in a year

photo credit:
windows2universe

 

A lot has occurred in the single orbit of Earth around the Sun.

In the past 365 days I have had many first time experiences, not the least of which was learning to create this blog.  I also branched out to participate in an online fitness community (BFFM) that has been instrumental in increasing my understanding of my body composition.  I was given a digital camera by my father-in-law and have been slowly learning to use it.

What began as merely an online journal of my Dukan Diet experience has become far less ‘diet’ focused and significantly more body composition focused—Or, less about what I weigh and more about what my lean body mass is compared to my fat mass.  Also, I soon realized that there were so many more interesting things in my life that I wanted to share with others, not just weight loss.  After a few months the blog moved to what it is today; a journal of my daily experiences on a small organic homestead in the Catskill Mountains of NY State.

It is fitting to look back on our milestones I think, and this post will do exactly that.  I’m going to highlight a few of the posts that garnered the most interest.  Number one on this list is:

https://oceannah.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/homestead-happenings-and-hazards/

I remember this post in which I chronicled the ups and downs on a given day in May.  Our asparagus what not coming up in a few areas, we traced the problem back to some wood chips we used which we think might have been contaminated with herbicides.

Another favorite post seems to be an instructional on how to harvest baby salad greens:

https://oceannah.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/harvesting-salad-greens-my-thoughts-pictures-on-how-too/

It’s still true that I assume everyone knows these simple basic things that I know.  I’m learning to give myself a little credit for having learned something that is perhaps of value to those who do not yet possess that information.

It’s not all about the homestead here on oceannah, some of my favorite posts were in the “Jane Average” series.  I’m no cartoon artist by any stretch, but working a little humor into the new way of looking at my physical journey.  It’s also instructive for me today since I am SO much less affected by the number on the scale.  At that time, I was just beginning to learn the simple idea of averaging my weekly weight.  Now I am more concerned with lean/fat ratios than any other number.

Part 1:  https://oceannah.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/the-adventures-of-jane-average-part-1-scene-1/

Part 2: https://oceannah.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/260/

Part 3: https://oceannah.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/jane-average-part-1-scene-3/

Part 4: https://oceannah.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/jane-average-part-1-scene-3/

I’ve done a few food related posts and these two seem to be favorites:  The first one is a post about one of my favorite wild greens that will be coming up soon, Nettles.  The second is a recipe for creasy greens, aka winter cress which is always a first up green in these parts.

https://oceannah.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/eat-your-weedies-creasy-greens-recipe/

https://oceannah.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/green-eggs-no-ham-nettles-dandelion-kale/

Many of my followers sent such sweet word when our beloved Henny Penny died.  This post is a great remembrance of one of the sweetest hens I think I’ll ever know.

https://oceannah.wordpress.com/2012/06/30/senior-moment-for-a-priceless-hen/

There was a fantastic series on Monarch butterflies that evaporated with a key stroke.  Some day I hope to fully restore that series, it’s worth the time.  —if you haven’t yet read Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior  it is a great read and monarch’s figure heavily in the plot.

During the year of tech, as I’ve come to call 2012 I also learned a few things about how not to use WordPress.  I lost a huge amount of photographs because I was attempting to create more space in the blog while I was struggling with the fit between my satellite provider and WP.  Alas, those photos that I deleted from my main files also removed them from my blog.  So I apologize if you are looking around and see posts which should have pictures but do not.  I’ve chosen to not re-populate the photos as it would take such an enormous amount of time…and mostly they are the past and aside from these ‘look back’ times, will not be viewed very much.

I’ll close in saying that it has been a very fun year!  I’ve ‘met’ some wonderful fellow bloggers from around the globe and hopefully will have a chance to meet in real time with a few this summer.   I will continue to blog and as the weather gets better in Upstate NY I’ll have a few tidbits to share about the homestead and getting started for another great season of gardening, living and learning.

Wishing you all bountiful blessings and grateful harvests

*anna