Thank you Kurt and Ben and all who helped build our adobe oven.

I never used to make New Year’s resolutions until I decided to flaunt them on our blog last year. And, of course, I made way too many. So how did I do?

Completed:

• Build adobe oven in the backyard: check! Thanks to Kurt Gardella and Ben Loescher who led a class in our backyard.
• Plan out garden ahead of time instead of playing catch-up at the last minute: I did indeed plan out the garden but nature had her own plans including a destructive series of skunk attacks. I’ve switched to a hands-off approach to veggie gardening inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka.
• Start a podcast (decided to make it a video podcast). You can subscribe in the iTunes store here (it’s freeeeee!).
• Clean up the graphic design on the blog and organize information better: Thank you to our book designer Roman Jaster for doing this for us!
• Return to the fencing strip (I’ll admit it’s a pretentious activity–sort of the artisinal mayonnaise of sports–but I’m addicted to it.). See the first topic on the incomplete list.

Fencing jacket is still hanging in my office as a reminder to get those knees working again!

Working on, i.e. incomplete:

• Fix bad knees–retuning to the fencing strip gave me the worst case of runner’s knee I’ve ever had. This is a good thing because it forced me to get into physical therapy and fix the problem.
• Improve writin’ skills.
• Celebrate the wonderful awesomeness that is Mrs. Homegrown each and every day.

I’ve got the book but not the license.

Fail:

• Get HAM technician’s license.
• Learn Morse code
• Attend CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) classes.
• Organize messy office so it doesn’t look like an episode of Hoarders.
• Organize supplies in garage into labeled boxes: still messy.
• Turn the garage into the ultimate man cave.
• Increase running distance.
• Organize bug-out box.
• Backpack more often.
• Camp on Santa Rosa island again.
• Return to biodynamic practices in the garden.
• Learn how to sharpen knives and tools.
• Create an iPhone or iPad app.
• Check email only twice a day.
• Take more time to cook.
• Keep the kitchen spotless.
• Ferment vegetables more often.

My New Year’s resolution this year is to have a much shorter New Year’s resolution list. I’ll post that list tomorrow.

So how did your 2012 go? What did you accomplish on your homestead? Please share in the comments . . .