………………to all my friends and  followers. It’s a new year so what better time to roll out our new look. As you can see,  I  have a new title and bi-line and design. Last year in 2013,   I  began as an official blogger as Sherry Mitchell-Farm Girl.  I sure had a lot to learn. As a newbie, I really had to work on disciplining myself  to post things more regularly or in other words, wipe the soil from my hands and come  inside (I love the outdoors so this was harder than you might think for me ) and write. I do love to write but I don’t like worrying about grammar and such.   It was harder than I imagined it would be, too, to be disciplined. I did learn however that  I am much more of a free spirit than I knew.

As a blogger,  it is especially hard to wipe the dirt off your hands and get inside to write  when you work on a farm and I, Sherry Mitchell- Farm Girl really am the one who  plants our small  corn field with my two-row John Deere antique planter  and mows, rakes and bales  the hay fields myself. And if the sun is shining, I love to meander over the farm doing mostly nothing. 

But during the month of December, after reviewing  what stories (blogs) you really liked,  I got to studying  all these things.  Sort of like when you move a crop from field to field for better yield. And that’s when  I decided to break out in 2014 with a new look and  mention our  new adventures. So I tried on “lots of pairs of shoes” different names and designs. And came up with Take Joy!  

Last year  I launched Sherry’s Farm Store and stocked it with some pretty farm related things.Books, magaines, home decore, pets, animals and so on.   This year, however, yet to be completed is   Jeff’s Collectibles and Books.  The blueprints have been drawn up and ground breaking ceremonies will be this week!  I must admit it is like putting up a new barn, with rafters, roof and doors, so to speak! If all goes well, we should be launching  it in the spring.   So we are building, building and building our stores as I write. 

Did I say we love  farm living?  (Most days that is, unless machinery is breaking down or rain threatens our freshly  mown hay). Our  Store Fronts Sherry’s Farm Store and Jeff’s Collectibles & Books will include many  wonderful farm related  things we have collected  or used on the farm or that you might use or want to decorate with and so on.  And I do want you to know, we love books, so, there will be lots of books. 

As I started my new journal for 2014, I saw   that I have kept one  for nearly  twenty years now. Astonishing to me.  I will be thumbing through some of those old ones to share in future posts.  If you don’t keep a journal  I recommend it. It is quite entertaining.  Looking back and seeing how far one has come through the years. As  my Dad would say,  “record keeping, a must on the farm”.  

And last but not least, I assure you that I  will continue  my  Strolls Down Memory Lane  sharing  my early years as a farm girl in 1960’s. But don’t expect this everyday, cause sometimes I will be on that tractor making hay when the sun is shining!