It is winter and I want to rest and reflect. I’m not quite ready to move full steam ahead. I prefer to celebrate renewal and new beginnings on the day of the spring equinox. But still, I cannot ignore that it is New Year’s Eve, there’s fireworks cracking and bursting nonstop.
To celebrate, I did a tarot card reading,
The High Priestess, The Emperor, the two of wands reversed.
The messages I received were telling me that I am allowing fear to get in my way and that I should work on recentering myself. That I need to trust my intuition and shed all that is holding me back (including myself). I have the knowledge and capabilities to achieve my goals, but no trust. Further proof that this is time for reflection, study, and planning.
Over the last year, I have grown many foods. Green beans, Seminole pumpkin, Tokyo bekana, watermelons, sweet potatoes, luffa gourds, okra, jalapeño peppers, strawberries, kale, mustard greens, spinach, radishes, turmeric, snow peas, eggplants… along with holy basil, lemon balm, lemon grass, Cuban oregano, parsley, rosemary, thyme, African blue basil, cranberry hibiscus. I’ve made teas and spice blends and created meals with my own two hands.
This next calendar year, I want to try to measure my outputs more. How many ounces of tea? How many pounds of potatoes? I’m not sure how well I will do trying to keep up with measuring but it would be quite interesting to add everything up at the end of the year.
I’ve learned to identify and forage many local foods and weedy plants but I want to learn more about foraging and plant identification this year. Especially when it comes to weedy plants, there’s still much I can learn and would love to go on more foraging walks and adventures.
This year I didn’t read as many books as I would have liked. I read many essays here but I want some balance. I’m changing that already by being halfway through a book a friend gifted me at the beginning of December. I’ve been reading before bed, in the morning, and/or while eating meals.
This calendar year I would like to read 15 books.
For the winter season, I want to focus on repairing some items that need some care. I have many pairs of socks, a pair of work boots, and two chairs that need fixing.
I want to transform my garden to be more space efficient. It’s a lovely garden that I grew myself, but I am interested in market gardening, so I must utilize the space differently. I plan to study the best ways of doing this in the coming weeks.
I would like to get on my bike more often. I could probably count on two hands the number of times I was on my bike in 2025.
I would like to keep a sketchbook more. I want to be better at making time for spontaneous sketching and art making. I want to draw the plants I learn about and the spaces I take up.
I want to do more so that my mind isn’t so cluttered. I want to reduce and refine.
For the Chinese new year, it was the year of the snake. Themes of shedding away the old and feeling a sense of cleansing renewal are apparent, and I will try to embrace that as well. In February, the year of the fire horse is upon us.
For now I will be reading, reflecting, and making plans for spring.