Today is the start of a new year and a new month. I feel optimistic. The seeds came in for the spring garden and each seed represents the hope and promise of good things to come!

What is on the menu for today? I am cooking a duck gumbo to bring to work tomorrow. The guys marked it on the calendar to make sure I'd remember. It's hard to find good sausage out here, and even harder to find andouille, but I found some and that fact is very encouraging, LOL. Usually, we have family members bootleg good cooking supplies from down south, but its nice to know that I can at least get those two items locally now. But to eat for today we are having corn beef, cabbage, and black eyed peas. That is our traditional New Year's Day fare. It is supposed to bring good luck. Oh, and I'll try to make another cornbread with grits, and another pie - but this time I'm using store bought crust. It's good to know I ~can~ make it if I have to, but I sure like being able to buy it from the grocery when I'm in a pinch for time.

Plans for this year not only include an awesome garden for our CSA members and our family, but also include getting Comanche ready for me to ride. He'll be 2 in May and although I don't want to ride him much yet because I like to wait until he is 3 for regular riding, he is old enough to learn to carry my weight and follow commands. So we'll start with the ground work when the weather gets nicer and from time to time I'll sit on him and let him get used to that feeling. He's such a good boy already that I don't think this will be too hard for him. When he's 3 I want to start using him to get me and my supplies out to my ginseng patch and forest gardens. I also want to get a buckboard wagon fitted to him so I can pull a vegetable cart to the farmer's market if the economy all comes tumbling down anytime soon, LOL. But he's not a stocky horse and may not be built for that kind of labor. I'd love to have a draft horse for that sort of thing, though.