goals Archives

I believe in The Resolutionist.

The optimistic. The excited. The one who is inspired to grow and to make a change.

But, the whole idea of a “resolution” gets a lot of smack this time of year.

People claim that it is stupid/inappropriate/negative to set resolutions. They state that resolutions are unattainable wishes that lead to depression. They declare that people who make resolutions are just dreamers. They say why even bother because the resolution will just be broken within 30 days.

News flash: “They” are grumps.

There is always room to try something new. To learn. To grow. To make a change. To make yourself stronger.

To help give everyone’s resolutions a fighting chance we need to stop being so grumpy and use our skills and experiences to help each other.

So, here’s the deal: If your resolution is to save money by not shopping at Anthropologie as much, sorry, forget it. I am not your girl. I can’t help you. I can’t help me.

But, if your resolution is to cook from scratch more, begin to ditch processed foods, eat locally when possible, or even grow your own food, stick around.

These are things I have done and you can to.

Here a few tips to get you started:

So, you want to cook from scratch more often?

Awesome! I am a firm believer in home cooked meals. I honestly think they can change the world. (More on that some other day…)

But, how do you do this without getting discouraged? Without your family hating everything you put in front of them?

Two beginner tips:

1. Having a plan is huge. I meal plan and shop on Sunday’s (sometimes Monday’s) for the whole week. I check the fridge and freezer and see if there is anything I need to use up. I make a plan for left overs be it lunch or re-purposed for the next day’s dinner. I make sure there are different proteins and flavor profiles throughout the week so that we don’t get bored. And, I try my best to stick to my meal plan mainly because I have already invested the money in the meal. This makes take out or eating out not tempting at all even when it’s a busy night. (Got to save that cash for Anthro… duh!)

2. Try your best to learn to like cooking. This is weird, obscure, and maybe even hard. But, if you are going to do it you have to find some joy in it. I thoroughly enjoy getting away from the many screens in my life and working with my hands. I find it refreshing after a long day. Think of it as a way to unwind with a byproduct of a great meal for your family.

But, if that sounds completely ridiculous and there is no way to unwind until kids are in bed; grab a glass of wine, turn on your show and do tomorrow night’s chopping then. Or, befriend your crock pot and prep Tuesday night’s dinner on Monday evening. Put it in the fridge over night, turn it on before heading to work, BINGO.

Plus, coming home from a long day to marvelous smells coming from your crock pot is one of life’s most pure joys. I speak from experience.

So, you want to quit that processed food that you can’t seem to make it through a day without?

You are brave. But, you got this!

I was once the Diet Soda Queen. No seriously. It was a known fact. I love, love, loved it. A Diet Coke can or the 32 ounce Styrofoam cup from a gas station just steps off my college campus was like an accessory for me that I wore proud and daily.

Then I started reading about it. Forget the whole cancer thing: My first concern was for my teeth. Was I staining them? Then my bones. Could I be doing damage to them and become a weak, brittle old lady? Then I read about how it tricks you into thinking you are consuming something sweet, but you really aren’t because it’s a “fake” sweetness, so then you crave and, in turn, eat more sweets.

There is nothing “diet” about that.

Especially when I was in my early twenties and there was a wedding dress in my near future.

Today, I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a diet soda.

How did I do it?

1. Occupy your thirst. I began drinking water like crazy. (Which happens to have loads of benefits. Bonus!) I had water with me at all times so that I couldn’t get thirsty. But, the caffeine thing is hard.

So 2., Start small. Don’t go cold turkey. Let yourself have one or two a week. Maybe a Friday afternoon treat. Whatever. But after a month or so you won’t even miss that treat.

(A byproduct of this? You will become crazy water fiend. You will feel strange if you feel like you have not gotten enough water in a day. And, then you will begin to dream about how wonderful it would be to have beautiful water fountains full of Evian straight from the Alps on every corner like they do in Europe.)

So, you want to eat locally?

Cool. Love it!

