Feature

The bar seems so low. How could you not make 2022 a better year than 2021, right? It feels like aiming at the participation trophy of resolutions. But, hey, that’s what we thought in 2020, and we all saw how that turned out. So instead of assuming that the new year has to be better than last, you’re going to want to make a plan. Want this to be the year that you get that work-life balance in check or turn that water-eating lawn into an edible landscape? Or maybe you’re ready to nail your edibles recipe? We’re here for you. Our writers have been talking to St. Louisans who’ve had your goals and mastered them, and they’ve got the tips and tricks to get you started. Here’s to good days ahead. —Doyle Murphy, editor in chief

St. Louis Hills resident Danielle Meert isn’t a hateful woman, except when it comes to lawns.

“Grass is not natural,” Meert says. “You’d never find a lawn in nature. A lawn has no ecological benefit. It provides no wildlife habitat. Somehow, though, lawns are the socially acceptable thing to do.”

Even worse, in Meert’s eyes, is that lawns are the biggest irrigated crop in America, taking up more land than wheat, corn and fruit orchards combined.

Meert’s biggest problem with lawns is the fertilizers and other chemicals people use on the grass. In St. Louis, those make their way to the Mississippi River, then wind up with the rest of the Midwest’s runoff in the Gulf of Mexico. While earning a master’s degree in conservation biology at the University of New Orleans, Meert studied the gulf’s “dead zone,” the thousands of square miles where all that runoff kills fish and marine life.

She recommends killing your lawn by covering the grass with wood chips and then laying a tarp over the chips, though this process can take up to two years. She’s also seen people use old billboards to snuff out wide swaths of lawn in one swoop. She used “hot” piles of compost to kill her backyard’s grass in record time but is going the slower tarp route for the front.

Now that most of her grass is gone, Meert is replacing it with a cornucopia: cilantro, blueberries, onions, mushrooms, rhubarb, rosemary, stevia and valerian. This is not a complete list.

The giant pile of mulch in her front yard and the chickens in back have led to a neighborhood complaint or two, but the haters are few and far between. Nearby LeGrand’s, Dairy Queen on Hampton and Kaldi’s have all made donations to Meert’s cause.

“This is the most eco-friendly house in St. Louis Hills,” Meert says proudly. “Even our bricks are made from locally sourced clay.” She says the yellowish orange clay likely came from the neighborhood when the house was built in the 1950s. That one, though, she can’t take credit for.

In Meert’s front yard there is still a narrow stretch of grass, the last remaining patch of lawn on the property.

“My husband made me promise to finish all the other pro ects before I kill this last bit right here,” she says.

Rest assured — those blades’ days are numbered. RYAN KRULL

When Eric Guenther thinks back on what ignited his passion for cocktails, he recalls it all starting with one drink.

“I remember going to Público and having this really good daiquiri,” Guenther says. “It’s incredibly simple ust rum, lime uice and simple syrup — but it’s so incredible. My personality is such that I don’t ust say, h, this is the best daiquiri in St. Louis.’ I’m going to dig deep down into it and ask how it can be better. It can always be better. You never know everything, right?”

Though that Público daiquiri may have been the spark that ignited the powder keg, it wasn’t the first time Guenther, a physician by trade, went down the cocktail rabbit hole. Even before, he’d been working on perfecting his margarita game, graduating from Cuervo and pre-made mix to actual recipes involving better-quality tequilas and freshs uee ed uices. He tinkered with different mixtures and settled on a classic three-two-one-half ratio: three parts tequila, two parts lime uice, one part simple syrup and a half part Cointreau or other orange liqueur. Having committed that recipe to memory, a light bulb went off when he began researching daiquiris.

“I was like, Wait a minute. This is basically the same formula as a margarita but with rum,’” Guen-

ther says. “The connection just started happening. I liked whiskey, so I looked up whiskey sours and saw that it was basically the same recipe, too. I realized the base was almost the same formula — alcohol, citrus and simple — and it all started coming together. Once I got to that point, I just started playing.”

