January 10, 2021

2021 Reading & Gardening Goals

 Hello, and welcome back! Despite a rather rough start, I have hope for this new year to be brighter than the last. 

Just last Sunday I sat down and wrote out some personal resolutions for 2021. As I was doing so, I realized that I haven't written down resolutions for 3 years--in fact, all 3 of the years that we were in Utah. I probably need to read back in my journal to see if I even mentioned a reason why I did not, but I have a whole sheaf of papers--my past year's resolutions--and the newest date on top was 2017. Wow. Past time to get back in the game! 

Reading Goals

So anyway, let's talk about reading goals for this year, shall we? I have had some floating around in my brain. Let's see if I can distill them down. 

1--Read mostly nonfiction. I want to focus this year on really learning from what I read--not that you can't learn things from fiction. I am just feeling a push to seek out biographies, true history, and other such narrative nonfiction that will enrich my life and perhaps that I can share with my kids as well. 

I am certain that I will read plenty of fiction around the edges, but this year I want the bulk to be nonfiction. 

2--Clean up my reading. For better or worse, I'm pretty good at skimming over cursing in a book--unless it gets too egregious-- and skipping sex scenes, etc. However, when I then turn around and try to recommend these books to my impressionable young tween, and he comes and says--"Mom, this book swears so much! I had to put it down." Well, that's not good. He's a great example for me. 

It's going to be a bit tough, I think. I've already had 2 books that I've wanted to read for awhile, that I either found for really cheap on Kindle or otherwise acquired, and have had to put both down for content reasons.

So, if you know of any great clean reads for me, let me know!  


Gardening Goals

If you've been around here for very long, you probably know that I had a little flower farm in Utah. I loved it! Every spare minute I was either working on the growing, harvesting, arranging, planning, business, or marketing. Perhaps that's why my personal resolutions fell by the wayside? Hmm...food for thought.

In any case, we felt like our family needed a change. After much discussion, prayer, and thought, we decided to move to the Oregon Coast. So, here we are. I had to shut down my beloved flower business and leave it behind. I know this move was the right thing for our family. I have faith that God will bring this desire for flowers and farming and floristry back around for me in some form, when His timing is right.

In the meantime, we are living in a rental home, with no outdoor growing space. I had just resigned myself to a year without growing anything. Then my husband gave me the sweetest Christmas present ever--he bought and built me a moveable garden bed to put somewhere on this property, and he found out that there are community gardens here, AND reserved 2 spaces for us! I was so touched.

The boxes in the community garden are 30'x5'. I have suddenly started thinking and dreaming about planting again. I think we're going to have one of the community garden boxes for vegetables, and let the kids plan and plant that one together. I'm going to take the other one for flowers. So excited! I haven't decided yet what will go in the one at the house. 

Without further explanations, here are the goals for this year:

1--Utilize every inch of space we have for planting! Fill up my outdoor flower pots, get all of 3 of the garden spaces filled with plants.

2--Support my kids in their vegetable growing plans. 

3--Grow a rainbow of flowers. This is the idea I have been playing around with for my flower bed at the community garden. I don't have space to start seedlings, so I'll have to either go with those that can be direct-seeded, or purchased as starts from a nursery. 

Red: zinnias, possibly pincushion flowers or snapdragons, nasturtiums


Orange: Marigolds, Geum, maybe lilies 


Yellow: sunflowers, possibly marigolds and zinnias again, black-eyed susans

Green: Bells of Ireland, parsley, basil, oregano, or other herbs

Blue: bachelor's buttons--of course, possibly sweet peas--they should do well in this cool, rainy climate, annual salvia if I can find it

Indigo/Purple: So many purple flowers that I love! Salvias, bellflower, forget-me-nots, larkspur, pansies and violas, petunias...

I may cheat a bit and throw in some pink and white, or I may save those for elsewhere. 

* * * 

It's a little strange to include flowers that don't make great cut flowers in my plans again. Strange, but good. Also, since I'm just renting the space, I won't put in any perennials that I would have to dig up later in order to keep them...probably. 

Now I need to find my seed container--haven't seen it since the move--and figure out what I've already got that I can use, and what I need to order.

If you are planning on doing any gardening this year, be sure to order your seeds early--they will probably sell out again, like last year!

2 comments:

  1. May I recommend All Thirteen by Christina Soontornvat? Such a great nonfiction read, and my tween loved it.

    I am indeed planning on gardening a little. I should go look at seeds...

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    Replies
    1. Hi Alysa! I just had a chance to read All Thirteen. Absolutely loved it! My teenager and tween both read it and liked it, too.

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