Well...

Hi guys. I have been AWOL for many a month now, it's true. My bad. Blogging about one specific topic and I don't seem to get along well, so I'm trying this again. I need to flex my writing muscles more often (outside the context of writing papers and personal statements for grad school applications), so by George I'm gonna do it. This blog will still have a ton about local/sustainable agriculture, my CSA share (winter 2012!), and whatever foods I make, but I'll also give myself a chance to talk about whatever the heck I want in order to, hopefully, make this blog successful.

So, here's what my day has been like so far! I got up, read a little Giles Goat-Boy, by John Barth, made a poached egg and had that over a very small piece of oat bread, along with a mango, a clementine, and a mixed greens-and-raw-beet salad and a cup of green tea. Awesome way to start the day. I've been putzing around on the Internet (silly meee), but I'm about to get down to business. I'm going to do half an hour of yoga, half an hour on the treadmill, some strength training stuff with free weights, and then take a shower. I will then bake pumpkin-cranberry muffins, pumpkin-ginger molasses cookies, and read to page 275 of GGB.

I'm putting all of this out here because I need to be held accountable to some vast swath of Internet eyes-- I am more likely to be productive if I tell someone what I'm going to do!

And, as this is shortly after the dawning of a new year, I should say at least a little about my intentions for the year. I mean to live deliberately; I intend to create an improved version of myself each day. I intend to care for my body, listen to it, and strengthen it each day. I intend to get the heck off the internet-- when not blogging, of course! I intend to live compassionately. I will think not only about the content of my diet, but its origins, and I will strive to eliminate food items for which any animal has suffered.

I also intend to cultivate my mind. I will strive each day to become a better educator, to heal my own wounds and challenge my assumptions, and to keep my mind and heart open to any source from which I could learn important lessons about my life's calling. I intend to grow as a writer as well, pushing myself to write each day, even if it's just a few lines of reflection or a haiku. I intend to continue to make art; this past semester has awakened a creative spirit in me that lay dormant for years between the end of high school and now, and I do not intend to stifle it again.

Well, this got real deep, real quick. I basically just want to get better this year, and actively pursue getting better.

My mantra for the year:

And on that note, I'm gonna go work on this body of mine! Later!