'To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven'

Life here at Misty Cottage is definitely seasonal. Living, as we do, in the middle of nowhere surrounded not by buildings, streets and people but by landscape, sky and weather our experience of the seasons is immediate and sometimes very powerful. On the smallholding now in the middle of winter the hens aren't laying, the pigs are about to become part of the food chain (via our freezer) and only one of the ducks is managing to produce the occasional egg. The garden still has a little to offer - kale and chard have withstood the cold and wet so far and the parsnips, left in the ground to sweeten with the frost are delicious and very welcome.

Waking the veg bed on Candlemas

Indoors we enjoy the seasonal festivals that mark our progress through each year, Christmas, Easter, St John's, Michaelmas and all points inbetween. We also watch as our children grow and move through the seasons of their lives.

So really I should not be surprised to find that a new season is beginning for me. My time as a home-educating mum is, I think, over (never say never and all that) and it is time for me to decide on what comes next. I would like to be at home when the children get home from school - they finish at 2.30. I would like us to be able to continue with our smallholding. I would like to be creative and do something that I love. All of these things point me in the direction that so many others have found, that is to work from home designing, making, crafting and ultimately selling. I think it is now or never for this venture so here goes ...