We were back in the garden in the pouring rain this week, and I think it's safe to say we were the happiest people in town, suited, booted, and layered in our long underwear, rain gear and Do Better Beanies. As the rain came down, we learned about nitrogen nodules while chopping up the cover crop of legumes that will fertilize the beds in preparation for the next plants. Mostly, though, we just enjoyed a little nature worship and celebrated the return of RAIN GLORIOUS RAIN.

It's the start of another new year, so I've been thinking about adjustments and changes more than usual, especially in relation to this space. I started this blog thinking I needed to write for myself. But the truth is, I only publish things I want you to read. I want you to read a piece even though I may be terrified of what you'll think of it. Maybe you'll hate it and tell me so, or maybe you'll hate it and never tell me. If we're friends, I'm not sure which option is worse. Or what if you love it? I'd like to think I'd bask in your admiration, but I suspect I'd feel mostly exposed and weirdly uncomfortable. Also? I dread that you'll read a piece and judge it (and me) as uninspiring, lame, boring, or wrong. Even listing these insecurites makes me shudder. In the coming year, I want to practice letting go of all of it.

I hope the practice will make me a better writer (or, barring that, a happier human being). I want to be a writer who publishes inspiring, thought-provoking pieces that also make you laugh. I want my pieces to stick with you long enough so that you actually go out and try something new, revisit something old with a new perspective, or create something that, at the very least, doesn't suck as much as you thought it might when you started. Food, craft, family, and community are where I find myself these days, so I doubt those topic areas will change much in the coming year. But I'd love to be less terrible at guessing what any of you actually want to read. I mean, other than about cheese. Everyone loves posts about cheese.

Happy 2018, and thank you (yes, YOU!) for being here.