Wow! It’s been a long time since I’ve written a post. Too long!
A lot has changed since my last post. Let’s see if I can bring you up to speed.
I started the program with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to become a Health Coach last spring and loved it. And then things changed. A couple of months into the program I found out I was pregnant! I was overwhelmed with emotion, two of the biggest being excitement and fear. Why fear? Well, because I don’t do pregnancy well. I had Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) during my pregnancy with my son, which if you’re not familiar with, means you have extreme nausea and vomiting around the clock. (Think of your worst hangover and bout of stomach flu, combine them together and then imagine having it for 9 months). I hoped and prayed this pregnancy wouldn’t be like that, but unfortunately I did get HG again and without getting into the gory details, I’ll tell you that it basically made me worthless for the duration of my pregnancy. Unfortunately, that also meant letting go of my Heath Coaching program (but hope to return and finish this year).
That aside, with a lot of support from my family and friends, I survived and even managed to get a few amazing things accomplished last year. I was a part of a project with Seed Savers Exchange and Seed Sages to grow out heirloom tomatoes that had limited prior documentation, save seed, document the growth habits, insect and disease resistance and present them in a tomato tasting at the end of the season. It was a great learning experience and a lot of fun! Had it not been for growing them in straw bales and having an automatic watering system in place I’m not sure it would have turned out the same way.
I also was asked to be on the Richfield Beautiful Garden Tour, which show cased my Straw Bale Garden. The tour took place on a rainy Saturday in July, but we still had over 95 people attend! Just prior to the garden tour, a writer for the local paper contacted me and asked to do an interview and article (which you can read here if you are interested). That article caught the attention of Joel Karsten, the author of the book Straw Bale Gardens, and the next thing I knew his publisher called and they came out with a camera crew to snap some photos of my garden. Joel came along for the photo shoot and I had the pleasure of meeting him that day. We got to talking about Straw Bale Gardens, his background and my background and eventually, Joel offered me an awesome opportunity to get out and share the knowledge I have about Straw Bale Gardens with others. I took him up on the offer and now, this spring (starting next week, actually) I’ll be teaching classes helping others learn “How to Grow A Straw Bale Garden”.
As if that wasn’t gift enough, December finally came and all of my sickness ended when I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. Holding her in my arms washed away all of the struggles with my pregnancy and has truly made my world and our family feel complete.
So there you have it, nearly a year in a nutshell. It was full of excitement, disappointment, illness and unbelievable joy. And if I had to do it all over again I would do it in a heartbeat.
I’m truly blessed and looking forward to a fun year. I hope you are too!Kate
Walnuts n Pears 
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