Thursday, December 31, 2015

Thank-Yous for 2015 & Hopes for 2016


A year that began badly, with Nancy injured from a workplace fall, could not end better. She is walking well, and working hard to resume hiking and other outdoor sports. It was great to see her again in Yoga class!

On the farm things also came along well. We show a modest profit for 2015, our second year in business as Beepasture Farms, LLC. Next year we will ramp up production of Thai Dragon hot peppers and add Kabocha squash to our crop for restaurant customers.

We expanded our flock of chickens to 10, with four pullets recently acquired from the fine folks at Eden Farms. If you live around here and need chickens or supplies, get out and support them.

Daniel, Jen, and Dominic really worked hard on our property to fill in when Nan was under the weather. Many thanks and blessings to them all.

Mugsy gets a shout-out for helping me find the perfect livestock guardian, Vela, who watches over the flocks and has already sent a whistle-pig to groundhog heaven. She gets on well, and is adored by, Max and Mo, the kittens we adopted this year.

I am thankful to Nan and to AJ out in Washington State. She did not murder me and he got me a good car at a fair price. I bought a 1974 Buick Apollo, set up for street racing; it's a far more potent version of the car that I first drove as a teen. I'm writing a series of articles about getting and restoring the car for Hemmings Daily.

For 2016 my biggest hopes are vast. I'd like to see the nations that just bellied up to the bar in Paris actually begin to take action on global climate change, the biggest existential threat to our civilization.

Other than that, it would be delightful to have some additional clarity on neonic pesticides. I'm waiting to see what the moratorium in Europe does to bee populations.

Finally, and this is a small and probably attainable hope, I want to see the momentum for local food and slow food continue to grow in America. Yes, we can.

Okay, this is starting to sound like one of those Christmas letters. Peace out and happy 2016.