Weekly Review January 1-10

One of my "New Years Resolutions" for the blog this year is to do a weekly recap that will come out on Sunday or Monday each week, reviewing the previous week. This is the first installment of that. I didn't do one for the first Monday of January because there we were only three days into the new year. So, in this post, I'm basically reviewing the first nine days of 2016. Each post will review three things: my fitness for the week, what's going on on the farm, and life in general. I hope you enjoy!

First, up...

Fitness January 1-9
The first ten days of January have been very solid, fitness-wise. Jeff and I kicked off the new year with a day of skiing at Whitefish, and I've done quite a bit of Nordic ski around home on the farm. We are SO LUCKY this year to have had great snow for such an extended period of time! Typically, our snow is very dry and blows away. It's been wonderful to be able to ski right out my front door! The dogs love it, too!

Slightly blurry, but this is a photo Jeff took of Harvey, who caught (and ate) a Sharptail Grouse when they were out for a ski.
He's vicious! Prey drive is real.

I also kicked off the #RunLoveChallenge from Oiselle with my partner Wendie. Our goal is to build mileage each week until we can complete 10K distance. The challenge runs through February 14. This week, my "long run" was to do 3.5 miles. I knocked that out on the treadmill on Friday and plan to hit the same distance today. My partner, Wendie, crushed it this week, too! I am so impressed with her. She had a baby about two months ago and is already killing it on the runs!! Amazing. :)

Filling in my #RunLoveChallenge calendar!
Extra hearts on days when I meet or exceed my goal mileage for long run..

Here's the fitness stats for the week:
Fri, 1/1: Resort skiing at Whitefish
Sat, 1/2: 2.2 mile run outside
Sun, 1/3: 160 minutes of cc-ski on the creek on our farm
Mon, 1/4: Rest/30 min yoga
Tues, 1/5: Run 3.2 miles
Wed, 1/6: 20 min walk (1 mile), 30 min core routine
Thurs, 1/7: Complete rest
Fri, 1/8: 30 min walk, 30 min shoveling snow (it counts!!), 3.5 mile treadmill run!
Sat, 1/9: 40 min yoga, 60 min cc-ski through the pasture

2016 Totals:
Walking: 50 min/2.4 miles
Yoga: 70 min
CC-Ski: 220 min (??? miles--need a way to record distance while skiing)
Alpine Ski: 1 day
Running: 6.7 miles

Making tracks in the pasture.
The sun and snow was so beautiful yesterday when I snapped this on my phone!

Not sure if my skiing is my cross-training for running, or the other way around, but either way, I'm going to ski as much as I can while the snow is good! We don't get this kind of snow year very often.

Farming Jan 1-9
This time of year, we're taking it pretty easy. We feed our cows hay bales daily because the snowcover keeps them from foraging. They also get some straw to bed down in. Jeff also has been doing some odds and ends around the farm and organizing things. This is also the time for book work and preparing taxes, and we have many discussions this time of year about what we will plant this spring. It's a constantly evolving plan, factoring in crop prices, availability of contracts, and opportunities that may arise.

Cows munching on hay in the feeding pasture.

One exciting decision is that we are going to be planting several hundred acres as organic farm land this year. Jeff has been working on the application to get the land certified. It is land that is just coming out of CRP and was tilled last fall in preparation for Spring seeding. We're likely to seed spring wheat on those acres this year. We are both excited about trying something different, and the challenges that come from thinking about farming and production in a different way from what we have known and experienced firsthand.

Life Jan 1-9
So far, so good. Last week was my first week back at school. It was a little tough to reorient my mind to school starting after being off for about three weeks, but I did miss the kids that I work with and was looking forward to seeing them. Overall, the first week went very smooth. The overall mood was pretty subdued. In years past, the first week after break and January in general has seen some pretty crazy things go down in the families that we work with, so I'm really hopeful that the smooth start will sail on into February and through the rest of the year. No reason to think that it won't. A few of my kids gave me hugs and told me they missed me over break on that first Monday back, so that rocked! :)

Also, Jeff and I continue to slowly organize in the new house. We've put up a few more photos on the wall and ordered some furniture pieces. We're also beginning to plan in earnest for our kitchen update. We're planning to do some painting and install new countertops for a minor facelift. I'm sure I'll post more on that as we make progress!

Lastly, I'm working with a dear friend of mine, Joellyn, on a new look for this blog. She's an excellent graphic designer and we've been bouncing ideas back and forth. I'm excited to invest in the aesthetics of the blog, and it may even come with a name change... Stay tuned!

This is a sketch I sent to Joellyn. Can't wait to see how things progress! 

How was your first nine or ten days of January? 

Snow's great for skiing, but not for running outdoors!
The treadmill has been my friend lately.