I have been looking at my schedule today, and adding things for the next few weeks. The last few years I have really enjoyed the time after Christmas and through the first few weeks of January. Years ago that was the beginning of my oldest daughter’s basketball season, so we went from Christmas right into basketball and busy again.

But now it’s a different kind of busy I guess. I don’t feel like I have a ton of extra time, but I am busy doing things at home or close to home rather than running all over the state. Markets for my art aren’t profitable again until early summer, so I don’t worry about those. the big garden hasn’t been planted yet, so there’s not a lot of work there. It’s just a bit quieter.

But, I still have things to do, and I thought I’d share some of those fun things!

I sometimes think January and February are a bit bleak and isolating. So, I am teaching another 6 week in-person watercolor workshop. This gets me out of the house, ensures that I am painting regularly, and adds a bit of color to an otherwise gray time of year. I also get to meet new people and catch up with old friends. We had our first class on Monday, and I have 5 wonderful students! I am excited to see the different ways each student learns, paints, and grows throughout this next 6 weeks.

A couple of weeks ago I shared a post Growing Things about getting some seeds started. I am happy to report, the seeds are now growing! I have onions, thyme, and rosemary. I had heard that the celery can take a very long time to sprout, and sure enough, it did, but just yesterday I saw the little green shoots under my plastic!

I have tried to grow onions from seed several times and had no success, not even one single seed sprouted. But this year the majority of the seeds sprouted! I hope that means I am finally figuring this seed sprouting step out. Some things are easy to start inside, my tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage and zucchini have always done well, but I’ve never tried my own herbs or celery from seed before so we’ll see how those do.

I do have one market coming up. Markets generally aren’t profitable this time of year, being right after Christmas, but there is one that I enjoy here in Willow in January. It’s the Willow Winter Carnival. It covers 2 weekends although the vendor market is only the 2nd weekend. This event draws people from around the state, so I get to see people who I may not otherwise ever meet at a local Farmer’s Market as well as catch up with local people I just don’t see very often in the winter. There are many activities and events associated, it’s a fun event.

One of the events that happens is a quick draw as part of an art auction. I started participating as an artist for this part of the event a couple of years ago, and have really enjoyed it. We have about an hour to paint or create a finished product, and it can be started ahead of time. It’s not a timed event necessarily, it’s just an opportunity for people to watch the process and get to know the artists a little bit as they work. The pieces we each create are then auctioned off at the end as part of the fundraiser. It’s fun to see what each artist creates and for me to get to know them as well.

I have an upcoming floral class planned, I thought I had it scheduled and just realized as I’m typing that the date I picked will not work. I will have to rethink that one quickly so I can get my dates switched sooner than later on the room I have scheduled! I’m glad I’m typing this out so I thought about it now. I will probably schedule it for late March instead of early April.

I am excited for this early 2026, it’s been great so far and I look forward to the many things planned and the many opportunities to participate.