January 2025
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Hi beautiful people of the universe!
This past December, leading into January and ushering in the winter months, has been filled with many to-do lists and pre-planning for 2025. Last year, I called 2024 my year to try everything—from planting fruit trees and selling at farmers' markets to trying new recipes and building a fence made of wooden pallets. I wanted to give myself a solid foundation to test my abilities and self-sufficiency in gardening and homemaking.
This year will be the Golden Year. As I approach four strong years of trial and error after relocating to Virginia from sunny Los Angeles in 2022, I have grown to naturally use gardening as a means of healing and deeper connection. Now, it's time to get serious and make bigger moves going forward cause it looks to me I'm only getting better at this.
One of my first major highlights of 2024 was in the spring; Virginia State University's AgFest. I had never sold at any farmers' market prior to requesting to be a vendor, nor had I ever had such direct, hands-on interaction and feedback from the public. After making a pound cake from a book I brought back from the remnants of my aunt's home in Ohio, The African American Heritage Cookbook, I perfected and modified my own pound cake recipe that my own grandmother could be proud of. From there, everything started looking up. I began selling them in 2024, introducing new flavors like strawberry-rhubarb and lemon-lime. Slowly, I started gaining traction and interest locally and within my own community.
As for seedlings and gardening, I have expanded from simply running to the store to buy plants to starting the majority of what I grow from seeds and propagation—a huge accomplishment in my eyes. Now, I can go from my own soil, seeds, and seedlings straight to the garden, drastically cutting my reliance on outside sources. Instead of buying produce from the store, I harvest directly from my garden, allowing everything to come full circle by producing my own seeds to dry and plant for future seasons.
Needless to say, I am excited about the spring 2025 season and 2025 in general. I am already starting to see sprouts from seeds I planted in December and am patiently awaiting the blooms from bulbs I planted in the fall.
No matter what is going on in the world today, start a garden and do yourself and your family justice.
Letters from the Farm Field Journal
Heavn On Earth Farms