At the beginning of the year, when I was trying to think of a New Year’s resolution that I actually wanted to stick to, I decided to try something different than the eat-better-run-more routine that gets shoved out the door within a few weeks. I decided that every month, our family would try out one fun, new experience together that none of us had ever done before.

And I’m happy to report that one month or so in, we are sticking to it. I came up with January’s adventure when I was elbow-deep in a sink full of dirty dishes and staring at an endless pile of laundry. (Did you know that two little girls can wear 18 pairs of pajamas in one week?) At that moment I decided it was time to start on our resolution.

I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. But I remembered hearing about this place where you could zip-line around trees, and I knew the girls and Joey would love doing that. A quick internet search, and I knew where we were headed. We shuffled the girls into the appropriate attire and only told them we were going somewhere to do something. They were not thrilled at the lack of information, but they followed along, and off we headed to Treehoppers in Dade City.

None of us really had any idea what it would entail. Let me just say that if you have any uncertainty about whether or not you are afraid of heights, try clipping yourself to a cable and crowding together on a tiny platform thirty feet above the ground and you will soon find out. Fortunately, none of us had a problem with the height. Running through the various courses was exhilarating.

We slowly worked our way up from the basic yellow courses to green, and a couple of us dared to try a blue course. (They go up to black, didn’t quite make it to that.) And to be clear, it isn’t all zip-lining and fun. In fact, most of the courses involve climbing, balancing, and a few even had you finish with a blind jump off a platform, while you are clipped into an auto-belay. Needless to say, many of the elements as they call them pushed us out of our comfort zones and made us realize we are capable of a lot more than we usually give ourselves credit for. We cheered each other on the whole time and only our worn-out shoulders and sore hands were enough to make us stop. The biggest challenge now is figuring out how to top that for our February experience. If you have any suggestions for something fun to do in the area, shoot me an email at [email protected].

If you are looking for a fun new activity in the garden, then we’ve got you covered. Next week, on Saturday the 19th, we’ll kick off our seminar series with Joey teaching you all about getting great harvests out of your veggie garden. I’m most excited about this year’s Spring Fling. It feels like forever since we’ve had a big event at the nursery. Come out on March 5th to celebrate the grand opening of The Farmhouse and all that spring has to offer, with a variety of seminars throughout the day, gift card giveaways, and for lunch, The Melt Machine will have their tasty treats for sale from 11 am to 2 pm (glad I didn’t make one of those be-healthy New Year’s resolutions. . .).

We can’t promise you the exhilaration of flying through the trees, but we can promise you all of the great benefits that gardening offers: health, happiness, and harvests. Can’t wait to see you at the nursery.