Paint, Plant, Cook

It's been some time since I've written and here we are in a brand new year. Welcome to 2018 in which my mantra is "PAINT, PLANT, COOK." My real goal is to make some kind of personal income but in order to achieve that goal I must paint, plant cook, repeat. This is what I know. This is how. It's the how I am wrestling with.

I didn't spend the new year in my usual in bed by ten, quiet, reflective mode over some home cooked black-eyed peas for good luck — a tradition which I actually do enjoy. This year things were shaken up a bit and impassable opportunities were seized. Those opportunities were 8th row seats to Jimmy Buffett in Nashville! Who turns that down?! Not me! It was marvelously fun, if a bit cold. I'd say an unusual, possible record-breaking 8°F in Nashville. However, it seems the entire nation was in a state of deep freeze this New Year. I really wish the term "global warming" was put to death and corrected to a consistent use of "climate change" or "global wrecking." As a gardener I am sure glad I didn't heed our new zone status up North and stuck to the old tried and true zone 4. I digress.

So, things started off with a bang with travel, and good friends and family, and I actually was awake up until and after midnight! This tells me 2018 is going to be a year of "shake ups" and I welcome that!

Painting is not new to me BUT opening an Etsy store is! My Etsy store is a baby but will grow up through the course of the year. For now I am only selling original artwork.

Something else that's new? Taking a course with Lila Rogers! — something I have quietly dreamed of doing for the past two, three years. I am taking MATS A (Making Art That Sells) and exploring five popular markets for licensed art in which my watercolor painting can be applied. It is eye and brain opening and I am learning lots and most importantly, gaining courage. Some of you may have already seen this work if you follow me on Facebook and Instagram or if you received a Christmas card from me this year.

A pasta and Pyrex themed bolt fabric design.

Fruit and Veggie Cat plate designs for the home decor market.

Christmas card design.

Planting is not new to me, either. And although I don't have any immediate "shake ups," I would say this shake up happened last year by purchasing our cottage in FL in balmy Z9. I am learning to garden five zones higher/lower. So, planting is where I started first in my mantra but I want to put painting first and thus the order PAINT, PLANT, COOK. I love to cook with my own home grown ingredients and so cooking naturally follows planting. I am enjoying using fresh produce from my "second season" at the Cedar Key Community Garden — lettuce, kale, spinach, chard, and herbs.

A sprouted Coconut Palm, dubbed Coco Puff, hydrating in the hotel ice bucket. 

A ground orchid that lived the summer up North who likes her new home down South.

A Box Turtle who approves of the garden improvements so far.

​Cooking is not new to me either since adopting a plant-based eating lifestyle five? six? years ago. BUT I am taking it to the ultimate level by becoming a certified plant-based chef! I am enrolled in Rouxbe cooking school for the next 6 or so months. When I graduate I hope to design and write a cookbook for a new business adventure, Plant Radical. My husband and I are pretty forward thinkers and we are looking ahead at how and where we want to work in our future since official retirement is not really part of our plan. Plant Radical is a baby that we hope to nuture and see grow into our mature years. It is based on ... you guessed it, plants and a plant-based lifestyle. It's what we know.

My go to dish, Tofu Curry, mise en place.

Tofu Curry in progress.

Tofu Curry plated.

So yeah, things are moving and shaking once again. My little burn out and rest period are over. Happy 2018!