Happy New Year!

I love the new year!  I also love the beginning of Spring and Fall, all for the same reason. Each feels like a time for change. Much more palatable than the change into Summer and Winter that we experience here on California's Central Coast.  Each of these beginnings gives me sort of "Spring fever"in which I want to make big plans for the upcoming season, clean out closets and files old things that are holding me back or slowing me down, and I want to do more of the things that I feel in my heart, but haven't quite translated into action yet.  It's huge, I know. John recently noted that I am "all over the place..." Not as a bad thing, but as a "maybe you don't need to do more right now..." suggestion.  He's much more practical that I. When I asked what his New Year's resolutions were, he asked why you need to make them for the new year. Why not just do it whenever. See how he is? 

I also believe in putting things out there. I don't think that our hopes and wishes can always come true, just because we think them.  Actual work is obviously needed, but I think that saying or writing it to get it flowing is also important. The more I do this, the more things have been coming to me, so here goes....

My list of goals and resolves for the year 2012

 1. get more organized and get rid of excess crap. I don't have a lot to do here, but being disorganized is one of my least favorite things! (look for a blog about this, SOON!)  Being disorganized leads to a lot of wasted time AND money. Both of which could be better spent.

2.  eat more of what we grow. Here's a confession. I grow a lot of stuff. Likely enough to feed my family of 4. But we don't always eat it. I end up feeding a lot of it to the animals. Good for them, not for me.Sadly, though, I can't grow beer, bread or cheese, which are big expenses at our place. I resolve to plan meals around what we CAN grow (or make from what we grow), grow more of it, and greatly reduce the foods that we have to buy at the store. In this same line, I will only be buying what we do need from truly LOCAL store and farmers markets.  (if you see me in Safeway or Nob Hill, give me a swift kick!!)
I look forward to blogging about the foods that are easily grown right here, seasonal menus as well as cost comparison and sources.

3.  by following resolve #2, I resolve to lose the extra 30 pounds I tote around and have more energy to spend on other ventures!  look better, feel better, do better!  I wish I was one of the bad ass bloggers I admire, and could have a perfectly frank blog, detailing every step of weight loss as I do it...but I don't think so.

4.  Enjoy more.  If I had a dollar for every time I heard myself say, "I can't, I have too much to do..." I'd have a down payment for the house we want to buy!  I resolve to spend more time enjoying life, relaxing with friends and family, and wandering around, planning life with John.

5.  Put my business out there more! New classes, selling plants, animals and food, more instructional/inspirational blogs, etc...

6, 7, 8.  Get married. Buy a farm of our own. Become parents together.  All very complicated stuff, squeezed into the simplest of words.  I think all 3 can happen within the year. I know one of them will. :-)

What kind of person makes a list of 8 things??? I don't know, but that's what I got, for now.

Happy 2012 to all. May your year be bright and full of all good things. 

Erica at Northwest Edible Life said it best..."May you always have more than you need and want all that you have, may your vegetables ever outgrow your weeds, may your chickens lay daily and rarely molt, may your Felcos always stay sharp and never get lost in the rain, may cabbage worms never find your garden and earthworms never miss it, and may your peppers and tomatoes always ripen. Even in Seattle."