Resolutions

PERSONAL ENRICHMENT
1. Try out one of my business ideas (or develop a new one and try it)
2. Make a farm fruits cookbook (several for each fruit type we grow).
3. Learn to sew - sewed a baby crib fitted sheet
4. Learn a new word starting with every word of the alphabet
   • Bees Knees - urban slang for awesome. That's the bees knees.
   • Chuffed - pleased with one's self. Presidential candidates are often chuffed with themselves for having proposed a solution to a problem, but typically lack substance or details on how to go about it.
   • Effeminate - marked by an unbecoming delicacy or overrefinement, having feminine qualities untypical of a man, not manly in appearance or manner.  
   • Frenetic - frenzied or frantic. I become frenetic, at times, when talking about topics important to me.
   • Nebulous - Lacking definite form, shape, or content. The Brooklyn Free School has a nebulous curriculum
   • Prodigious - Remarkably or impressively great in extent, size, or degree. D’Souza is a prodigious author of conservative tomes.
   • Revile - to criticize in an abusive or angrily insulting manner. Overspending during the current administration was reviled at the New Orleans Investment Conference. 
   • Troubadour - 11th-13th century poets in France, Spain, and Italy who composed songs of love.  
5. Take a dance class
6. Get flexible enough to lay my head and chest on legs (and maybe even do the splits, or almost)
7. Learn a new song on guitar
8. Learn a new song on the piano
9. Read 1 new non-fiction book - Read Deep Nutrition
10. Read 1 new classic
11. Stop watching tv more than 1 day in a row
12. Brush teeth at least twice/day
13. Floss everytime I brush
    
    FAMILY
14. Help daughter learn to drive a stick shift
15. Decorate nursery
16. Create a family cookbook
17. Find family history for Dad's dad
18. Sew something for baby
19. At least once per month, call an out of town family member on the phone
20. Take more photos of family
21. Have a family fun night (when not band/football season w/ practice and competition every night of week)
22. Start walking/hiking with mom and dad at least once/ 1 week
    
    FOOD
23. Encorporate fruits or veggies into breakfast every morning trying to include protein
24. Make hot breakfast at least every other day
25. Make homemade kefir
26. Try 3 new recipes by Julia Childs and/or Jacques Pepin
27. Try 3 new recipes from Cooking
28. Hunt (or at least obtain) a decent quantity of deer meat
29. Make homemade baby food
30. Make homemade pizza dough
31. Make cheese
32. Make sauerkraut
33. Juice at least 1/week
    
    NEED TODO
34. Organize photos on computer and make sure they're all online
35. Save up and maintain 3 months salary in bank/savings account
36. Clean out closet
37. Pay off credit card
38. Backup anything important from pc to offline hard-drive
    
    FARMING
39. Start and plant asparagus seed
40. Start and plant Louisiana Iris seeds
41. Start and plant pomegranate seeds
42. Plant another variety of pecan
43. Plant another variety of fig
44. Plant 2 more varieties of plum
45. Have a stand at farmers market at least once
46. Clean up 10 more fallen trees
47. Double the size of the cutting flower bed
48. Aquire a manure source (or other cheap organic fertilizer source)
49. Prune fruit trees
50. Add fresh layer of mulch around all trees
51. Obtain a trailer for hauling
52. Plant heirloom garlic
    
    NICE THINGS FOR OTHERS:
53. Do 3 nice things for other people, 1 for hubby
54. Be more encouraging
55. Write a letter to someone
56. Send a care package to someone
    
    OTHER
57. List 10 things that make me smile
58. Go to beach
59. Take 4 seasonal pictures of the property in the same place
60. Procrastinate less (thus waiting till September to post resolutions)

Monticello

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth" - Thomas Jefferson

This is one of the top 5 places I'd like to visit in the near future, being particularly interested in the orchard and obtaining a few heirloom fruit varieties in the process. Being an 8 acre orchard, it holds particular interest since that's approximately the amount of land we own. At one point, Thomas Jefferson had planted 1031 fruit tees: 38 varieties of peach, 27 of plum, 18 apple, 14 cherry, 12 pear, 7 almond, 6 apricot, 4 nectarine, and a quince. This is in addition to his vineyards and berry plots.

http://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/fruit-gardens

Pomegranate

Attempt #2 at propogating pomegranates. 1st time we tried with simply cuttings leaving some leaves on. This time we're trying cuttings (no leaves) AND seeds (crossing fingers). We got the fruit and stems from a friend's tree so we know it will grow well in the area. It's not as dark a red as I had hoped for, but hey, it's an experiment plus the fruit is still very delicious. The picture below is from bleeding espressor but is exactly what our pale seeds looked like.