It feels like it has been forever since we updated our blog. Summer flew by with haying, festivals, farmers markets, and keeping up with the garden. We have canned jams, salsa, spaghetti sauce, harvested and replanted our garlic, pulled potatoes, picked buckets of raspberries and garden huckleberries, and still eating kale and a few cabbages from the garden. We harvested our first batch of honey which is truly glorious. Pears and apples have been enjoyed and soon apple cider will be pressed. Piglets have been born and running around the pasture grunting and rooting to their hearts’ content. Turkeys have had their fill of squash, pumpkins, leftover fruit, corn cobs, watermelon, and many other delectable treats that they find as they forage their way around the acreage. The sheep have been busy grazing and maybe occassionally wandering the neighborhood to keep us on our toes. And amidst all this, I decided to jump in and start teaching. Now if you know me, I am a “behind the scenes” type gal. Don’t like the limelight, like the quiet corner of the room, or better yet, put me in the kitchen or lab where I can create and I am sufficiently content. Well our local technical college reached out and asked if I would do a few sessions on soapmaking, candlemaking, lotion making, etc in their Life and Leisure segments. When I indicated that I am not a teacher by any stretch of the imagination, she told me “if you are passionate, it will come through in your teaching”. Well, I am passionate about my products I put out, passionate about creating a healthier product, passionate about my business . . . so I said yes. As time went by, the anticipation and fear grew. But whenever I think why do I get into these things, I tell myself, “If it was easy, would it be worth it?” The answer is usually no so I tried to put my fear aside and develop a teaching agenda I thought would be easy to follow but fun for the participants. I am happy to say that I have now completed two teaching sessions where the students were able to take home some great items they made in class and I felt they could now take home what they learned and utilize it to recreate their own recipes at home. I must say that I have accomplished something I never thought I would do and I feel proud of myself. I have one more class in the original obligation but they have asked me to continue and we have spring sessions lined up. I have come a long way in a short period of time and am thankful someone reached out because they thought I had something of interest to teach. I leave you now at the end of this blog with a homework assignment: In life we often carry many burdens and pressures with the fast pace life we lead and never stop to take time to enjoy our accomplishments. So please take a few minutes today and write down a few things you are proud of that YOU overcame.