Coming Back After a Gut Punch of a Month {Feb. 2022 Goals} -

Note: I just wanted to say a warm thank you to the outpouring of love, prayers, and support you have showed us since my last post. Going through a loss is never easy, but we are so grateful to have so many good people in our lives.

Oof.

Even though I struggle with January every year, I always think, “Maybe this year will be different.” And I think in future years, I’ll be able to do more to ENSURE that it’s different.

However, last month was…a bit of a one-two gut punch. I always deal with the winter blues in January, but I was hoping that all the flower farming plans I needed to make would help offset it significantly. While I think it would have normally, we also all came down with COVID in the middle of the month, and I was dealing with first-trimester nausea and fatigue on top of that. I figured it would only be a matter of time before we finally got it (we’d held out so long!!!), but that still didn’t make it fun.

The kids got it first, and Matt and I were totally symptomless for days, which led us to assume that since we’d both been vaccinated + boosted, maybe we would just be asymptomatic. Then, five days after the kids started showing symptoms, we both got sore throats. Then coughs. Then headaches. Then extreme fatigue. Then I lost my sense of taste and smell.

The kids got over theirs quickly (especially Raven, who’s old enough to have gotten vaccinated), but man, mine definitely lingered for much longer than the typical 3-5 days they were saying with the omicron variant. I’m still super grateful I got it after having been both vaccinated AND boosted…I’m sure it would have been far, far worse otherwise.

And then, the last day of the month, I found out I had a missed miscarriage when I went in for my 10-week prenatal appointment. The pregnancy had made getting COVID harder because I had already not been feeling good at all, but then the loss on top of everything sure made for another really hard January.

All that’s to say that all the flower farming stuff, rather than bringing relief from the winter blahs, started being a real cause of stress because we were unable to do nearly everything we needed to for the month, so now we’re behind. We also felt a real sense of cabin fever because we were unable to really go out and do anything for half the month.

Here’s how January’s goals shook out…it should come as no surprise that the majority of them were left unfinished.

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January Goals

Set up high tunnel
- I knew it would be a stretch to complete this anyway within the course of the month, but COVID basically stole the whole last two and a half weeks from us. We did make some decent progress and I have high hopes that we’ll finish it within the first half of February, so onward and upward!
Start all the slow-growing seeds
- I started some of the most important (lisianthus, snapdragons, stock, Iceland poppies), but not nearly everything I’d planned on. Once again, I blame COVID.
~~Soak and pre-sprout the first wave of ranunculuses~~
- I did this the last week or so of the month, and now the corms are just waiting and slowly presprouting in trays until we can get them in the ground whenever the high tunnel is complete.

Pick up load of compost
- I planned to do this and we had the use of a truck to do this, but I ended up changing my mind last minute about the source of our compost, which meant we couldn’t get it quite as early as planned. No big deal though, because our neighbor has graciously offered us the use of her truck when it’s warmed up a bit and we go to pick up a load.
~~Finalize flower farm plan + seed starting schedule~~
- I definitely could have been more meticulous with it, but I have enough of a loose plan to get a solid start on the season.
Make a trip to the donation center
- The funny thing was, we made the trip to the restaurant that’s basically right next door to the donation center, but we didn’t take any donations (though that was because we knew we’d get there too late and the donation center would be closed). Next month!
Organize master closet
- I moved more things back into it, but we still have the tape up from painting and stuff all over our master bedroom. Rollover to next month.

Fix leak in master bathroom
- The plumber who was supposed to call us to schedule an appointment never has, so I’m now back to square one again and trying to find someone who can do this.
Fill 5-gallon buckets with long-term food storage
- Nope.
~~Register Mazda~~
- This basically had to get done, but I’ll take an easy win.
~~Organize + prep for taxes~~
- Taxes were definitely more stressful this year thanks to the farm, but we got all the heavy leg work done by the end of January, so filing should be a breeze now.

~~Give Matt~~ and Raven ~~haircuts~~
- I gave Matt a haircut last month (my first time ever giving one!), and I’m actually ridiculously proud of how it turned out. It kind of made me kick myself that I haven’t been doing this since we first got married…we could have saved a LOT of money over the years! (For the record, we used this at-home haircut kit, which was SO worth the upfront investment — this will save us thousands over the next few decades! It’s actually about $5 off right now if you’re interested. The only thing I wish it would have come with is a better drape thing to put around the person’s shoulders, so we’ll be buying one of these in the near future.)
Finish editing final photo shoot
- Nope.
Make new quiet books for church
- Nope.
List Buick
- HA.

January was raw and endless, and I have already determined that in future years, I absolutely have to plan a trip or something for January or February just to keep my sanity and my morale up.

Although February has already started off on a really hard note (with me prepping for and then having the D&C procedure done for my miscarriage), life continues to march on, and I’m grateful that we’re at least marching closer to spring, which I know will help my mental health greatly.

In the meantime, I’m trying to keep myself busy, cry when I need to, and still try to maintain optimism for the rest of the year (even if the beginning has not gone as I would have hoped). Matt and I also are working on taking a little weekend getaway as a family this month because I think it’s exactly what our spirits need right now.

February Goals

File taxes
- It wouldn’t be February if this weren’t the first line item on there 🙂
Plant first two successions of ranunculus in the ground + the first wave of stock
- These have got to get in this month if we want to have blooms by Mother’s Day!
Finish the high tunnel
- We’ve made lots of progress on this–now we’ve just got to finish the job. Super excited!
Pick up load of compost
- Rollover goal.
Open up CSA bouquet subscriptions
- Last year, we didn’t open up bouquet subscriptions until May, but since we’re trialing a spring CSA subscription this year, we had to start a lot earlier.

Order business cards
- Because not having business cards last year was one of my biggest mistakes in my first year of business.
Prepare presentation for entrepreneur seminar
- The local college has asked me to present a seminar as part of their entrepreneurship series on our flower farm journey thus far. I was super flattered to have been invited, and I’m excited to present some things I’ve learned at the end of this month to the college!
Find new dentist for the kids + set up appointment
- Because our last dentist trip with the kids was a fiasco…I seriously am considering driving the kids to the next major city (about an hour and a half away) just so we can get a pediatric dentist and more or less guarantee ourselves a better experience.
Set up Hyrum’s well-check appointment
- This should have happened in December when he turned 2. Whoops.

Take the puppy in for a haircut/grooming
- You guys, Onyx looks ridiculous right now — his hair is seriously insane. This absolutely has to happen ASAP since the poor thing can hardly see.
Make a trip to the donation center
- Rollover goal.
Organize master closet + remove tape from painting
- Rollover goal.
Fix doorbell
- Weirdly, our doorbell stopped working last month. It took us a couple weeks to figure it out, but things sure are quiet when you can’t ever hear if someone comes over since our front door is pretty far removed from where we typically spend our time. With everything going on lately, I haven’t minded the extra quiet, but we really need to get it fixed for when we start wanting people over again 🙂