

I wanted to start it with some photos I took over the weekend in our garden. We have really enjoyed a break from the work that spring and summer brings. This winter garden has been a real pleasure, not too much work, very little weeding and a break from some of the bug problems we have in the summertime. This time it was just plant it and let it grow. We didn't have any high expectations for our winter crop but it has been quite a success.

For one thing we still are getting a little bit of broccoli -- and it is oh so good. Our Brussels sprouts were something we really didn't expect to harvest until spring but we have lately been surprised by how many miniature sprouts are growing along the stems.

In fact, I think we will be having Brussels sprouts this week. We never expected that! We should have, but we just didn't! We were just happy to let them grow as long as they needed to grow but suddenly, they are ready for harvest.

I think one night this week we will a nice meal with Brussels sprouts as the star of our meal. I didn't expect to have them so soon and I am so excited by the sudden growth. This has been the perfect winter crop because they took so little work and they look healthy bountiful.

Our collards have been good, but they are dwindling and above, a plant that looks great. Below, you can see that a few of the collard plants have been discovered by bugs. I read awhile back that if you expect to have organic vegetables you have to share a bit with the bugs and you might have some smaller vegetables but they with more flavor. I believe that is true.

This week, because of the successes of our winter crop, I will be ordering a few things to plant in February. This year I want to have plenty of pea pods and a few early spring veggies like carrots. I have been looking at all the spring gardening catalogs and I may just go to one of their websites after I finish here and order some seeds to plant and to start for spring. This is the perfect time to make a fresh start.