I am sitting here listening to one of our two favorite radio stations, WXPN (Philadelphia - the other is WNCW, Spindale NC - our days are often spent moving back and forth between the 2). Sue is sitting in the sunny, corner chair knitting. Koda, Marlin and Betts are here and there on various dog beds or sofas. The Christmas tree is still taking a bit of water, but its days are numbered. It is Sunday, December 31 - a perfect time for reflecting upon a busy 2023, and look forward to a hopefully calmer 2024.

2023 saw a slew of local garden talks and remote Zoom events. It was a year of a lot of tomato growing and busy gardening, both in my back yard and at the nearby Veterans Healing Farm. It was a year of a lot of wonderful hikes, an unfortunate late fall broken wrist for Sue (she healed well and we are back at it). We did more kayaking than usual, discovering Jocassee and Keowee in South Carolina, as well as Santeetlah in western NC. We also finally got to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to do some hiking.

December walk on the Blue Ridge Parkway (which was closed)

It was a milestone year that finally saw the official end of the Dwarf Tomato Breeding project. Spanning 2005 until 2023, it has been a memorable, fun and impactful 18 years and continues to produce new varieties, with a slew showing up in the Victory Seeds catalog recently, and a few more to come next year. The book describing the project is still pending, but I hope to dive in very soon (it will be self published). It is a story that must be told.

It was a wonderful year filled with books, movies and music. We are wrapping up our 4th year in Hendersonville, which we only love more with each day. 2023 saw the 43rd wedding anniversary of Sue and I, and our special enduring friendship is always the best part of every single day.

I will follow this up very soon with a blog post that will look forward into 2024. All I will say about that is that the next week will (finally!) see a lot of seed packing and sending. I’ve been remiss - I’ve been lazy, but this year demanded a mental break from gardening. The calendar is about to flip, and I will be ready for 2024.