Some do Monday, our family does meatless Fridays. Yes I am a commercial meat livestock rancher. But it is still a healthy thing to do. We have some fun kid friendly ways to do it (when in doubt, homemade cheese pizza is meatless). Does your family have meatless days? If so, what are your easy, go to meatless winning recipes?

Holy cow are things moving fast right now. Illness, fundraisers, end of school, technology glitches, and life being life. Not even counting the usual end of Spring farming stuff. Or the global geopolitical and economic dumpster fires. My go to strategy when life is a rollercoaster with no safety bar: 1. Triage- decide what is absolutely necessary for survival. Cereal for dinner counts as food. What can be (regrettably) eliminated from the schedule? What self generated expectations can you adjust? 2 be extra nice to yourself in your mind. Life is stupid enough as it is. You don't need a permanent built in source of stress and bullying. You are absolutely doing the best you can in the middle of a personal disaster film. You are the hero. Disaster film heroes always look a little frazzled, and have to change the plan quickly and often. 3 Recruit help. Who can be your quirky side kick? Even for one tiny job? 4. Write a checklist as you go of what you wish had been done a month ago for this project. You might not have had it all together before, but by golly you can have a plan done for the inevitable next time. If you haven't read "Checklist Manifesto", it is a really convincing argument for building systems. Sometimes we don't know what we need until we are in the moment, so building the checklist in the moment is sometimes more accurate than advance planning. 5. Proper fuel: Stay hydrated and fed. Avoid alcohol. I'm hitting chamomile tea pretty hard this week. Settles nerves, helps with sleep, and keeps digestion smooth. I'm still mostly on Greek yogurt because of the norovirus (protein, carbs and super easy). There are no perfect plans. Just decent strategies that are flexible enough to keep things moving when everything falls apart.. What is your go to system when the world is literally or figuratively on fire? What is one thing you cut out this week to make room for priorities?

Oh no! We have all crashed on a beautiful uninhabited island. What skills are you bringing to the group? If you have more than one, put it in the chat below. I imagine that there are a lot of skilled and talented people here!

What’s currently sitting on your goals list because it genuinely lights you up… …and what’s there because it reflects what someone else thinks you should want? I’m not talking about everyday obligations like “my kids want to go to the park.” I mean the bigger things: - income goals - education - career paths - lifestyle choices - where/how you live - what success is supposed to look like Even, what are you growing in your garden this year..... Sometimes we carry goals that were never actually ours. And that can quietly drain our energy, motivation, and clarity. And eventually it leads to burnout, to hold and hustle for something that isn't ours to carry. ✨ What’s one goal you’re rethinking right now? What are you keeping because it’s truly yours? And what might need to be released?

This was written by me: a human...to you beautiful humans. I used to think self-trust was built through discipline and bold moves. I was an adventurer in my 20s, traveling solo around the western US, moving hundreds of miles at a time to new adventures, and sometimes international excursions. Back then, self-trust looked like boldness and momentum. And sometimes sheer nieve overconfidence. Somewhere along the way, I lost that bold and blind trust, even though I am still almost as strong and much, much wiser. Now I am building a new version of self-trust. One that is based on building a version of myself that I can count on for the long haul (not just reckless abandon and grand adventures flying by the seat of my pants). A version that follows through and finishes what she starts. A version that is creating a life that is built on solid foundations, not caffeine and adrenaline. Mostly because I was tired of the burnout, the uncertain future, and the shame of broken promises to others and myself. With annual food plants, we tend tiny plants through a harvest. It is a short-term tending. But with perennial plants in Permaculture, we are planning for systems that work together for greater success and ease. Planning for years or even decades into the future. Such as, how big is this Walnut tree going to get, and how far should I plant it from that barn? Or what will happen to this plant community during the worst droughts we have seen, the coldest weather, or the deepest snow? We look over a longer timeline. But it isn't for more work, it is to save us a lot of grief later, so we can relax and enjoy. My new self-trust is based on the foundation that I will always stand up for myself, and I will do things to make life better and more peaceful for my future self. Even if that means a little sweat now. This included a massive shift in how I scheduled my week, and I grew a spine that said "no" A LOT. I am now tending my own life and energy like a long term permaculture project. Instead of throwing a bunch of stuff together and "seeing what will happen", I am carefully curating the things that light me up, and weeding out the time and energy drains. I am nourishing the "soil" of my mental and physical nutrition, so I am in an environment that boosts me.