Goodbye 2011, I Hardly Knew Ye

Winter Day in February 2011

The year not only seems to have gone fast, but it seems a stranger in the night… passing with little recognizable in it. The weather was different, my goals were different, the holidays were different, and none seem connected to either past or present.

I am sure none of that is true if I think hard enough to rein in the disconnected strings, but that is the general feel of it. I know I blogged far less here on IGJ. I’ll look through and see if there were posts that qualify as “best”, but I believe the poor satisfaction in the garden reflects in the dearth of posts: the garden inspires my writing. I have never been good at “just making things up”.

Here are the posts I liked best:

From January, 2011…

The Night The Ice Fell for the story, which we in the family all look back on with laughing and the kind of good memories that such situations are capable of inspiring. You are never sorry when you “make the best of things”, and this post has illustrative photos.

From February, 2011…
What’s Wrong With Gardening Today? is something of an essay/ quasi book review. Where I pinpoint what makes gardening something to love rather than something to do. Worth re-reading.

From March, 2011…
Springs Watershed shows that at times I write better than at other times. A day in the life.

Winter Damage is a very good collection of early spring garden advice. I think I will add it to my Spring Maintenance page on the garden site.

From June, 2011
Short Reminder on Pruning Mugo Pines is very short, but this seems to be a perennial topic. By June, it is too late to ask the question, so get this info under your belt now, if you own a mugo pine.

From July, 2011…
July Chore Reminder is one I like because it marries task tips with a favorite picture that I took that month on a trip to Lake Erie ( Marblehead Lighthouse, to be exact). Though sorry it was for a family funeral, Lake Erie is a place of many good memories.

From August, 2011
Good Reason To Eat Locally Grown Tomatoes holds a good link, good book, and good recipe. All in all, a good reason to read it over again.

Chicago photos holds two collage photos (click to see full size). Best examples of front yard veggie gardens in upscale neighborhoods (the suburb of Evanston, where I used to live).

Best Butterfly Picture I ever took. For some reason my old lilac is a favorite resting place for butterflies and hummingbirds. And me, in my old lichen-covered Andirondack seat… but that is not in the photo.

From November, 2011
I Learn About Seed Bombs and share the knowledge with my readers. Good late winter project.

Short list. I blogged very sporadically, traveled quite a bit to visit family, and decided to not record my many melancholy thoughts, although as is good for melancholy I did go out into my garden more in the latter part of the year.

When I am away from the garden I always wonder why I don’t take more time in it after I have returned. It always refreshes me – so long as I don’t make it about tasks and projects and instead more about the daily wonder of growing things and touching the soil of this old earth. Then I understand the phrase, “grounded”.

I raise my glass to the coming year of growing: plants, projects, myself, relationships, and even this blog. Cheers, my friends, may the year of 2012 find us thriving and prosperous. In all ways possible. And if not, gracefully bent into interesting shapes, and meaningful ways.

To you, to me, to our gardens!