A New Year, the Same Old Me.
*My unpublished reflection on 2012 that was written in January, an annual tradition. I guess it stayed unpublished because 2013 has continued to be a challenging year of finding out what life means/holds right now. I got stuck.
Every January I like to take a moment to reflect on the past year and remember what those 365 days contained, and some years are more impressive (see here, and here) than others. 2011 was the year of canning and I was sure that 2012 would be the year of sewing, but somehow 2012 became the year of finding out what defines me.
The year started off fast-- I was still busy being productive and having loads of fun. My mom and sisters came to visit Seattle in March and the four of us went to the Sewing & Stitchery Expo where I learned some helpful tips from sewing pros, shopped for sewing supplies like fabric and patterns, and built my sewing inspiration for the upcoming year. I canned and cooked a lot, knitted scarves and hats, spun yarn and sewed numerous blouses for myself. I quit my full time non-profit job in the human services sector in March and spent the following six months working very hard as an intern on an organic farm. I fell in love with vegetables, experienced what felt like a true pacific northwest summer, made friends with customers at the farmers market, and ate salad almost every day.
In the realm of cooking and eating food...
Every January I like to take a moment to reflect on the past year and remember what those 365 days contained, and some years are more impressive (see here, and here) than others. 2011 was the year of canning and I was sure that 2012 would be the year of sewing, but somehow 2012 became the year of finding out what defines me.
The year started off fast-- I was still busy being productive and having loads of fun. My mom and sisters came to visit Seattle in March and the four of us went to the Sewing & Stitchery Expo where I learned some helpful tips from sewing pros, shopped for sewing supplies like fabric and patterns, and built my sewing inspiration for the upcoming year. I canned and cooked a lot, knitted scarves and hats, spun yarn and sewed numerous blouses for myself. I quit my full time non-profit job in the human services sector in March and spent the following six months working very hard as an intern on an organic farm. I fell in love with vegetables, experienced what felt like a true pacific northwest summer, made friends with customers at the farmers market, and ate salad almost every day.
In the realm of cooking and eating food...
- We canned tuna in a class with Slow Food Seattle.
- We brewed ginger beer.
- I cried when I accidentally/prematurely/unknowingly killed the clams we dug for my first time.
- I gathered stinging nettle and made nettle pesto, served with the 2nd batch of clams and homemade pasta w/ eggs from the farm.
- We canned strawberry jam.
- Canned a bunch of things that never made the blog including pickled asparagus, pickled carrots (my favorite!), multiple batches of pickled green beans, pickled cauliflower (where I earned my first stitches), fig preserves, canned peaches, and probably other things I'm forgetting now.
- I learned to slaughter chickens-- both a hen and rooster.
- The farm owner shot three wild rabbits for me over the course of the summer, and I taught myself to gut and skin rabbits. This was intense... and altered my understanding of meat forever. I'm very thankful.
- I cooked a lot. Every day on the farm I ate multiple home cooked meals. I learned to love broccoli (nutribud is the most delicious variety).
And in the peak of summer when I was eager to travel, have fun, and celebrate life, I found myself nursing a broken heart. Life throws us curve balls, but I'm learning about what really makes me happy. This is process, learning we who I am and where I'm going.
Comments
Post a Comment