However, one tiny issue with this one. If you are in a state like, oh let’s say Indiana? Now is not the greatest time to start. Eating Local has to do a lot with eating seasonally. And in this lovely frozen tundra, there isn’t that much that is in season right now.

But what you can do is get your toes wet and start making a plan:

1. Check out websites like eatwild.com or just even use google to learn about local growers in your area. Reach out to them or follow them on social media to learn what they have for sale right now. Start making relationships with them and maybe even begin purchasing things like their eggs, cheese, or meat which they might have available this time of year.

2. Use this time of year to study up on canning or freezing so that when these farmers have things like tomatoes, berries, or corn this summer you can buy it in bulk and put it away for next January.

Honestly, you should see my freezer right now. We have a lot of eating to do.

So, you want to grow your own food?

Heck yah, you do! You are a rockstar.

Now is a great time to start thinking about this, even if your home is currently frozen like mine. And, man, do I have tips for ya!

This could be a whole post. Or series of posts. Or maybe even a whole blog. Hey, wait.. isn’t that what Bloom kind of is…! 😉

I have done a lot of gardening posts so check them out in the “Garden Tips” tab of the menu bar, but to get you started:

1. Think about what you like to eat and eat often. These are things you should grow. We love tomatoes, herbs and lettuce greens…But, winter squash? Not so much. So we don’t grow it.

2. A good garden isn’t super needy, but it does need sun, water, and good soil. Right now is a good time to think about all these things.

Sun- Is there a place that gets at minimum five hours of good sun light? It can be your windowsill, your patio, your lawn, whatever. That is where your plants should go.

Water- Do you have outdoor hose hook-up’s? Or will your water be coming from inside? Keep that in mind when you are trying to figure out where you want to put your garden. Or, get busy working on your biceps.

Soil- Soil is tricky. Find out if you have sandy or clay soil. Maybe start a compost bin to help bring in organic matter to your garden soil this spring.

3. Look into seeds and seed starter kits. Planting for areas in the Midwest should begin around March. There are tons and TONS of seed companies out there. Request a catalog and have fun “ooh-ing” and “awe-ing” over the beautiful, colorful veggies and their funny names.

4. A big thing to remember is that there is no need to go crazy when you are starting out. It’s YOUR garden and it can be as big or as small as you want it. Maybe you do herbs in your windowsill? Or tomatoes in pots on your patio? Or maybe you dig up eight beds in the backyard? Perfect. Do what works for you. We started with just tomatoes and peppers and now I couldn’t even tell you how many plants are in our summer garden.

Once you start, you will grow too.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2015!

Follow your dreams.

It seems like people do a lot of reflecting in November.

Thanks to the upcoming Holidays, like Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, many people begin to take time to think about what they are thankful for and count their blessings just a little bit more.

With our Facebook Newsfeed full of daily “I am thankful for >enter whatever first world benefit here<,” Adam and I couldn’t help but get in the spirit.

Okay. So, maybe after we judged the people who said they were thankful for their iPhones within the first three days of the month…

But, it did make us ask “What are we Thankful for this year?”

The iPhone didn’t hit the list… weird. But there was one common denominator between us: The Garden.

We smiled at each other thinking of our love of the garden and our future plans for the garden. Then, I asked, “We are going to be those people, aren’t we?”

“What do you mean?” Adam questioned.

“The people who other people will think are insane for ditching their steady, corporate careers for sustainable farming. The people who have root cellars. Cows. Pigs. And, don’t know how to work an iPad. The people whose kids will be praying to the God of Sun and Rain while their cousins are singing, ‘Jesus Loves Me.'”

Okay… Just a little dramatic.

But, Adam, laughing, said, “Pretty much.”

“Oh my gosh,” I sighed, “How did we get here?”

Inspired by this question, our mutual gratitude for the garden and our excitement for the future, Adam and I, together, will be giving thanks and telling our versions of the story of “How we got here, where we are, and where we are going” throughout the month of November on Bloom.

