The Minnesota Farm Woman

New Year’s Resolutions. Most of us make them and all of us break them. A couple of years ago, I made the decision NOT to make any resolutions. Why? Because I felt guilty in breaking them. That decision involved way too many explanations though, so I have come up with the perfect answers when someone (and they will) asks me what my New Year’s Resolutions are. Feel free to use any of these that might work for you:

Resolution # 1: I will eat less bread and/or carbs. The truth: Of course I will eat less carbs in the new year. I have just polished off Curt Barrett’s famous Yulekake bread, made with soft white flour and cardamom, which he sends over to our house every Christmas Eve.  I have stuffed myself with it all this week, so now that it is all gone I will certainly have less carbs in my life. There was more for me this year than usual.  My husband didn’t eat much of it this year. I don’t know why, because it was right there in the vegetable drawer behind the brussels sprouts, wrapped in two layers of foil and marked “lutefisk”. Strange. I like it best toasted and spread with real butter, which automatically resolves my next resolution:

Resolution #2 :  I will eat less fat.

Resolution  #3 :  I will balance my checkbook every month.   The truth: This is not happening at my house. Ever. I only put it here in case you wanted to use it.

Resolution #4:  I will save more money.  The truth:  I am saving up for a trip to Florida this winter, so that savings will be spent, and very quickly, I’m sure. This trip follows my fall trip to Las Vegas, where “Luck be a Lady” wasn’t very ladylike at all.  If anyone were to steal my identity and get into my bank account they would need to make a deposit before they found any money to steal.

Resolution #5:  I will learn to love weeds as much as I love tomatoes.  The truth:  I garden organically and fertilize with Doctor Goodall’s Black Magic. Don’t bother Googling it, because you won’t find it on the internet. He keeps a seemingly never-ending supply in his back field, and sometimes on a cool day you can see the steam rise from these piles of magic. Keeping the weeds pulled in two large gardens with a full-time job, a bad back and a propensity toward being just a little bit lazy means that I will have weeds, so I either need to learn to love ’em or learn to make dandelion wine.

Resolution #6:  Be thankful for what I have.  The truth:  My 2011 New Year’s resolution was to write more, so The Minnesota Farm Woman was born.  I am thankful that Becky at The Western Itasca Review took a chance on me, and I am very thankful for all of you who read my weekly column and your kind comments. The same thanks goes out to the Facebook followers, who now number 1070!  As long as you keep reading, I’ll keep writing, which brings me to

Resolution #7:  To write more.   The truth:  I don’t like change, so will stick with what seems to work.