It’s my tradition to write a resolutions article around this time, sharing my grand plans for the new year. I’ve struggled to write this one. The past year has challenged me physically, emotionally, and mentally. I have become acutely aware of my own limitations as I continue to work my way through injury and other health challenges. I keep thinking that my struggle is almost over and a return to my strong, vital self is just around the corner, but another setback always seems to emerge the moment I start to relax. I feel like it would be the height of hubris to guess at what comes next, or to set lofty goals for myself for the year to come. I think this year I’m going to have to settle for making the most of whatever possibilities are available to me. Luckily for me, possibilities abound.

Alchemy was the medieval scientific pursuit of transforming common things into precious things, such as lead into gold. Although they never actually managed to make gold out of lead, I see common things transformed into precious things every single day. Old rotten banana peels transformed into compost, for example. Weeds from the garden transformed into healing medicines. A messy brush pile transformed into a home for a choir of birds.

I try to write my articles from a positive perspective, to always find the up side. And there truly have been many bright spots in the past year. I am grateful that this land has totally had my back. All the native trees and plants continued growing and thriving here even while I was unable to care for them, nurtured by the sun and the rain and the soil. Meanwhile in the human world, quite a few people generously offered their work and support to help ensure that the most critical tasks were completed. It’s difficult for me to accept help, but I needed it this year and I am so grateful for all the kindness and grace I received. This also turned out to be a strong financial year, and it was actually the first year that the farm business fully supported itself. Even after all the challenges of this year, I’m still unshakably committed to this work and overflowing with gratitude for the opportunity to live this life. My obstacles have not soured me on this path. Instead they have clarified my vision, refined my strategies, and reinvigorated my passion for this work.

I take my inspiration from the ash tree. At least one falls in every storm now, or so it seems. The logs on the ground far outpace my ability to tidy them up, so there they will lie for the foreseeable future. I’m not glad these trees are dead. I wish the Emerald Ash Borer had never come here. I would prefer if these trees had lived to be a thousand years old, thriving and green, humming with bird song. That was Plan A. But even though that didn’t happen, there is great possibility and beauty and abundance still to come. With the right kind of support, I believe that something beautiful can emerge from this.

Even now, fungi are colonizing these logs, transforming them into new possibilities. Insects and small animals will shelter in them while they decompose. Mushrooms will fruit from them. When the metamorphosis is complete, the wood will return to the soil as fertile humus with the power to bring forth an infinity of new green life. In their next phase, these trees will give the gift of fertility to this land. They will give back the nutrients they borrowed, setting them free to become something new. They will hold space for a new phase of creation to spring forth.

I had planned to spend 2024 building a strong foundation upon which to grow. Although it feels like the year didn’t go to plan at all, I think there is a way in which I got what I asked for. This year felt destructive, but isn’t demolition the first step towards any renovation project? Maybe the challenges of 2024 cleared the way for something wonderful to emerge in the rich humus of 2025. Maybe stability is a multi-year project, a work in progress. I don’t know what the new year will hold, but I intend to become like the mycelia, transforming decay into beautiful and abundant green things. I will continue to show up for this land every single day. I will continue to do my best for it. I will make the most of every situation, and every possibility that presents itself. That is my resolution.