Mad Cat Garden | December 2019

December was definitely a slow month for the garden, as expected. We spent little time outside this month, but we cleaned up all the beds, and tidied the yards. We go out to check on things every few days, but for now we are mostly waiting for Spring.

All the bluebs have lost their leaves and are looking only like sticks now. Hopefully they all come back in the spring. It’s always a little scary to see them in this state.

Our wood pile is in a better state than it was a few month ago. We didn’t have many fires in 2019, but I would love to change that in 2020. My dream is to supplement our heat with a wood stove and all foraged wood. Maybe the new year is the time for that, as well. I see this going hand in hand with the garden and becoming more self sustainable.

Our orange thyme is still going strong, even in the snow. We will need to turn this bed ion Spring, so hopefully we will find a good new home for it.

December was mostly about propagating seeds and starting plants indoors. We’ve been saving or foraging seeds and some, especially those that are tropical, we’ve started growing early.

Although December was mostly dormant, there are new things popping up. Hopefully January will see more new growth and plans for the future.

What method do you use to plan your Spring garden? What tools do you use?

December Plant Update

I was surprised that December was a great month for plant observations. While it was happening, it didn’t feel like it. December ran the gambit on weather, saw the other side of the country, saw dying plants and blossoming.

A little bit of snow.

A lot of snow!

A very nice blue sky.

I love these orange and vermillion berries in the winter! Such a pop of color!

Squirrel friend.

Tom, not quite comfortable.

Our hibiscus bloomed. Twice!

Tis the season, and Asbury Park was decked out in December.

And decked at home. (not mine, tho.)

A visitor to Asbury Park we came across.

An interlude in Arazona.

Fuzzy little jojoba.

Cutest leaves ever.

Back in town and hanging with the locals

Everything lavender.

More winter berries.

Hello sir!

Sometimes you just need to hang out in the green.

December was a great mix of plants and animals. It was really nice to take a break from east coast winter and go somewhere warm and green. As a quick fix, visiting a green house does the trick. But I plan to take more winter trips to warmer climbs in the future.

What is December like where you live? What were the plants that stood out to you?

2019 Goals Review

This year I approached my goals a little differently than in years past. I started out basically the same, setting big sweeping goals to work on through the year. each month I broke down some smaller monthly goals to get done as well. These mostly all fell under those sweeping goals in one way of another. But by mid year, I felt I had lost connection with my big goal list. So I went back and revised it.

Here is the list of goals I made in Jan 2019 (with italic notes from mid year):

Seek Balance in Life/Work/Art
I make this goal every year and I’m still working on it.
I do make this goal every year and this year was not a good one for fulfilling it.
Create More Than Consume
I’ve become very aware at how much time I spend on my phone and the internet and how little time I spend concentrating on creating. This year, Creating should be the priority.
I would say I’m failing at this goal as well. But I have worked in the garden, taken care of the house, and created systems, worked on the blog, and other creative endeavors. Over all my tally of creativity is low.
Become Better at Being Plastic Free and Zero Waste
One of the best things I’ve done for myself in the last few years was start my Zero Waste journey. Here’s to a more good work in 2019.
I have made strives in this area, at least mentally. When I started ZW was with a sort of mental fever, making me feel terrible as well as good. This year, I feel that I don’t stress quite as much about it, but now I just need to get better.
Blog / Youtube
I dabbled in YouTube in 2018, but this year I want to make it a regular part of my life. Blogging is also a priority. Zero work on youtube, but I’m happy so far with the progress I’ve made with this blog. I would love to create more plans and be better at blogging in the future. I wonder if I will ever feel satisfied in my blogging habits?
Habit Building / Monthly Goals
In 2018 I tried to build new habits and set monthly goals, in 2019 I want to make sure to do more.
I went strong on this goal until the middle of the year. I hope to get back on track now that it’s fall.
Home Improvement
There are a lot of things we want to do to improve the house. Some we have started, others need starting and all of them need finished! I hope to get a lot done this year!
We did some work on this this year, but haven’t tackled any of the really big projects yet. Since we will soon be sharing our home, some of these will take on a new priority.
Be a Better Wife
I never thought I would be a wife. Now I want to become better at it. This has to do with lots of things that I will go in to depth another time.
I honestly have no idea how I’m doing at this goal.
Travel / Explore
We did OK at this goal last year, but I want to do more!! There are a lot of local areas and some more far afield that I want to go to.
I think we are doing really well at this goal! We have upped our travel game this year and we have more planned for the remaining time of 2019.
Read One Book per Month
Another goal that I set every year is to read more, but this year, I want to set the goal to read at least one book each month.
I’m not sure I have really read or listened to one book per month, but I would love to take a look back and see. I have been reading again, and I love it.
Create one Tattoo per Month
I only created a few tattoos in 2018, I want to make sure to do more in 2019.
Nope.
Study Japanese
I love to learn languages and I miss studying. I want to get back in to the habit of this and be able to converse with more people.
This goal totally fell off the map for me. I decided I’m not really interested in this for the rest of the year (ever?).
Lose 20lb
OK, I usually don’t include goals like this. I usually don’t make them!! But this year, I need to get serious about my health and losing some weight is part of that.
I have worked on improving my health a little this year, so far and I have improved my weight. I wonder if I can fulfill this goal by 2020?
Save Money
Pretty standard.
Despite having to make a few large purchases, I think we’ve been doing well at this goal. I think this would be a great topic for a more detailed post.

And here is how I streamlined those goals mid year:

Plastic Free/Zero Waste
I want to make sure that I keep up this goal for the rest of the year. When we went away recently I felt good about how much it was on the forefront of trip goals.

Home Improvement
Especially now that we have a roommate, I ant to make sure to complete a few of home projects before the end of the year.

Health/Weight
I’m getting old and want to make sure I’m making various aspects of my health a priority.

Mindfulness/Creativity
In this aspect of my goals, I have been failing. I would love to take some time to concentrate on this for the rest of 2019.

Exploration
We’ve done really good at this this year, I don’t want to fall short for the last quarter.

Paring Down
We still have boxes never unpacked from when we moved into this house. Now that we have someone else living here, it’t time to really pare down.

I’m not sure I really did a good job on my goals in 2019. I set too many in the beginning of the year. I was well meaning, but scattered. The mid year goals were more streamlined but also more vague. Many people say that in order for goals to work, one must also have a plan. I find I rarely have a set plan for my yearly goals.

That is one thing I would like to change in 2020. Another is what my goals do for my life and how I achieve them. For my 2020 goals I’ve been thinking a lot about what I intentions I can set and how I can complete them.

What techniques have you used to make sure the goals you set get met? Did you make large goals to achieve over the whole year, or did you break the goals up into smaller chunks?