2024 Recap
Welcome Back!
Where have we been? What have we been up to at the Crocker Cottage? The latter half of 2024 was a hectic and trying time for us. But after a brief pause and much needed rest, we are back and ready to share new and exciting adventures with you all!
Brandon posted our last Blog entry in August 2024 and if you haven’t read the last blog entry you can read that “ Summer Recap” to find out more about the summer blues.
The Fall/Winter Garden
Starting in June we took about a 5 month pause, so the Fall /Winter garden was pretty nonexistent. After the final harvest of tomatoes in September, we shifted our focus to Family and other activities; I did plant Nasturtium in the backyard garden just to have something pretty to look at since the garden beds dried up; it looked so desolate!
With the drought, heat of summer, and the uncontrollable weeds, things like cucumbers, zuchinni, carrots, squashes and our normal bounty of green beans did not come to fruition like we had hoped. So we made the decision to take a step back and analyze what went wrong. I felt completely defeated. I knew that the gardening seasons could be unpredictable, but up until this past year we had not experienced such a terrible gardening season. Here we were after 9 years planning to share with everyone how they too can grow a garden and feed their families, but The Crocker Cottage was not going as planned.
But it was not all doom and gloom. Ultimately, looking back, I realized friends enjoyed watching videos and content of the not so perfect experiences we were dealing with, and they encouraged us to share our successes and our failures and not be embarrassed by it; like the unruly weeds or the amazing cottage garden I had planned with 15 different varieties of flowers and only having a few grow(That was a huge disappointment). But it was a wonderful surprise of how well the lavender performed, and how much we actually love growing lavender plants and harvesting and making bundles as a family; Or like the silly nasturtium and how the green foliage and bright orange and red looked so great with purple mums for the fall, while having friends enjoy fellowship around the patio table; Or how I accidentally dumped my 2 year old starter down the drain because I was not paying attention–I almost quit everything. The point is we are human, and the goal moving forward is to share the good and the bad and hopefully we can learn together.
Our Break
During the pause we put more time to grow closer as a family, support Brandon’s healing process, connecting with our church community, and learning new skills. For example, I attended a pottery class in August, only to realize the wheel is harder than it looks. I thought I’d be pro in no time and create a whole line of bowls, mugs and pots… but nope, my arthritic hands are just too weak from 25 years in the hair & makeup industry. But I am glad I gave it a try!
Our daughter, Fiona, took a few cooking classes and is improving at a fast pace as a baker. She loves art and draws or paints daily and is now getting commissioned portrait work and baking orders! Brandon has caught up on a lot of reading, becoming a member of the worship team at church and growing in the mens community. He has some amazing opportunities on the horizon that I am praying God will afford him!
Besides a little baking, we kept it super simple for the holidays and we even ordered in Thanksgiving this year. I took a role with Samaritans Purse / Operation Christmas Child in the processing center and that was so rewarding and kept me busy! Brandon was able to have some quality time with Fiona, homeschooling and attending winter events!
So we kept things low key this past holiday season.
We spent a lot time praying on what direction, if any, to take The Crocker Cottage. We know we are being led to continue and to expand. We have such a passion to share the garden, cooking and baking, homeschooling, and much more. I am really looking forward to what’s to come. The idea of opening our online shop officially, working on some projects like ebooks, workshops and much more is so exciting! We have decided to be more consistent with the blog and videos and the Instagram/Facebook community, and we have a ton of ideas and topics we can not wait to share!
So What’s Next?
Right now we are taking advantage of starting some greens and a few more cold weather crops to prep for an early spring garden. I have my first set of micro greens growing and look forward to sharing on an upcoming blog! In addition, I have revived my sourdough and have been baking up a storm; our most recent project was sourdough bagels & cinnamon rolls!
We are planning for the 2025 garden and we can’t wait to share that with you all this year! We are so grateful for all the love and support! Stay tuned for so much more!
See ya soon!
KIM