Jumping through January

Overview

The start of the year is a ripe time for new habits, new goals, and a new you. It is often the time to take a good long look at yourself and decide where changes are necessary. However, calendars and time are all constructed by the societies we reside in, and in reality, we have the ability to make changes and strides towards betterment at any and every moment. So January for me was just another month continuing on a new path I began cultivating for myself long before the clock struck 12 on December 31st. Do not get me wrong, all the energy put out by others making changes at this time was an enormous inspirational booster to keep plowing forward and I am ever so grateful for it.

I finished up the last two of my ideals: Modesty and Nurture. I enjoyed finishing the last two up and look forward to reflecting on the whole experience by combining all of them into a final summary post coming very soon! If you want to read more about these two values, click on them and you will be directed to the full post.

I have begun to settle into my new living arrangements with my brother, James, and friend, Adrian. We are continuing to make strides on home improvements and starting up our little homestead operation day by day. I have also begun to integrate myself into the local community through farmer’s market visits and yoga sessions at Shephard Street Yoga which often include a subsequent coffee hangout with my fellow yogis. All in all, I have greatly enjoyed the first month of the year and look forward to what else 2022 will bring my way.

Best Meals

I had yet another great month of homecooked meals, I am beginning to see a pattern develop here, and am excited to share them with you. The first one seen on the left has become my go-to breakfast and includes fresh eggs from our neighbors’ chickens, a side of greens (spinach, kale, and chard) topped with goat cheese and avocado, with some greek yogurt topped with blueberries and cinnamon. I could easily eat this every day and honestly have been. The middle meal is a little concoction I am fairly proud of and has been satisfying my sweet tooth whenever it crops up for the past few weeks. It consists of greek yogurt with some chocolate protein powder and PBFit mixed into that I put in the freezer for about 20 minutes topped with chopped almonds, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds. It tastes better than most ice creams and the macros are starkly better, containing about 85g of protein and 20g of both carbs and fat. The final meal was my favorite to consume by a long shot and highlighted a piece of salmon coated with pineapple habanero jam procured from my local farmer’s market, (thank you, David!) with a side salad consisting of the same aforementioned greens topped with goat cheese, avocados, and sauteed jalapenos, onions and the first-ever mushrooms I grew myself (of the oyster variety). It was absolutely delicious.

Highlights

• Some of my best days have certainly been 7am Sunrise yoga followed by coffee, tea, or a juice and chatting with other yoga lovers. I love yoga being the first thing I do with my day because it centers me and gets my body prepared for the rest of the day. It also allows me the time to express the appreciation for my body it certainly deserves.
• Going to the famers market each Saturday and talking to all the passionate vendors and learning about their products and techniques was extremely rewarding. Oh, and also tasting all the amazing food they produced wasn’t so bad either.
• I grew my very own mushrooms for the first time in my life. They were oyster mushrooms, as mentioned above, and were a delicious and educational experience. I look forward to many more harvests and varities of mushrooms to come.

Homestead Updates

• We put together a more permanent compost area using pallets we were able to acquire from a local business. A picture of our little set up can be seen below!
• We had some trees cut down in early January and split quite of bit of it for firewood but saved several medium sized logs for growing shitake mushrooms. We have acquired our spawm plugs to innoculate them whenever the trees natural defenses die down a little more.
• We continued blazing a trail into the forested area of our land with our goats, Lani and Fiona. We are slowly making a walking trail in their wake that we plan to zig zag throughout the forest. They are happily devouring all the underbrush they can and there is certainly lots more for them to eat.
• We decided on fig, pear, nectarine, and elderberry as our fruit trees and planned out the location of them on the property. We have placed an order and will be planting them very soon.
• We constructed a small coop and set up an electric fence for the chickens we will be getting soon to assit prepping our garden for the coming spring.

Phatasic Photos

Upcoming in February

I have lots of plans for February and am looking forward to a busy but rewarding month. Many of our projects will be off the ground and require continued work.

Make Today Your Best Day Yet!

“Life is a series of fresh starts, the frequency of use is up to the individual”

~Zak Keller aka amusingmonk~