The New Year's Resolution Post

It may be a little late for the “New Year’s Resolutions” post, but “better late than never” is my motto since becoming a parent (only after becoming a parent did I understand that it would seem “reasonable” to put certain tasks off for YEARS at a time).

This year’s top resolution is to get more of my family’s food from local sources. We’re upping our CSA farm share from half to full this spring, and planting two apple trees. I’ve also begun buying cheese, eggs, honey, and other goods through a local online farmer’s market. Next year we’ll probably put in a garden (that’s one of those activities we’ve delayed years I mentioned earlier.) I’m reading books about canning with an aim toward actually doing it. I’ve always theoretically understood the benefits of eating local, but I’ve finally gotten around to reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. And while I find the descriptions of what’s in season on her family’s property and what they’re doing with it to be a little tedious, I can’t shake knowledge of the environmental impact of burning fuel so I can have strawberries in January. (By the way, it’s very hard to explain to a five-year-old and a two-year-old why we don’t buy strawberries at this time of year when they see them RIGHT THERE in the store.) I’m not going “all-in” like Ms. Kingsolver’s family did. I’m not ready to give up chocolate or bananas. But I’ve always lived by the philosophy that it’s better to do something than nothing, even if my efforts will never be perfect.

My writing resolution is just to finish the short story I’ve been working on since my two-year-old was still swimming around in my belly. Why yes, that was one of my New Year’s Resolutions from last year. But the death of a member of my writer’s group set me back quite a bit. I still find myself wondering what he would have thought of the story’s ending, which is finally in sight now. I have no regrets about taking the break I needed to grieve.

I did succeed in submitting an earlier short story to market and got to collect a rejection email for my effort. (It’s filed in my “if at first you don’t succeed … ” folder.)

I’m not setting up a reading goal or project for 2023. I’ve got a shelf of books I deem “high priority” that I’m going to make my way through before they become irrelevant or my enthusiasm for them fades. And I’m going to enjoy the library now that my book downsizing project has resulted in less guilt about the amount of unread books I own. (Which is still ridiculously high. BUT fits on the allotted space. Good enough for me.)

I also bailed on my goal to get rid of half my cookbooks, but since I cut my actual book collection in half — something I never would have imagined I would get the gumption to do at this time last year — I feel pretty okay with that. I’m still downsizing the cookbook collection in line with our family’s changing dietary needs. (I can no longer have gluten, and my husband needs to watch his cholesterol. My five-year-old is still notoriously picky and mostly wants to eat foods involving gluten and saturated fats. Meal planning is a delicate business around here.)

Overall, I’m pleased with what I was able to make of the past year, and I look forward to further striving in 2023. Happy New Year!