Are you thinking about the year past as we make our way into 2012?  If so, you are not alone as I think about all that transpired in 2011. It's been a year full of challenges as most of us grapple with a struggling economy and ever rising prices that make life increasingly difficult. 

Perhaps you've had personal challenges as well.  I know Mountain Man and I have.  This past year, I've grappled with some serious health issues affecting both my vision and my heart.  And while I've faced health challenges, Mountain Man and I have also struggled with the decision on whether or not to leave our beloved Vermont farm.  

But even though it's been a difficult year in many ways, it's also been an amazing year filled with the beauty of just being alive; of being able to step out into the world and see God's handiwork surrounding me. And if the ability to savor another day wasn't enough in itself,  I also have the incredible friendships I've made through my Grit blog; people I never would have met  otherwise who have taken the time to write to me and to leave me comments.  I'm so grateful for all of you and you have enriched my life in ways I can't adequately express.

I decided to create a video montage of some of my photos from the past year.  It's my gift to you who have become so incredibly special to me.  Thank you again for making 2011 a fantastic year for me and Mountain Man and the kids of Red Pine Mountain.

A Missouri FFA chapter has won the grand prize worth more than $8,000 in a seven-state competition that encouraged FFA chapters to connect with farmers in their local communities.

West Plains High School’s FFA chapter won the 2011 FFA Chapter Challenge, a pilot competition sponsored by Monsanto. The chapter will be able to send six students and an adult advisor on an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2011 National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. The chapter will also receive $1,500 in credit with the National FFA Organization to help pay for FFA-related activities and expenses throughout the year.

West Plains earned 469 votes. Lawrence County High School’s FFA chapter in Moulton, Ala., and John Glenn High School’s FFA chapter in Walkerton, Ind., were the closest competitors, finishing with 416 and 407 votes, respectively.

The top 10 FFA chapters in each state that earned the most votes also received a $1,500 line of credit with FFA. Monsanto is also awarding each of the seven state FFA organizations a $1,500 grant for participating in the competition.

Since March 7, FFA chapters in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Georgia and Alabama sent members into their communities to meet local farmers, learn about their operations and connect with them by sharing what their FFA chapter is doing in their community. Farmers were then asked to visit FFAChapterChallenge.com and vote for their favorite FFA chapter.

“The inaugural FFA Chapter Challenge has been an overwhelming success,” said National FFA Foundation executive director Rob Cooper. “Thousands of FFA members made positive connections with local farmers. The intent of the challenge was to encourage FFA members meet their area farmers, learn about their business and connect with them – and in many cases reconnect with them because students found out that many of their local farmers are former FFA members. We are thrilled with the level of participation among students and farmers and look forward to staging a larger campaign with Monsanto next year, inviting even more FFA chapters to compete.”

Participation in the 2011 FFA Chapter Challenge was high. More than 360 FFA chapters and a combined 22,000 members earned more than 10,385 votes from farmers across the seven-state area. Website traffic was high throughout the competition as more than 10,740 unique users visited the site through May 1.

“Monsanto is committed to youth in agriculture because we know our industry will only be as strong as the next generation of agriculture leaders,” said John Raines, vice president of customer advocacy at Monsanto. “The FFA Chapter Challenge allowed us to increase our valuable partnership with the National FFA organization while helping the local chapters connect with farmers in their communities.”

The National FFA Foundation builds partnerships with industry, education, government, other foundations and individuals to secure financial resources that fund FFA activities, recognize member achievements, develop student leaders and support the future of agriculture education. Nearly 82 percent of all funds received by the foundation support FFA and agricultural education opportunities.

Formerly known as Future Farmers of America, the National FFA Organization provides agricultural education to more than 523,000 student members in grades seven through 12 who belong to one of 7,487 local FFA chapters throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The organization operates under a federal charter granted by the 81st U.S. Congress and it is an integral part of public instruction in agriculture. For more, visit http://www.ffa.org.

This press release is presented without editing for your information. GRIT does not recommend, approve or endorse the products and/or services offered. You should use your own judgment and evaluate products and services carefully before deciding to purchase.

 

Well its official, spring fever has set in. I've been sort of bouncing around ideas in my head for the direction that I want to try and set for the garden this year, but after finally getting down a few ideas on paper last night, and then getting a start at entering them in on the GRIT magazine food garden planner, well like I said it's official spring fever has sprung in me.

This year we've decided that we want to try a little bit of a departure from the purely kitchen garden direction that we've always taken, and focus at least a part of the garden towards growing for the local farmers market. it's not that we're going to make a business out of the garden (at least not at this point...), it's really more of a toe-dip into the market growing world. We love going to farmers markets, but quite honestly have been pretty disappointed with the ones up in our neck of the woods. It always seems like all the growers that we see there all have essentially the same stuff; peppers, tomatoes, cukes and zucchinis. we want to have those staple items of course, but there are so many more great veggies that can be provided, we feel like a small grower like us, doing it only for fun, might be able to bring some to the table and shake things up a little. Worst case scenario we spend a morning outdoors and don't sell a thing... we'll just bring it home and eat it ourselves. Either that or open a front yard farm stand like I've seen done before.

Another idea that we've been toying around with its that of getting a plot at our new local community garden. What we're thinking is that we could use that piece of ground to grow crops that take up a lot more ground than others, or that we'd like to grow more of. For instance potatoes, squash, pickling cucumbers or melons.

Things will start going pretty fast here soon. I reviewed my garden journals from the last couple of years this afternoon and can tell that seeds will start going into starter trays here in the next couple weeks. And that’s not even counting the work we’re hoping to get done in the yard before spring. I’ll do my best to keep you aware of how things are going.

Anyone have any experience with growing for a market garden and want to pass on some suggestions. I’d love to hear them.

Till next time.

P~

Whew, my word what a year 2010 was!

Between work obligations and health problems, trying to keep up with just the basics of our back yard farm was a real challenge. About half way through the year we honestly just threw our hands up and wrote the year off as a general loss. We did still manage to get a fairly decent harvest, but at only a little more than 400 pounds it was only half our best year, and a shadow of what we had hoped for.

Things have slowed (a bit) for us, and the wife and I are feeling a LOT better than we were this time last year. In the next few weeks I'm hoping to finish up a few chores that have been lingering over the winter, make some hard and fast plans for the garden for this year, and try to get some of our slower starting plants, like peppers and tomatoes, started indoors. I also really look forward to digging into GRIT's Food Garden Planner and putting it through it's paces for this year.

Of course we have lots of other plans for this year too, and a wishlist that's just too long to possibly all come to fruition, but that's the beauty of new years ... one can hope against hope for all the great things to come.

How are things going for you so far this year? Got any big plans? Any small ones? Looking forward to getting re-acquainted with the GRIT family readers again this year.

Here's to 2011!