2014 has been a long and difficult year…  Farm troubles that we could have not predicted, a temporarily debilitating injury to my other half, financial leanness and the devastating, shocking loss of a dearly loved friend have left us world weary, tear stained and more than a bit angry at fate.  I can’t say that we have always dealt with the struggles in the most healthy and positive manner either.  Too easy it is to give in to the “bad” and cave emotionally, physically and spiritually under the pressure.  I want to dedicate 2015 to putting myself back in charge of my fate.

As the New Year plays host to billions of resolutions (losing weight, paying off debt, saving money…), I want to resolve to change my focus (and if losing 10lbs, paying off debt and saving money result, so be it – but those wouldn’t my goals per se).  I want to decrease stress, increase patience, make my farm work for me (not me for it), and not just maintain a healthy life style – but aggressively take steps to become holistically healthier…  It is time to replace certain habits with better, uplifting, affirming habits.  So this year I pledge to:

• Not be taken advantage of.
• Know my limits.
• Not wait for perfection to happen.
• Realize opportunity and abundance when they present themselves.
• Reduce the unnecessary stressors and quit stressing so much about the legitimate stressors.
• Become more patient with my family, and less patient with those that upset or burden me.
• Speak my mind.
• See beauty wherever it is and stop to appreciate it.
• Take inventory of the habits that are not making me the best person I can be and replace them with better ones.
• Never ever again be afraid to offend somebody if I feel that they are in trouble.

I am sure that I will find room for more resolutions as the weeks go by.  I will start academic studies in herbalism and aromatherapy in a few short weeks and look forward to sharing my discoveries with my readers. I plan to preserve more food than ever before, and fill our pantries and freezers with wholesome foods and the occasional indulgence. I will continue to share what can be done from home to help eliminate the packaged and processed garbage from our lives.  I pledge to always try to be one step ahead on the farm and document all our planning, gardening and DIY endeavors.

So there is no recipe or instructions for this blog post.  Instead, I am requesting that each and every one of you find ways to improve your lives with me.  After all, we only really live this lifetime once and we need to make each and every moment count.

Let us ring in 2015 with a new zest for life and an open heart.  Wishing you the most blessed New Year.

-Devon