It must be the student envy I have every year that makes me want to start something new every time September comes around. I get WITCHY. With a W, people. Like EVERY YEAR. I feel like they play Harry Potter marathons more in the Fall. It’s magical. It’s Hocus Pocus season, y’all…….grab your brooms, ladies…. tonight we FLY!

I mean, we all feel that way…. right?

The crisp air. The shorter days. Falling leaves that seem to remind you every day that “change is here, you can’t stop it!” as the trees get ready to sleep deeply for the winter. The late Autumn blooms coming out to help the bees get the last bits of nectar…

For me, I’m usually planning for the holidays at my day job. Prepping for the chaos that working directly with consumers always brings. Tensions soar, stresses mount and inevitably, my relaxation comes from imagining lazy spring afternoons in the hammock, or prepping the raised beds….or dreaming of January days off, sketching up the next iteration of the garden. Or pre-ordering seed catalogs (squeeeeee!) I have a problem, people. A serious, SERIOUS, seed problem.

But this year, well… this year is different. Like DIFFERENT different.

I wont state the obvious, but other than the macro stuff… I’m now a mom. A mom who needs to get her shit together and stop making so many plans and start making plans that I can accomplish whilst towing around a lil babe. Too blunt? Meh, I mean, we all gotta own our faults right? Yeah, I LOVE PROJECTS… lol. I gotta manage that shit better for realsies.

Becoming a mom also does this weird thing. Beyond the (again) obvious things like caring more for a lil human than anything else in your life…it makes you reassess stuff. Like what’s really important.

Aaaaaand sometimes…like those crazy thoughts you had about quitting your job and raising goats for soap and cheese. ❌

Or….. getting a midi sized cow. Or sheep, yes, or sheep.❌

SIGH. A girl can have long term goals right? Like retirement? Is that still a thing now…. #thanks2020

Well. The sheep, goats and cow ain’t happening anytime soon, but my compass is squarely pointed towards spending more time with my daughter and being the best mom I can; towards being present for my husband and being the best partner I can so we can be what our daughter needs. Whatever and whenever that is.

So this week I made a choice. I know my changes will need to come either DRAMATICALLY or gradually. This week, I chose just put what I want to change out into the universe. A good start, I think. (And I actually started some work towards each of these already!)

Next year I will cut my veggie garden in half and add alternating annual and perennial beds. Helping the pollinators and bringing me beautiful blooms that light up my child’s face when her eyes see them as she rushes to lean in to take a sniff. (God, I love this girl.)

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Next year, the orchard will become productive. Which means 3 trees have to be removed, and 3-4 trees have to go back in. This is a tough one, but ultimately important for the health of our orchard. And I want peaches again!

This year, the things I could not harvest that went to seed, will be saved for next year’s starts and also for a small side business (anyone want seeds? Or potted flowers if you are local?) So far, I have onion and dwarf everblooming sunflower seeds.

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This year, I will process what I can and enjoy the food IMMEDIATELY (or quickly.) Hot sauces, kraut, tomatoes, beans…Nothing will go into the pantry and sit there for years. Today I made two hot sauces and can’t WAIT to enjoy them camping or throughout the winter.

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This year, garlic WILL be overwintered. The seed garlic is ordered (amazing Russian Red which is delicious and cold hardy) and bed selected (but waiting for the giant sunflowers to finish maturing and seeds aging before we harvest those and plant the garlic.)

This year, annual bulbs WILL be planted. First annual bed done, a perennial bed done and a hybrid bed half done. They will be alternating flower-veggie-flower-veggie … I guess sort of like a kitchen garden versus a strict veggie garden now. What’s left to plant? Anemone, Daffodil and Bride white tulips… (and the bulbs from last year if they kept in the basement… what were those again?)

Next year, the garden WILL have protection from critters. (Sketches have been made… it is gonna happen! Or I shoot the groundhog. One or the other…. nahhhh)

Next year, the greenhouse WILL get built. Oh, it will. I’ve dreamed of a hard greenhouse since visiting my Great Aunt Kay when I was 10-11 years old. Her backyard was a botanical lover’s dream!

I WILL have two days off back to back to spend with my family. This ACTUALLY is my #1 priority for 2021.

I WILL be home before 6 to be able to cook a dinner for my daughter so we can eat at a normal time and create a more normal bedtime routine for her. (Easily my #2.)

I WILL donate all the clothes I have been meaning to donate. And clean out the things we don’t need. Donating versus throwing away so that what we may not need, can give someone else what they do.

My house WILL succumb to a cleaning schedule. Of some sort… (you’d think the pandemic would have made this easier, but my schedule I kept to before is out the window so….. #thanksfornonproductivequarantining #ImEssential? )

I know, it’s a lot. I have dreams, what can I say?

ALL will take work to make happen. But, ultimately, all of them can be done. I may need to change other things to be able to realize them… but no matter how little or big the things on this list are, all of them will help my sanity, my family and my home.

So here’s to the best season…. FALL! Where we welcome change by casting off that which is weathered or has become stale then take a few months to gather strength and plan on how to come back bigger and better, stronger than the year before.

Raise a glass of mulled wine and make your affirmations.

I know I am. Tonight, we FLY!