Guerrilla Garden Adventures-12 New Year’s Intentions to making it all Come Together!

2018 was a Great Year for Guerrilla Garden Adventures!

A Tedx Talk, some speaking engagements, money, awards and ribbons were just some of the Guerrilla Garden Adventures that took place in 2018. Unfortunately I was so busy having adventures that I actually neglected my blog (and some of my friends) for almost a full year! However my Facebook game was strong and I did manage to document most of last year’s adventures on The Guerrilla Garden Adventures Facebook Page.  It turns out that 2018 truly was the year of “The Reboot” and 2019 is going to be the year where it finally all comes together.
It’s a fact – most New Year’s Resolutions end up in failure so I’m making some Guerrilla Garden inspired Intentions instead.

I have been thinking about this for a while, so to keep myself accountable I am publicly posting 12 intentions to help me stay more focused and intentional with my life and my dreams.
So here goes, by the end of 2019 I will:

1. Buckle down and get a handle on my seed/plant acquisitions/addictions.

   The first step of dealing with any addiction is to admit that you have a problem so…….
   I am publicly declaring that I suffer from O.P.S.D. (Obsessive Plant Seeding Disorder).
   One of the telltale symptoms is that somehow it seems entirely reasonable to plant 50-60 tomato seeds as well as 100’s of other seedlings even though I actually live in a townhouse without a yard. The hard truth of the matter is that although the seed catalogue selections are endless, my indoor seed gardening space is not. In the past this very real disorder (O.P.S.D.) has proven to be not only obsessive but extremely time consuming as well. So this year I vow to set up my “new-to-me” light system (bought on Abbotsford Bidding Wars for $5) and limit my planting of seeds to ONLY the varieties of plants that are not commercially available. Another piece of criteria that I’ll be using to control my O.P.S.D is that I must respect the space restrictions of my townhouse. Once transplanted to 4” pots all seedlings must fit under the lighting system and to keep myself accountable I’ll be posting images as the season progresses.
   
   
   
   
   
   

2. Grow something new.  

   Every year it is always my intention to grow something new in order to stretch myself as a gardener. I haven’t decided what it’s going to be this year, but I’ll be sure to share some pictures when I do.
   
   

3. Water more consistently.

   This intention will include not only my plants and seeds but myself as well.
   
   

4. Scope out some new gardening locations.

   According to “SOME PEOPLE” I have “WAY TOO MANY PLANTS” on my townhouse deck and apparently I have acquired “WAY TOO MANY SEEDS”.
   Although I have no intention of getting rid of any of the plants on my deck (plant judgers be damned!), I must confess that there are several large boxes of seeds that have inexplicably taken over the garage and they will need to be dealt with.
   My intention is to potentially re-home some of the seeds by scoping out some new locations in Chilliwack for future Guerrilla Garden sites. If you live in Chilliwack and have some site locations in mind or if you are organizing a Guerrilla Garden Project of your own feel free to email me with the details. I just might be able to help you out with some free seeds however bail money and any resulting liability will totally be your responsibility! Note: This offer is only available to Canadians due to a plethora of red tape and bureaucracy when dealing with sending seeds to other countries.
   
   
   
   
   
   

5. Visit more Gardens.

   A cost effective solution that comes to mind with this intention is to attend more of the garden tours put on throughout the summer by some of the members of the Chilliwack Garden Club. These events are available to garden club members only and happen to be just one of the benefits of the $25 annual membership fee.
   Additionally there is also a Vancouver garden that has been on my re-visit bucket list for a while. I am going to schedule a visit the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden during the Cherry Blossom Festival (April 4th-27th 2019).
   Anyone up for a Guerrilla Garden Adventure to Vancouver?
   
   
   
   
   
   

6. Create, Learn and Read something new.

   This intention revolves around actually setting aside some time in my schedule to develop professionally, personally and creatively.
   The first thing I’m going to educate myself about is Instagram and hashtags. I am going to create at least one project every month (not always garden related) and document it with a picture and some hashtags. I’m also going to watch less TV, listen to more music and make it a point to intentionally read two books every month. One book will be for learning and the other will be purely for recreational purposes.
   Be sure to Check my Instagram for updates on how it’s working out!
   
