It's Been a While...

My dear Home in the Hollow Reader. It has been a long time since I've written a blog post. 2023 was a very challenging year. But I thought it was time that I wrote a blog post to let you know what's been going on with us. 

Our biggest win of 2023 was that we were able to install fencing and complete our cattle barn. In April, we added three bred Simmental Angus heifers to the farm and started our small cattle herd. This is something that we'd dreamed about and had worked towards for a long time, and it felt amazing to see our hard work finally come to fruition. At the end of October our heifers had three beautiful calves. Indy (a heifer calf) weighed 66 lbs. Brownie (another heifer calf) weighed 84 lbs. and Jimmy (a bull calf) weighed 94 lbs. We’re currently in the process of rebreeding our heifers and hope to have more calves next fall. It’s been a lot of fun watching them grow and learning how to raise and maintain cattle. 

2023 has also had its share of hardships. Perhaps the most difficult was losing a close friend to a tragic car accident that left behind his wife and 2 young children. We have been asking a lot of tough questions and really evaluating life. Another big change has been my job. As some of you know, I work as a nurse part-time. I found out that my office is going to be downsized in the next few months. Although they still haven't worked out the details, I am currently working fewer hours and am not sure if I will have a job for the rest of 2024. This has also been a situation that has caused me to really stop and evaluate what I want to do with my life in the future. Looking forward to 2024, I'm trying to remain hopeful and remember God’s faithfulness in times past. I am feeling the nudge to embrace change in life whatever it may look like...  

 As a result of the uncertainty with my job, I have had more time to devote to creativity. Although I haven’t been actively blogging (I’m sorry), I have been creating a lot of Instagram content. If you’re active on Instagram, you can check out my account @homeinthehollow and find stories, posts, and reels that I publish frequently. I do hope to check-in and write a blog post at least quarterly this year. I apologize to those of you who enjoy reading these posts that I haven’t kept up with it like I originally intended for 2023. I will also investigate ways to share Instagram content on the blog so that those of you who don’t do social media can still see what we have going on.  

Finally, I am excited to announce that I plan to launch an online course that will be teaching preservation focused gardening. I’ve always been passionate about gardening and food preservation. With my “job shake-up" this year, I’ve decided that I want to use my skills to teach others and hopefully supplement some of my income. I’m planning to have the course published by late February. This has been a true labor of love. I have been dedicating lots of time and energy to this project! I will be announcing more about this closer to the time.  

I hope you are doing well and that 2024 is off to a good start for you! Leave me a comment and let me know what you’ve been up to this past year and if you have any plans for the new year!  

Thanks for reading, 

Abby