Review Of My 2024

 The years seem to be getting faster, Honestly can't believe how fast this one has gone by. 

Children And Family

One thing with family is how much things continue to change, we all grow and develop and it's never more apparent than when you have children of a certain age. All three of mine seem to be growing up so fast at the moment, and I'm very aware it's a very cliché thing to say!

I shouldn't jinx things, but we seem to have found a bit of a groove with the diabetes this year. Our eldest agreed to try a pump, this is on what they call a "closed loop system". This has some AI built into it and learns how her body deals with sugar it is given and how to give her the insulin through the day. We still have to carb count, work out her bolus for meals (with ratios that change quite frequently), and we often have to do correction doses at night, but it has meant no more multiple injections. Before the summer, some days she was having 8 injections of insulin a day, I'd frequently get up in the night to give her some insulin and she'd fall asleep mid injection she'd be so tired from it! 

Sensors left in the rain by a delivery driver...

So the pump has been life changing, the mental load it has lifted is indescribable and she is so much happier for it. I am also sleeping a bit easier as I was constantly paranoid and waking up to check on her. She's been getting great scores when she goes in for her checks, almost normal levels, which for a girl that turns 13 soon is not easy, the hospital have been very impressed and seem happy to leave us to most things. 

The other two have been incredibly supportive in all this. Our "Middlest" has a good understanding of what goes on and we've told her that when we're not there and grandparents are, that the eldest should defer to her should anything not be clear on what to do (she goes a bit fuzzy when her blood sugar is high). Middlest has proved herself time and time again to be cool-headed when things go wrong and to understand what's happening. When we were still injecting she was trained up to be able to inject as well and has done it multiple times really well (our 11 year old back up).

As always Scouts has been a huge part of what I've done this year with the children. It's good in the way that it makes me take a pause and stops me working quite so much. But also in a bad way it takes up a lot of my time! Far more than I think possible some weeks. 

We had a fun year with it though. I moved up to Scout From Beavers this year (so from kids 6 to 8 up to 11 to 13) and it probably is much more my skill set. The downside is that we've been so short of leaders some weeks of the summer term I was helping at the Beaver session, Cub Session and Scout session! And as soon as I moved to the scout section officially two of the scout leaders left leaving just two of us. 

But this autumn term, even with just the two of us, has been great fun, we've done session we enjoy, so lots of fire, cooking and food with knots chucked in for good measure. I've loved seeing my children at scouts, learning skills, making friends and enjoying the whole experience. In fact I've done much the same. 

I've been on two camps, one with my Eldest and one with my Eldest and Middlest. Middlest got requested by the Cub leaders to attend an extra camp as they decided she was so helpful they'd be better of with her there (that really made her happy).

We also managed a camp as a family one night, scout style! 

In the summer we had a nice holiday to Wales, one with extended family and one with just the five of us, some new opportunities have opened up as the children have got older, meaning we could go kayaking and climbing. 

I even managed to have a weekend away with my dad to do some work, I really treasure these times together as age is forever in my head these days and I want to make the most of these moments. 

My wife is as incredible as ever, putting up with me all the time. I'm so proud of all she does and I'm excited for her as she starts to tackle her masters next year and I hope I can support her in every way possible. 

Oh and last year I mentioned that we end up going to the scout hut every morning once the eldest is dropped off at school, as we have 20 minutes to kill each morning. Well now I get ambushed by my children and three of their friends each morning with fake guns and pinecones as "grenades" then we play dodge ball. I think most mornings there are about 10 children there with me and another parent (all children of close friends), it's become a really lovely and active way to start the day. 

Work

I'm not great at separating work from the other things I do in life, but maybe that's good that I don't see all I do in life to earn money as work. 

My work is as varied as ever. I have 4 income "streams" (dribbles really) that almost make up to a real income. What they are is super flexible though and it means I can work everything around the children and their needs. I never have to pay for a before or after school club, and I can drop everything should I need to. 

Craft Products

So my range of potting trays, baskets, toolboxes and scoops has become the biggest part of what I do. Everything I make I do in small batches, it's still a little unpredictable when it comes to sales, but I am getting used to the rhythm of the year a little bit now and working out my busy periods. 

My new product of gooseberry scoops have been a huge success for me, and turned one or two months in the early summer that are normally pretty quiet into my busiest months of 2024, it did mean, however, that the garden suffered in those months!

Writing

So I've kept writing for two magazines, Woodworking Crafts and Woodcarving Magazine. It's lovely to write for these every issue and I feel I have a great working relationship with my editor and those that work at the publisher. Writing for those magazines has really enabled me to make some projects I wouldn't have given myself time to do otherwise, it means I do a bit of carving every month and make something that interests me. I've just made an old fashioned meat safe and carved a crocodile head for example! 

I did have some talks with a publisher about a book at the start of the year but unfortunately nothing has come of that, but I live in hope of one day having a book or two out there.