Though Guenther is quick to admit that there is much more to cocktails than learning that particular recipe, he believes that, at least for home bartenders, nailing something simple is an important first step in upping your cocktail game. As he explains, once he became proficient in the basics, he began experimenting with different citruses, different simple syrups (white sugar versus brown sugar, for instance), different brands of spirits and even adding multiple spirits in one drink, such as adding tequila and mezcal into his margarita.

In addition to mastering a base recipe, Guenther advises those interested in getting into home bartending to focus on practicality and your own personal preferences.

“Whenever I learn something new, I am super practical,” Guenther says. “I’m not going to just find recipes and follow them all the time; I’m only going to do it if I remember it. If I just pick a random drink that I don’t care about and follow a step-by-step recipe, I’m not going to remember it. I’ll maybe make it just that one time. If you start with what you are really into and nail it down, it will umbrella from there.”

Though he admits the cost of building your own home bar collection can be prohibitive, he insists you can find good bottles at a variety of price points. His own preference for daiquiris, Flor De Cana white rum, runs roughly $18 a bottle. High-end bottles are not necessary, he insists, but there is a certain level of quality, if not expense, that you need to hit. He also emphasizes that you cannot take shortcuts when it comes to the other ingredients. There is no substitute for fresh-squeezed juice, even though juicing citrus can be a labor-intensive endeavor.

“There’s no cheating,” he says. “Get everything you actually need and don’t cut corners. It makes all the difference because you can’t hide something crappy when there are only three or four ingredients.” CHERYL BAEHR

If you want to contort your body into insane shapes and get killer abs and a brand-new bubble butt, well, maybe keep looking.

But if you want to slow down, chill and get back in touch with your mind and your body in the context of a supportive community while you shake off the … everything … of the past couple years, maybe this is your year for yoga.

Kate Ewing, founder of Brick City Yoga in Benton Park West, says that the mind-body focus of yoga is a great antidote for the stress, anxiety and isolation of modern life — all of which has been cranked to eleven during the pandemic. Sure, you might end up learning how to stand on your head, but that’s not really the point.

“Our mission has really never been to focus on the physical attributes of the yoga practices. If you look at our Instagram, I don’t post pictures of people in yoga poses,” Ewing says. “We don’t want new students to think they have to look a certain way or get into a certain shape to practice yoga. There’s obviously a lot of physical benefits, but there’s so much more than that. We focus a lot on meditation and breath work, tools students can use off the mat.”

During early pandemic shutdowns, the studio moved into the virtual space, but the special sauce was missing an ingredient.

“We hopped on the online trend that was very popular during the first weeks and months, but it sort of leveled off,” Ewing says. “The classes were great, but what was missing was that sense of being around people.”

Whether you’re brand new to exercise in general or yoga in particular, or just looking to shore up a practice that might have lapsed, it’s important to be realistic with your intentions.

“The first thing is to pick a schedule that’s manageable, whether that’s amount of classes per week or time of the class,” Ewing says. “Trying to set a goal of wanting to take five yoga classes a week might set someone up for failure.” Skidding into a 5:30 p.m. class at 5:32 after hyperventilating through tra c after leaving work at exactly 5 isn’t exactly charting a course for nirvana, either.

Ewing encourages students to get in touch with instructors and ask questions about classes, too. (All of Brick City Yoga’s classes, including basics, are $10.) Let them know what you’re looking for and what your challenges are, and they can guide you toward the class that’s right for you.

Those ubiquitous January challenges, Ewing says, aren’t really viable introductions into building a practice that lasts.

“It’s not realistic to go through drastic changes every year over a 31-day period!” she says. “Really focus on what type of experience you want to be having with a physical practice, versus what outcome you want to have.”

MELISSA MEINZER

Everyone accumulates things. It doesn’t matter how much you keep up with the clutter; at the end of the year, it can be easy to feel like you’re drowning in things. Decluttering doesn’t have to mean throwing everything away or even really throwing anything away. Most items can be repurposed, regifted or donated. Sometimes, though, it can be challenging to know where to start.

Marie Kondo may be an icon of organizational skills, but she isn’t a realistic model for most of us. It’s to have more than five shirts, especially when life gets too busy to do laundry for a couple of days. The important decluttering should involve the stuff you don’t use often enough to warrant the space it takes up. Ask yourself the question, “Does this take up more space than it’s worth?”