Because you hear from me all the time… and because even I have enjoyed this story from Adam’s perspective, I thought Adam should start:

First off, I guess I should introduce myself. You all know Claire, as I am sure you have read her blog posts. Well, I am her crazy husband. You know that guy who drug that girl away from the city and “cut her off from”… you name it.

To understand some of Claire’s blog, I think you should understand who I am. I am the country boy who isn’t all that country. Don’t get me wrong, I wear jeans a t-shirt and a ball cap just about every day(if it’s cold I put on a hoodie). I hunt, fish, trap, drive a diesel truck, drive tractors and wear boots.

Hive and Honey Photography

However, I am not the rebel flag flying redneck some people imagine when they hear someone is from the country.

I love a glass of merlot with my steak. I save my money to buy nice things. I enjoy dressing up in a suit for a wedding or a coat and tie for a nice dinner out with my wife. And a night out for Wicked on Broadway doesn’t sound awful any more. I’m that guy that Claire’s hometown never thought she would marry. I’m that guy who taught her about farming. I’m also that guy who has learned with her, dreamed with her, grew with her, and become passionate about our life together. (Sorry for the sap.) We’re on an adventure together no one would have guessed, not even us, and this is how it all started.

I’ve always thought gardening was fun. My parents had a garden when I was kid, but I’m not sure how many years it actually lasted. I certainly don’t remember canning. As I got into high school I would start a garden in the spring, typically consisting of tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and cucumbers. Not the most diverse selection by any means. Spring always came around and I was excited to get plants in the ground. Typically, I always planted 10 too many pepper plants, wait too long to pick zucchini, and tomatoes rotted on the vines from lack of attention.

Somehow, my mom was always on board. She would take me to the local nursery, help me pick out the plants, help me plant them, and watch me ignore them all summer as friends and girls kept my attention.

Fast forward to January 2013 and Claire and I are moving into our new house. I had already decided a garden is going to be in our future. My friends had one. The neighbors had one. Must be a small town thing, but everyone around me had one. So, I had to have one too.

I know what you’re thinking.

“So what! It’s a garden. Big deal.”

Well, that’s what I thought too. Until I started doing some research.

Claire was working for a public school as head of their food service and became involved in the Indiana “Farm to School” program. She quickly became passionate about these farmers, how they grew their food, where our food comes from and the environmental impacts of producing our food.

So, I jumped on board and began doing some of my own research. YouTube is my best friend by the way. Video after video, hour after hour of listening to people talk about their gardens had me excited to get started. Square foot gardening, raised beds, typical row crop gardening and many more.

I thought we would want to do raised beds, with the help of Claire and all her pins on Pinterest of raised bed gardens. Soon we found that they would cost more than her car to build. So, I simply started by tilling up eight large garden beds.

My mom thought we were crazy for having such a big garden. The twenty tomato plants probably had something to do with it…

We also settled on trying to grow our food as organically as possible.

I don’t want to get into all the political crap about anti-organic this or pro-gmo that. Everyone has a reason why they choose what they eat. My opinion was I didn’t want to waste the money on fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides if I didn’t need them. Also, I really didn’t feel that entirely comfortable putting things on the food I was going to eat that suggested chemical gloves, a dust mask and safety glasses as appropriate PPE.

I believe there is a place for both, and my backyard didn’t need the alternative.

With good management of crop rotation, proper maintenance and a little extra labor I felt like I could achieve the same results.

So, how was I going to fertilize this large garden? Back to YouTube I went. After many videos it seemed backyard chickens were the perfect companion to a backyard garden. They solved my pest problems, I could compost their manure for fertilizer and they produced eggs as a byproduct.

On Mother’s Day weekend, Claire and I brought home twelve baby chickens which launched us into an ever evolving production of growing our own food.

So, that’s how it all started. One idea of wanting a backyard garden launched me into a job as conductor of plants and animals, trying to make everything work in the most symbiotic way possible.

To The Resolutionist:

“How Did We Get Here” by Adam