Also I have taken on writing an article every quarter for a small smallholding magazine, they've given me free reign to write whatever I like so I've enjoyed that opportunity and looking forward to that continuing in 2025. The magazine is called "The Harrowing Times" and I'll do a blog post about it soon. 

Talks

I do so love giving the talks I do. I've increased my repertoire by adding a few extra talks to my line up this year. One in self-sufficiency fruit growing (or near to), which I gave for the first time in November, and I'm writing one now on seed saving in the vegetable garden. 

Not all glamour!

I find the talks a great outlet for my extrovert personality, always a fun evening, and I really try to give it my all. I'm lucky as I think I have about 20 booked in front of me for 2025 and 2026 and I can't wait for them to kick off. It's also a great way for me to sell some of the items I make, most people that pick up one of my wood and metal scoops end up buying one! 

"Normal" Carpentry

I still do a fair bit of normal carpentry, I have a friend in the village who manages 32 properties so I'm never short of any work that I should want. I do sometimes take on too much and I should cut back at times, especially this winter, either that or I should have been more prepared with stock for my craft business. Either way it's tricky to juggle, but it works well really. 

This year it has been mainly repairs and maintenance, nothing super interesting besides a few commissions, next year looks to have a few different projects with kitchens built from scratch on the horizon. 

Play

This is something I need to work at harder every year, as it's so easy when you're busy to let it slip. 

I've managed lots of meals out with friends and a few games nights, but not as many as I'd like, we've also not had huge amount of time with just my wife and me, although that's probably more that we don't see the children as a burden on our time, we managed a few weekends away though. 

We also went to see some friends up in York, this was a great few days away and a much needed break. 

I've kept up the swimming, it only slacking off when they closed the pool for a few months for work to the roof - and then I had to see the chiropractor, so if I was ever in any doubt how good swimming was for me then that was the proof! It keeps me fit and healthy and I swim with some good friends, I hope to keep this up for the foreseeable future. I'd like to do one more fitness thing a week, but as yet can't work out what will fit, I'm sure I'll think of something. 

My writing for pleasure has taken a nose dive off a cliff, so that's something I hope to put right next year. 

Smallholding/Homesteading

I love this part of my life, and there have been times this year that I've given it the time it deserves. But there has also been times it's completely slipped! 

I did manage to get another greenhouse up and get my garden work area sorted, this felt like a huge win. I now have more undercover growing space, but easily split up so it means seed saving and the like can be more isolated. 

I'd love to do more work on the hedges next year and other trees, I want to start working my way around the perimeter and laying them, but I still have a big tree down from the spring, so need to sort those jobs out first. 

We managed to get a load of pear trees planted for the future as well as a gooseberry hedge, so I'm looking forward to seeing these grow and develop as time marches ever forward. 

I did give myself the time to learn a new skill this year, and it's one I've loved learning about - beekeeping! 

It's been a blast, I've attended a great course through the whole season, on a Thursday night, going and learning how to keep bees. I've been going with a good friend of mine so it's made it even more fun as well as making friends on the course. 

I've loved that my girls have got so into beekeeping as well, it's been a lovely thing to share and I'm looking forward to seeing what beekeeping adventures we can get up to next year, they've got big plans to get up to 9 hives of bees.

As my understanding of bees has grown, its also opened up another avenue of woodwork to me. I've already built a few hives, but I'm looking forward to making more beekeeping equipment as time goes on and it might become something I look at selling alongside my other products. 

Homemaking

Some parts of being the main homemaker I excel at, and others I'm probably up there with the worlds worst. I'm never going to be great at cleaning up and tidying, in fact I seem to spend most of my time cleaning up the kitchen, day after day!

I have got the baking nailed though. We don't ever buy any bread or cakes now, everything is made here by ourselves. My wife and I normally tackle the bread (although the daughters will if they fancy something different) and the girls do the cakes. Our order of flour from a local(ish) mill is always huge and always has a wide selection. 

The girls tend to bake a few times a week so they always have something for lunch boxes each day and my wife and I will bake the rolls, about 30 a week, I also bake rye sour dough (a few small 1lb loaves a week) and two loaves of white sourdough for toast (what I often end up having for lunch with peanut butter). We can all feel it if we end up eating bread that has come from the supermarket, and when we've been away this year we're normally desperate to get back to eating our own bread. The girls love the freedom they get in the kitchen and I've loved seeing how their baking is coming along. 

The preserving is still a part of our lives, and as the season goes on we preserve any gluts that we come across to last us the rest of the year. I love that our children see this as normal, and I love that they are already developing the skills needed to do this when they're adults. 

It's been a great year.

I'm reminded of that phrase/question - 

"What's the best part of having children?"

"Watching them grow up"

"What's the hardest part of having children?"

"Watching them grow up"

As always thank you so much if you've followed along on here. It warms my heart to see that people do still read blogs rather than just go to social media sites. You all help encourage me to do more and to do it better.