If we were having coffee…

If we were having coffee, I’d greet you with a big hug and thank you for joining me today!

We’d settle in for a nice cuppa in the orchard by the acequia and watch the sun dance on the tree tops for a bit before diving into a gentle chat.

If we were having coffee, I’d ask how you’ve been (how you’ve really been) and ask if you have any big summer plans.

I’d tell you that, while we don’t have any travel plans this summer, I’m looking forward to things calming down a bit around here as we settle into our new(est) routine.

Between all of the births and arrivals, hard chores, putting the garden in, my Mother-in-Law (and her Grandson) visiting, and my brand new job, things have just been a bit crazier over the past couple of weeks than I prefer them to be.

I am, however, enjoying this long weekend 🙂

I’d have to mention how incredibly grateful I am for all of the work our family and friends put in to getting our garden put in last weekend!  It took a good five hours of steady work by about 10 of us, but we got the garden all hoed and planted out as well as weeded a few of the beds that were already planted.

With just a few straggling tomatoes to put in and few beds to succession sow, it’s all coming together beautifully and in such a short time…especially compared to the marathon of planting sessions we attempted last year.

We live and we learn, right? Right 🙂

If we were having coffee, I’d surely have to elaborate on the new job I started this week!  I’d tell you how very excited I am to have this new beginning and to jump right in!

And I’d also have to tell you that, as exciting as this all is, the transition from my previous job into this one was quite emotional for me and required a lot of being gentle with myself as I released responsibility for the itty bitty organization I worked so hard for for the past 18 months. Hence, this post on my personal Facebook page this week:

But with that part of the transition past, I am now smack dab in the middle of working with my predecessor who is (so very wonderfully) showing me the ropes of my position before officially retiring at the end of the coming week.

So, what is my new job? Well, amazingly enough, it marries my personal passions in farming, sustainability, and local food systems with my years of program development and management!  Yes, you are now looking at the new Program Director for the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute with my new work week spanning from Tuesday thru Saturday, all days in the office and/or chatting up farmers during the markets.

While I have so much learning to do (of programs and people and farmers), I couldn’t be happier!

I do have to say, though, that the new schedule is going to take some adapting to!  For the past 18 months, we’ve had long weekends at home together, with one of us working from home on Fridays and Mondays and me only going into town three days a week.  As it stands now, with the exception of long weekends such as this one, Kim and I will only have one day at home together, which means we will have to be very intentional about our time together, one on one and as a family!

If we were having coffee, I might ask if you remember the Local Bite Challenge we did a couple of years ago?  Maybe you even participated in it?!

You know, as challenging as it was, it was such an eye opener for us as a family to really place our focus on our local food system 🙂  And so, with my new job, I’ve been toying around with the idea of starting it up again!

Now, I surely won’t do a full scale challenge with the big challenge and all the giveaways and amazing guest posts and budgets and Facebook group and such (it was glorious, but really required so much of my time and energy!)…but I’m thinking that bringing back the Weekly Mini-Challenges might be a good practice for me…and maybe for you, too…if you’re interested!

So, let me know if you’re interested 🙂

I’m thinking that probably what I’ll do is post the weekly challenge on a Monday (beginning either tomorrow or next week…not sure yet) and have it run through the following Sunday with reporting on how it went the previous week when I post about the upcoming week’s challenge. Does that all make sense?

What do you think? Super low key local eating challenge?

Oohhh…this will be fun!

Of course, please let me know if you have any questions!

Alright, if we were having coffee, it’d be time to get moving and accomplish a few things around the property now!  There’s a fence to finish, garlic scapes to harvest, beds to weed and seeds to sow. Plus, there are plenty of baby animals to tend to…er…snuggle 🙂

I hope you have a glorious rest of your weekend and week ahead!

xoxo,
M

Linking up to Part-Time Monster’s #weekendcoffeeshare