I stand at my window on a cool, damp January day, beginning the important first step of gardening: planning. At the moment, the garden beds harbor perennial plants storing up moisture and energy for the next year's growth. The lawn is bright green with a weedy annual grass that will die with the first hint of temperatures over 80 degrees. Weeds are dominating both the lawn and garden beds.

We are celebrating five years of BlogHer (and have you contributed to #blogher5 yet?) As one of the original contributing editors, I've been writing here since January, 2006. In a reflective mood, I read back through the four years of posts and found repeated themes, favorite posts, and much to remember:

Caitlin Flanagan's venomous attack on school garden programs -- and Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard Program in particular -- in the Atlantic piece Cultivating Failure has been a hot-button topic of discussion all week.

A cold-front has enveloped most of North America this past week, and many folk are thinking they don't have nearly enough clothes to stay warm. Crafters, however, know it may only take a few hours to make that one piece that help. Let's look at some of the options:

I've spent the last week alternating between looking backward at '09 searching for the highlights of this year and trying to look forward searching out events to anticipate.  It's an exercise as symbolic as switching to a new calendar instead of simply flipping over a page.  What did I find?