Little Homestead Year End Review

Little Homestead Year End Review-
I was reading last year's year in review 2016 Year and it was in fairly sharp contrast to this year. Last year we did a lot of structural building, home improvements, the normal other tasks as well. This year was different, no major home improvements, no big medical issues, just final recovery from thumb surgery, that was nice! I changed jobs within my company which was a much better fit. Dave got laid off his job, but we had the skill set to survive and not lose any money during the process. For the 49 days it lasted we had vacation/severance pay, extra food, cash and really cut expenses. It really reaffirmed the path we're on. We didn't take a vacation we had hoped for but squeezed in a couple of day trips.  I decided after blogging for many years to start bringing in some income from it. I became an Amazon affiliate. I've been invited recently by a local large public library In Meridian to do a class on blogging in January, so that will be fun! I hope to teach some urban homesteading classes next spring/summer, time will tell. There's a few things in the fire then. And now.... here's a little review of this last year!

We started the year with SNOW, SNOW and more SNOW, Boise's Snowmageddon-

And it did!

Walk to the coop

 Dave shoveling the front drive, again

Near record breaking snowfall hit Boise and the surrounding areas hard. Bitter cold and slippery conditions. Challenges but we survived and thankful we both had short commutes to work. I fell in a parking lot at work, luckily no major injuries. It was so pretty, but a lot of maintenance issues in the valley. This year Dave is driving much further, so am hoping for a calmer winter. We already have some snow this month of December, with a white Christmas!

Christmas Day 2017

We had another new addition to the family in Dec. 2016, Oliver-

He joined River, his cousin, and became our second Grandchild. We called him the "winter wizard" since it started snowing when Angela went into labor, and kept going. We've spent a lot of time with him babysitting every other Saturday for a half day, while Mom and Dad worked. We're happy it's now going to a few hours every other Sunday. He's just starting to walk, what fun!

River and Oliver having some summer fun

I had fun doing some thrift store shopping for them-

I discovered Hygge, which fit in with my fondness for Scandinavian culture-

We had pretty great food production this year, except for the tomatoes. With our cold, wet spring many of the nurseries had poor supplies of starts.  We had a good harvest of peppers, beans, herbs, kale, collard greens, apples, peaches and pears. Every year is different, I have learned that! We had a GREAT harvest of apples, peaches and pears-

 Peaches that I froze and canned

Peach jams

Great apple harvest after the previous poor year, canned slices and applesauce

  

It was a great feeling filling up the canning rack and the freezer

Hens free ranging

Chillin' in the heat in the shade

Summer veggie garden

Pumpkins and beans

Took a day trip to McCall in the summer

  

 Anniversary trip to McCall in the winter this time

Sweetie pie Anya on her favorite blankie, again

On her favorite chair, again

And in the basin