Who would have thought what a year could bring. Last January, we could never have anticipated what would come at us. This awful virus has people under the law of lockdown.

When you farm in the countryside, a lot of your day can remain the same; with daily work still being carried out in or out of lockdown. The main differences for us were general shopping, leisure travel, farm and garden purchases and mart visits.

Thankfully, none of us were directly affected by the virus, but so many were by infection, hospitalisation and some people, unfortunately, lost friends or family members. For Christmas and the New Year, I wish everybody the best of good health as it is something to be so grateful for.

I would like to thank all of my readers who have been in touch with me wanting to know how I coped.

I know it was difficult for many older people this year with cocooning, but I was lucky with where I live and who I live with – so much so, it barely affected me at all. I would always go for a walk every morning around the fields with my dog, then I would go to the garden for the day. It is always a place that will keep you busy.

Since it was springtime, all of the sowing had to be done – leading to plenty of tilling and planting. You don’t get much time to think as you have to keep your mind on what you are sowing. Later on came a long drought, where the garden had to be watered twice per day.

Finally, May arrived with a severe frost which damaged our early potato crop. As you can imagine, gardening has its woes, also.

With lockdowns and everything that came with them over the past year, many people took up gardening – this was great to see. Walking around a lovely, thriving garden full of organic vegetables and beautiful flower borders makes the work worthwhile.

I will have an enjoyable Christmas with my family. I live with my daughter and son-in-law, while my grandson is working away at the moment. It was nice to have him home for a period, also. I really feel for those whose family could not come home or, in some instances, even travel across the country.

Thankfully, technology is here to make it a bit easier if the person is not standing in front of you.

2020 is a year to forgo, but as I said before, I am thankful for my health and equally so for my garden – which nothing could replace. So I will finish by saying best wishes and happy gardening for the next twelve months. CL