New Year Resolutions

[2 As and a B]

So I'm dumping all the processed crap and me and the family are making an effort to cook, eat wisely with good products. I made a big list and all our meat is will be coming from a butcher that everyone raves about. I've also been offered a large allotment anytime I want it. So that could help and I love gardening. We all agreed in the family to make this change, its not about health its simply about no longer eating 'supermarket soylent green'. The misses used the list and found that its actually cheaper to eat and cook real food than all the crap! The outcome of all of this hopefully will be we feel must better for it and therefore end up leading a more fun life. We'll defo stick to it for the year

I did that last year MisterE, although not as a formal New Year resolution - I just had an urge at the start of the year. I thoroughly concur with what you wrote. Less meat and from reliable local sources, nearly all the veg from my small experimental garden patch (potatoes, pasta and rice being the main exceptions). And I've lost 1½ stone! Good luck MisterE! I'm sure you'll feel a lot better for it: knowing where the food came from and what was put on it, that it is fresh and your choice, and what is added to it when it is cooked.

Last weekend I ordered materials for the construction of 23 m2 of raised beds. My resolutions for next year will be;

1. Build six raised veg beds and, with those and the other areas in the garden, start a crop rotation system that will provide all my veg (barring pasta and rice) and much of my fruit needs for the year.

2. Get deeply involved in the embryonic Transition Horsham and the Harvest Project (DON'T answer the survey unless you are in/around Horsham!) and swap some excess fruit & veg for stuff I won't be growing, hehe.

3. Take up archery.

All very functional. The development of the soul will, like home bread baking, have to wait for another year.

[Andy Hunt]

All very functional. The development of the soul will, like home bread baking, have to wait for another year.

I think you'll find body and soul very much go together foodinistar. I personally find gardening and stuff incredibly spiritually satisfying.

[MisterE]

Thanks for that foodinistar. Yep Andy I find that too, I only grow flowers, but I love it and people think I'm mad ie a construction worker growing loads of flowers and into gardening. Now though lots of my mates are into it. It chills you out, whilst being interesting at the same time.

Also lots of archery around by me \o/ will take a nose at that Thx

http://www.welsharcheryassociation.co.u ... index.aspx

[welshgreen]

grow more veg, and get a more sensible car.

[RenewableCandy]

Compare and contrast?
http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/forum/vie ... php?t=6115
Luckily I have not had to start a Transition City here in York, someone else has done it!

[RenewableCandy]

Oooh look New Year's Resolutions I've found ye olde threade!

This year I resolve to grow more nosh than last year, make more whine than last year, and drink an extra glass of water every day.

[3rdRock]

This year I resolve to eat less nosh than last year, make more water than last year and drink an extra glass of wine every day.

[SleeperService]

This year I shall;

Get more of my excess weight off

Sell this damned house

Clear the rest of the 'Stuff I should Never Have Brought'

Find a means of earning a living doing something I WANT to do....currently clueless.

[Ralph]

Find a means of earning a living doing something I WANT to do....currently clueless.

Confucius say, choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

Once upon a time I worked for a living…work is what you do while looking for the job you love I guess.

[RenewableCandy]

I used to think that, but have come to the conclusion that the trick to liking a job lies not so much with the activity being performed (selling stuff in a shop, doing nuclear physics, nursing, etc) but with the people with whom you're doing it and most of all the pace at which you're having to do it.

Think of any activity you enjoy (I dunno: fellwalking, cooking, driving, writing...) and then imagine having to do it, all day every day, at twice the pace that would come to you naturally. That is what is wrong with most jobs these days.

[odaeio]

I know exactly what you mean RC. I spent 20 years doing two-way radio in rural South Africa. My main job was mountaintop repeater hi-sites. I had a favorite mountain, 3,681 meters above sea level, over 1.5 km vertically from ground level. I "climbed" this mountain over 300 times before I lost count, and all I ever wanted was to one day, just once, go up it without having work to do. Never did get to do that, every time was a 3 hour climb with a backpack of tools and equipment, 4 or 5 hours of work on the equipment/tower, then legging it back down to the 4 x 4 dodging hail and lightning, or if good weather in the afternoon, working till nearly dark and legging it back. I never did get to just look at the strange plants, or sit by the crystal clear little waterfall, or drink the the natural spring water. I still regret it to this day. I still have photo's of that mountain in my bedroom, but never did make it to do the climb just to spend the day enjoying the view and nature, yep, I LOVED my work, but it's NOT the same as doing it for leisure/pleasure, due to the pace at which the work had to be done.

[boisdevie]

Run the portsmouth half marathon in less than 2 hours.
Run a full marathon.
Grow veg this year.
Do toms in the polytunnel.
Go fishing more.

[emordnilap]

I actually type out resolutions in December and revisit the list every year. What a nerd, says you. But it works. I actually fulfilled several resolutions last year.

Sadly, I carried others over from the 2012 list to my recent list for 2014.

[Tarrel]

- Thin out 250 conifers by Easter. Plant out 250 mixed broadleaves by end of the year.
- Get my long-planned photo-safaris up and running.
- Drink less alcohol.
- Eat less meat.
- Do more backpacking.
(Hopefully, most of above = less weight!)

Also, we're planning that this year will be the transition (finally!) away from the consulting assignments that have been taking me down south a little too often in 2013. This means some further lifestyle and financial preparation as the year progresses, so I can exit at the end of the year.

(The consultancy work is the "legacy business" from before we moved north. It has been fairly buoyant in the last 12 months. You know, it's very easy to fall into the trap of saying "make hay while the sun shines". The financial return from these projects is immediate and obvious, but the costs are more hidden and less defined, though nonetheless real; less time in the woodland, various power-down projects delayed or incomplete, less immersion in the local community, etc. So, it's time to proactively walk away from the distraction. "Gulp"!)

[bigjim]

My only real goals this year are to climb 53 Munros and circumnavigate the Isle of Man by bike in a day. Next year, would love to try to pedal between Isle of Wight and Orkney