Another New Year Already...

I almost can't believe how fast this last year slipped by. It seems to have disappeared very fast.

As I was cutting up grapes for my sprouted quinoa salad, and my kids were making tuna-sandwiches, I couldn't help but notice that, the only thing originating in Utah was the Great Harvest Bread, that they were using for the tuna-sandwiches. The Tuna was from Thailand, the herbs for my salad came from Arizona, and the rest of the fruits and vegetables were grown in California and Mexico, I sprouted the quinoa myself, but I'm not sure where it grew.
Wow - and here I had just been patting myself on the back for having done "pretty good" on the new years goals from last year...

Well, the message that I'm getting today, in oh, so many different ways is that there is beauty in imperfection. Our home always seems to have at least one more project than what we have time for, and when I'm cleaning the house the same thing seems to happen, there is always that one corner or room that I just didn't get to clean before I ran out of time. The fact that it isn't perfect means that it's lived in, that things and people are still growing and learning, that I still have time to change for the better and that we all have room to play and have more fun.
So maybe there is beauty in the fact that I didn't do a perfect job on my goal from last year?

Goal #1 was to buy things locally grown and produced as much as possible.
I must admit that I have let that one slip a lot, I have let my taste buds and/or my wallet determine more what I buy than whether it is locally grown and produced. My saving grace in this category is my husband, he and my son have made sure that all the meat in our freezer is local, grass-fed and non-hormone or antibiotic treated, elk, moose, deer and cow, and even a fish here and there. We did also get some chickens this year and they do produce all the eggs that we need locally. :) We also did grow our own tomatoes and some herbs with success for the 1st time in almost 10 years - so I guess we did actually see some success even in this.

Goal #2 was to buy fare trade and organic.
That one I have not been as vigilant about as I could, but there are a few items I make sure are fare trade and organic including chocolate and coffee.

Goal #3 was to buy things with 5 ingredients or less.
This has been one of the most fun goals for the year as it really involved the whole family - all of us started reading labels and become a lot more educated consumers, and if something has more than 5 ingredients we simply make it ourselves or make do without.

Goal #4 was to only buy things that I could not reasonably make myself.
Well, where do I start? Esp. during the Holiday season did we make a lot of things ourselves, but I still haven't found the time or the desire to sew any clothes reasonably, but we bought almost only organically produced clothes on sale, or we found it used at the thrift store. Any furniture that we bought during the year was either pre-used and we re-furbished/re-finished it, or we made it ourselves. We did and do make our own beer, and even sometimes our own wine - and that seems very reasonable (and cheap), and at the same time we enjoy it a lot! All-in-all I think we did OK with this one.

Goal #5 was to buy only things that are toxin-free or harmless.
Hmmm, Yes the finish that we bought for the shelves we made for the living-room was probably not toxin-free...

As I look back, I think I did "pretty good", not so much because I was perfect, because I wasn't, but because it has made me and the rest of my family more aware and we are now conscious of what we do and how we spend our money and resources. If that is what my children learned from the year of 2009, than it was truly a successful year!

I will write about my resolutions for 2010 next time - now it's time to get back to home school and my kids.

Hejdå,
Anette