Happy New Year!!!
We hope that everyone had a great holiday season however you chose to celebrate it. Personally, ours was quiet and that was a HUGE relief!! It’s been quite a wild run of work and weather.
Now that we’ve turned the season – and the year – it’s time to look ahead! We finally got some snow (quite a bit in fact!!) only to find that it disappeared about as fast as it arrived. With some luck, we’ll hold onto some of the snow as an insulating cover for the soil and roots therein. If you get a chance – and you have a real holiday tree – then you can cut it in to pieces and use it to keep the soil protected around your most favorite perennials. The goal is to keep the ground frozen but lightly – not to keep it from freezing in the first place…
You can also drop off the tree that you bought from the Good Earth (bring your receipt!) back at the store, and we’ll make sure it gets to some deserving goats – better than dumping it illegally or even in the back of your yard. Old fir trees take A LONG time to break down – best to let the goats speed the progress along 😊
Now on to the new year and all of its possibilities… It’s easy, when looking forward, to get overwhelmed by all of the “shoulds” and “must does” that seem so apparent or necessary… Never mind the fairly overwhelming stream of national and international news… Having said that, the ONLY thing that ANYONE can do is to find a first step forward that works for your specific world – and take it! It sounds so corny but – if you think about it – it’s true!
What does that mean for us at the Good Earth?
Our first big step this year is that we’re bringing in a new point of sale system (cash registers and other machines). The system that has been in place at the store since we bought it 16 months ago is the original system that is now 39 years old and hopelessly out of date. This means that we’re going to have to ask everyone to sign up all over again for the rewards program. We wish there was an easier way, but the old system is SO old that the original data sets can’t mesh with the new system. Bummer all the way around but we have a GREAT staff and they’ll do their very best to make the process as fast and as painless as possible. Please bear with us! It really will be better in the long run… We’re running the inventory and data base development right now, and will close for one day on Monday, 1/15/24 and will open on Tuesday 1/16/24 with the new system in place. Wish us luck!! There will be a learning curve of course, but we’ll all get through it and be much more efficient on the other side (accurate reordering becomes a no brainer!).
Our next big step is that we are working with Mike King. He has just closed his hydro store (Emerald City) in down town Westminster and is working with us for a few months to bring some of his expertise to our store. We’re going to run a three-part “How to Grow Mushrooms” series in February with an inoculated pod for teaching purposes and a beginners look at hydroponics in early March. We’re also bringing in several new product lines from suppliers like Trifecta Natural and Hydrofarm. We’re also expanding the kinds of potting mixes available to include coir mixes, inoculated seedling mixes, inoculating spores for all kinds of plants and fertilizers for all kinds of growing. There are other changes connected with this step (like some ability to custom order for specific needs). We’ll let you know more as time moves along.
Moving along with our steps – - that are almost becoming a walk in to the future! We’ve restocked our local vendor gifts and have moved on to the next holiday – that would be Valentine’s Day! No worries – we’re not rushing the seasons! It just allows for some fresh color on the gift tables. We’ve also just restocked our houseplant selection so there are green plants to refresh your eyes when you stop in to check out the plant case. The case does glow on the west wall of the store on these gloomy cloudy days…
And then there are the seeds and the start of the new gardening year. People are already stopping in to pick up potting soils, pots and seed starting units for the new year. It’s way too early for most seeds to get started of course, but there are those plants that need a long time to get going – like onions, hot peppers, petunias and most perennial flowers. There are few other plants that need a LONG grow out time as well – the time to explore your upcoming gardening goals is now! That means that it’s time to look ahead to our first workshop of the year. Jan 27- Seed Catalog Coffee Klatch 1-2:30pm– Lots of seed catalogs and a great chat about varieties and the upcoming planting season. Coffee and donuts will be available! It’s a bit in the future, but remember that earlier comment about our new point of sale system??? Yeah – we’re going to give ourselves a bit of time to get used to the new system in the “down time” of the year (hah!!!).
And I can’t help but end with a more traditional spin on the New Year’s manifesto (otherwise known as New Year’s Resolutions!). There is so much that needs to be done to strengthen our gardens, our family members – 2 AND 4 footed ones, our farms and our community at large. It can feel overwhelming! Totally get that but the answer is still that first step forward. Here’s a quote from a blogger (Seth Godin notify@sethgodin.com) that encapsulates the possibilities of a new year-
The best time to begin is now. Start where you are. Don’t wait for authority or a blueprint!
Change will come, as it always does, from us. Each of us. If we care enough to lead.
The opportunity to care is evenly distributed. [Everyone has a chance to engage].
The right-sized group and ceaseless peer-to-peer organization are the foundations of … change.
Seth Godin – Sethgodin.com
And that’s enough philosophy for now - let’s grow!!
We look forward to a great year ahead for everyone 😊
Looking forward to seeing you at the store!
The Good Earth
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