Some days are just full of life and beaming with sun! Those days are the ones we all look forward to, the ones that are just easy to breeze through with no real hang-ups! I have begun to find those days are more and more prevalent. I find my mind is more at ease with decisions my husband and I have made pertaining to our future and what we see in it.

We both currently work “off farm” jobs and that is a new venture for me, I did not work a Monday through Friday 9-5 job for over twelve years. I did have a few part time evening jobs here or there, in between our children. I stayed home with the kids and would provide daycare for a few friends for extra income.

You may be asking, How did I get myself where I am today? Well, it all began when my parents moved back home from Iowa over a year ago! They were moving into a Senior Housing Facility, it was just too much for my parents to take care of everything that went along with living in a “house.” They decided to move closer to family and find an easier living arrangement. It is a brand new, state of the art, 32-unit building. We all had our doubts about how they would fare; Mom cried, Dad worried he would be losing his independence and we were all SCARED!

They settled in, and in no time Mom has become the Mother Figure even though she is the youngest person there, and Dad, well, let’s just say he is the Watchman. They have become “Everything to Everyone” that they come in contact with at their new home.

I was the closest sibling and was not working, although I was very pregnant, so I took on the role of making sure they were okay. I stopped in every day and sometimes would be there from morning till night. I began to know everyone on a first name basis, including the property manager. So when she asked me if I would be interested in being her assistant I was intrigued. I could work and still have my kids with me, well, actually with my parents right around the corner but nonetheless with me.

I felt up to the challenge, even if I was due to have a baby in eight weeks! It all seemed like the perfect situation, my parents, my kids and a job all rolled into one. I thought it was exactly what I was looking for, hum, maybe not! I love seeing my parents every day and more than anything I love seeing my children spending time with their grandparents. There is nothing like seeing my one-year-old son walking hand-in-hand down the driveway with my 74-year-old father or the smile that emanates from my mother’s face as soon as she sees Tyler running to her. Those are priceless memories that I will hold dear to my heart forever.

I am at a place in my life when change seems like the only way to go, like I have said so many times before, to help me find my way to the life I am meant to be living. I have had a few new opportunities offered to me that would inevitably force me to choose, to stay working where I am or to allow our little bakery to grow?

This shoe no longer seems to fit, so I am ready to try a new pair. I believe I am ready to kick off the heels and put on my baking shoes! I keep thinking of that little saying “Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained.” I have nothing to loose except this wonderful opportunity.

It will not be easy to leave all the people I interact with on a daily basis, but I will be there often to see my parents, and I will still be able to share this little boy that they have all come to love so much. He is the sunny side of the path for every life that he touches, and I am ready to be a little selfish, I want to spend time with him and watch him and our business grow. So with my little bundle of sunshine in my arms and the beautiful path ahead of me I will take these steps with a sense of excitement for what lies ahead. This brings us one step closer to where we want to go and even if there may be a cloud in the sky there will always be a ray of sunshine by our sides!

I attended our annual "Vendors" meeting this afternoon and I was so happy to see everyone. It wasn't just the people that made me happy, it is also the impending excitement of the upcoming season.

I have the unique opportunity to be a part of one of the best and the largest markets in our state. Opening day last season brought us a whopping 5,000 guests, yes just on opening day! We had people who waited in traffic for over an hour just to get into the parking lot! To say that I am honored to be a part of this group of amazing people is an understatement. There is such a strong feeling of community every Sunday when we are standing at our booth visiting with all the people who travel by. They are looking for the best they can find and they will most certainly find it there.

I was a dedicated customer of the Coventry Farmers Market for years before I joined the ranks of Vendor. I faithfully packed up the car, grabbed my father and headed out to make the twenty minute ride to Coventry. It was always well worth the drive. The tables were lined with the most beautiful colors you can imagine. Produce I had only heard of in abundance and the vendors were happy to give you excellent ways to prepare it.

I went because I felt a sense of belonging as soon as I walked through the entrance to that little world of Market-ville. It was a place to join others who felt the same importance of community, farmer support and just plain ol' great food. It is a place to bring your family, a place to reconnect, a place to relax, walk a little slower, meet some new people and run into others you haven't seen in years.

What I gained each and every Sunday at the market has changed my life in so many ways. It has made me a better person, a better mother and has led me to a place that brings me great pride; the other side of the table. I now have the opportunity to connect with people, even if they do not purchase a single thing from me I am still part of someone's Sunday; every week. I now have the chance to give people the same exact gift that I received at the market, and that is a gift I am willing give. I am ready for June 7th to arrive and bring the beginning of a new season to share with all who grace my table; I am so thankful for every second of it.

Easter is here, and we are all awaiting the annual visit from the Easter Bunny! This year will be so much fun now that our littlest one, Tyler, will be able to join in all the fun. He may not understand the entire concept of the whole day, but he will have fun along with his sisters and brother.