   

7. Complete some of the non-gardening items on my “Future Projects List”.

   Take my word for it, when you have a lot of unfinished projects lying around it tends to be a little overwhelming. That being said I must confess that the project types that tend to pile up and get assigned to the “Never-Get-to-It” list are usually of the non-gardening variety.
   When you are a gardener it’s a matter of priorities after all!
   My intention is to finish some of the non-gardening items on my “future projects list” before I take on any more new non-gardening projects. By the end of this year I intend to revamp the sideboard in my kitchen, refinish the hinged pie crust table on my landing, develop and document a recycling project using some of the 10, 000 tin cans heaped up on the ATV in the garage (this will make a certain husband very happy) and finally I am going to schedule some time this summer to paint or stain the balcony deck so it will be Instagram worthy for my fall plantings.
   Bahahahaha…I just had to sneak a gardening thing in there somewhere!
   
   
   
   
   

8. Write a Guerrilla Garden Article every month and post to my blog.

   Crushed it this month!
   Only 11 more articles to go, and I’m already working on next month’s article. If you don’t see a monthly article feel free to call me on my intentions and keep me accountable. 
   
    
   
   

   

9. Share.

   Last year was truly epic when it came to Guerrilla Garden Adventures giveaways.
   Not only did I give out over 1000 packets of seeds but also plants, cut flowers and random produce items from my garden were gifted out as well. Some of them to people I didn’t even know!
   My intention this year is to share even more free seeds and gardening fun. I intend to take lots of pictures, possibly create some videos (this could be my techie version of a garden journal if I get it done) and then be very intentional on using social media to share not only ideas, information and local gardening events but also to connect with other upbeat, like-minded people who will appreciate my sense of humour.
   
   
   

   

10. Work on being Greener.

    This has been a work in progress.
    The light bulbs in our house are mostly changed to LEDs, our appliances are all energy efficient models and our Keurig coffee maker has a reusable coffee filter. I no longer buy plastic straws and as my existing plastic containers deteriorate I am replacing them with reusable glass containers.
    I don’t think that I am destined to be a totally zero waste person however there are a few more things that I am going to be more intentional about like:
    
    -Being more consistent when it comes to using cloth bags instead of plastic.
    
    -Looking at other sustainable, low cost options for reducing my use of plastic.
    
    -As tools, clothing or other items fail they will be repaired (if cost efficient) or replaced with items that are meant to last a lifetime (if possible).
     
    -Leave a note on my front door requesting that there be no delivery of the local paper or junk mail to my house.
    (All newspapers are available online now and realistically the hand delivered local paper pretty much consists of 90% flyers anyways.) 
    
    -Follow the rule that for every one thing I bring into the house I must get rid of something else.
    (Note: I need to be on top of this as I suspect that I may have inherited the hoarding gene from my mother….just saying.)
    
    – I will actively gather and utilize ideas to use recycled items from around the garden and the house (in a totally non-hoarder fashion) so that less stuff ends up in the landfill.
    
    -Continue going to go through my house and donating any unused items in good condition to the second-hand market or to those in need.
    
    To an Eco-Nazi-Fanatic type person this might not seem like much but baby steps are better than no steps at all. I believe that every little bit counts and that these steps will not only be beneficial for the earth but for myself as well.
    
    
    
    
    
    

11. Create more even Guerrilla Garden Adventures Presentations and Speaking Events to Inspire and Entertain people!

    I am going to spend more time focusing on my speaking engagements, presentations and Guerrilla Garden Events. This will not only be for my own entertainment but for other people’s entertainment and inspiration as well. If I can successfully motivate people to join the Guerrilla Garden Revolution by using some humour and free seeds I will consider it a year well spent.
    
    
    
    
    
    

    12. Be More Me!

    A Guerrilla Gardener, Blogger, Writer, Humorist and Keynote Speaker!

    
    

So here’s to (hopefully) another trip around the sun.
Planning for 12 Months of articles, 52 weeks of adventures, 365 days of laughter, 8,760 hours of fun, 525,600 minutes of happiness and 31,536,000 seconds of being brave enough to just be more me.