Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone!

It's been a long time(six months?!). Well, with a new year comes a renewed commitment to keeping the farm blog up to date, so allow me to summarize the last six months.

The summer was bountiful, and our trial CSA program went great. Most of our members seemed quite pleased with their bag of veggies every week, and it was very meaningful for us, knowing who was going to be eating the food we were harvesting. We were very thankful to have a community of people that were willing to commit to us for three months, especially knowing that we hadn't done this before.

To help us out on the farm last summer(help us read Harry Potter 7!), we had my brother and his wife, Ben and Sara, for almost two months! Needless to say the book was great, and Ben's narrating/voice acting was as wonderful as ever before.

In the fall, things slowed down a bit, but a few CSA members kept coming back every week for more veggies even after the program had ended. We had some visitors in the form of Sara's parents, Wally and Sue, who were having a cross North America vacation, and stopped at the farm for a couple of days. The most important events were the dinner Sue made for us(peanut sauce and tofu veggie wraps) and the chess matches between Mike and Wally, both avid chess fans. The first game was quite an upset(Mike victorious) and a rematch was necessary for Wally to set the record straight.

Other visits included Audrey and Paul, complete with old uncomfortable chairs for us to store, and later Naomi Allard, whom we hadn't seen in far too long.

Also, during the fall, Katherine was dog sitting for some friends of ours for two months, so we had the pleasure of getting to know Ginger. We look forward to seeing her on the farm next year when she comes to pick up her CSA bag.

Perhaps most important of all, we had the pleasure of welcoming a new Farmer to the world on Oct. 26. Lori and Tony had their second daughter, and she's just as unique and wonderful as the first! Her name is Sasha Renee Mais, and we can't wait for Sofie and her to take over the farm when we retire.

We tried to get all of our important work done, and managed to squeeze in a short but fun visit with Zach Lee(an old Vernon friend). On Nov. 19, Katherine and I set off to BC, to visit my family there. We arrived just in time to see Ben play the part of Fagan, in a stage production of "Oliver". He was fantastic and we were thoroughly entertained. Then we proceeded for the next few weeks to visit with family, get beaten by big padded swords my brothers had made, and we even got a chance to make it to Vancouver to quickly visit some old friends(and a new one in the form of Daniel Thomas Brunelle, Lane and Sofia's new son!). Mike joined us in BC in December and stayed there for Christmas, whereas Katherine and I made our way back to Toronto to have Christmas with her family and some of the Davar family. My second McCord Christmas was a delight(like the first), and I even got a birthday lunch complete with birthday presents! I also got to see my Auntie Terry, which was fun and timely, as she may have moved back to BC by the next time we're in Toronto.

And now we're home! whew! And it's good to be back! I've probably forgotten a few important things but perhaps they'll appear in later posts,(hopefully sooner than later). One of the things we wish to improve in this year is organization, and that includes scheduling a time for updating the blog! So for those of you who are reading this, you may be hearing from us more regularly....