Every year we have our Egg Hunt, and then we all sit down to a big breakfast. I try to make our holiday meals special, I will include things I wouldn't normally make throughout the year. These are the times when everything that graces our table is homemade and from scratch, right down to the butter! I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I see my family enjoying a meal that I have put my heart and soul into.

That is not to say that I do not cook any other time. I try to make a full meal every night, but on occasion when time is tight, we will get take-out or have "breakfast" for dinner. I love to cook and especially bake. That is the reason we decided to start our small baking business. I wish I had more time to devote to these simple pleasures and hopefully in the near future I will. Those sentiments are the reason I take my time and enjoy the meals I make for the holidays, because that is the way I want to cook for each and every meal, so I savor those times that I am able to do it.

We have simple traditions that we take great pride in. Family is our number one tradition; holidays are not the same unless they are spent together. We read holiday appropriate stories before bedtime, sing songs that go along with the holiday theme, watch the specials on TV, and do all the holiday activities, but it all comes down to family. So on Sunday when we all sit down together to eat our Easter meal of glazed baked ham, mashed potatoes with garlic butter, maple glazed carrots, roasted asparagus, herb buttered corn and warm rolls, we savor each bite of not only the food but of the company that surrounds us. We carry on our traditions as we sit down together and quietly wish that this happened more often and not only for a Holiday. Happy Easter and Happy Every Day!

The weather is beginning to take a turn for Spring! With that turn comes the feeling of New Life, New Beginnings and the start of pleasant warm days. I am not always so excited for Spring, only because of the mud that comes with it, but this year the mud seems to be at a minimum. We have been discussing our garden plans for quite some time now and I think we may have "the one."

We have decided on raised beds this year, we have not had the best of luck the past two years with our garden. We had a hard time getting anything to grow the first year we planted in our newest spot, our pool now occupies our old spot, and last year it was pretty much a swamp; every bit of water settled in our garden. I sometimes believed the water was never going to go away! Our tomatoes would rot from the stem right before they would be ripe enough to pick, and no matter how high we mounded our squash or cucumbers they would always be swimming unhappily in a pool of water.

Our hopes are high this year and we are anxiously awaiting our new beds to arrive. They will be Vermont White Cedar with a mortis, tenon and pin construction. Beautiful, just beautiful! I love the old look about them and the fact that they will last for quite some time. I am hoping that we will be able to get a plentiful harvest with four 4-foot by 6-foot beds. It doesn't seem like a lot of space, but when you consider just how much we can plant in those beds it is amazing. I can't wait to see our wooded rectangles filled with tomatoes, cucumbers, sugar peas, yellow squash, zucchini, peppers, eggplants, spinach, tons of salad greens, herbs and all the other vegetables I forgot to mention.

I personally think a vegetable garden is more beautiful than a flower garden. Besides, it's a good thing when you can eat just about everything you see in that garden. We will also be getting some much wanted rain barrels that we didn't have much use for last year seeing how our garden had all the water it could have ever possibly needed and then some.

This year seems to be shaping up to be a year we will finally figure it all out, at least the gardening side of it. Who knows, once we get the hang of this maybe we will venture to a larger traditional garden, like my parents garden, in the future. I can vividly remember the garden my father would plant, from seed, every year. It was an amazing sight. He had the most beautiful strawberry patch I have ever seen, what us kids didn't eat my mother would always make jam with. Rows and rows of glistening jars of red, what a treat spread on home baked bread toasted with butter, yum! There was never a year that our garden was not lined with sunflowers that I swear touched the clouds and when they were ready my parents would cut them down and hang the heads up to dry in the attic of our carriage shed, my mother would toast the seeds and that was a common snack mixed with the fruit she would dehydrate.

We always had the largest array of veggies from our gardens, even with nine children we always had plenty to give away to friends. I can remember spending all day on Saturday and Sunday canning with my mother and sisters. We always had great conversation and lots of laughs the whole time we were doing such an important task.

I will never forget the time my mother acquired flat after flat of cherries! Those were not so much fun to pit, halve and can - too much work that required too much concentration not to mention the stained hands that lasted what seemed like an eternity! They sure were good when we were done with them though.

Our cellar was always packed with shelves lined with every kind of vegetable, canned in every possible way, for any night of the week; we just had to walk downstairs and pick out the one we wanted. I think the only items we purchased from the grocery store were the "staple" items that couldn't be made at home, although I am sure if my father could have found a way and the time to make toilet paper he most certainly would have.

So with all the sweet memories of my childhood gardens I will do my parents proud this year with a smaller version of a piece of my past. I promise to plant those sunflowers to remind me of what I have the opportunity to offer my children, and when it comes time to reap the benefits of our hard work, I promise this year I will take out all my canning equipment and I will can everything possible, a task I have been intimidated by for most of my adult life but still one I dream of mastering.