No matter how big or small the decluttering mission is, I start with a clean bed. It has been a game-changer for me. First, make the bed, giving yourself a platform to put all the stuff on. Once you’ve covered it with clothes, knickknacks or really anything contributing to the clutter, there’s no option of going back to sleep until it’s clear again. The project is locked in.

After you’ve discerned which items take up more space than they’re worth, there are plenty of places across the city to donate them. There are old standards, such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army. But you might try House of Goods and Oasis International. They focus on assisting refugees new to St. Louis but will help anyone in need and are good local options.

For the things you keep, it can be a struggle to know where to put them. Everything needs somewhere to go. That process might involve actually buying more things in the form of organizers. There’s no need to spend a ton of money, but some discount-store containers can help keep everything neat. Make a list of the organizational categories you need and get that many baskets or drawers in the appropriate sizes.

There doesn’t need to be any guilt associated with the decluttering process. Keeping on top of clutter is a di cult task for a lot of people, and even the most disciplined people build up a collection of excess during the year. Any progress is good progress when it comes to entering the new year a little fresher. MADYSON DIXON

The pandemic brought work home for many St. Louisans. For those who can no longer leave work at the o ce, the switch has completely thrown off the worklife balance.

When Nicole Coglianese opened Citra Fitness & Movement citrafitness.com in August 2020, she knew that finding a good work-life balance was going to be tough. Not only was opening her business during the hell of 2020 complicated, she knew that her boutique yoga and Pilates studio was going to need a lot of attention. She was ready to give it, too, but she still isn’t sure where she stops and it starts.

“When I started running my own business, I became a part of the business and the business became part of me,” Coglianese says. “That probably isn’t healthy, but it became part of my identity — not only the way I look at myself, but the way that other people look at me. So sometimes it’s easier just to be ‘on’ all the time. But to me, running a business is also very fun, and that makes it easy to lose track of time. So that’s something that I’m working toward, to dedicate time to be me and time to be the business.”

Coglianese says she had to experience burnout multiple times before she made a point of trying to actively focus more on her personal time. To keep herself and her business in top shape, she’s implemented a series of solutions that have allowed her better time management and lower stress overall.

She now tries to show herself respect by doing things that are just for her, such as getting a massage. She’s also learning to release control by letting a friend plan an outing or letting other people take the reins and guide her through meditation. She also schedules nights in to just chill, order food

and connect on the phone with friends.

These are all small things, but they were things that she didn’t allow herself previously because she was always working on building the business. The weird part, though, is that stepping away from work in these tiny ways has made Coglianese even better at working. Her business is thriving, and her mind is clear and focused on the future.

So if you want to do better in 2022 than you did in 2021, maybe try taking a step back from business. Also, take time to engage your core. Your whole body will thank you. JAIME LEES

The key, of course, is brevity.

DANIEL HILL

For all its many (many, many, many, so many) downsides, one nice thing (the only one?) the COVID-19 pandemic did is give a way for people to explore hobbies and talents they didn’t know they had, as well as listen to or watch things they didn’t have time for before — and this is where podcasts enter the picture. Podcasting has continued to grow in popularity throughout the pandemic, with Forbes reporting that an estimated 125 million people are expected to listen to a podcast each month in 2022, up from the estimated 100 million in 2020.

Podcast host Michael Wagenknecht has advice for those who are looking to get into hosting their own show: Pick something you love.

Wagenknecht has done his podcast, a St. Louis sports show titled Toasted Tavern, for close to three years now. He’s worked alongside his co-host Scott Tobben to expand the podcast from humble local beginnings to a statewide affair, traveling to Kansas City to air podcasts and streams, and speaking with a Cardinals announcer and a Kansas City Royals historian. Wagenknecht also credits Tom Ackerman, KMOX radio sports director, as part of the podcast’s growing success; the KMOX host lends advice and joins the show from time to time.

For Wagenknecht, the achievement is not something he initially expected to have success with. He balances a 50-hour workweek and is a full-time student at Lindenwood University, but also carves out time to create his podcast. He’s stayed consistent, working around his job and school schedule, filling his free time with podcasting. Wagenknecht says that setting aside a time to record the podcast doesn’t have to be set in stone — that’s the beauty of the medium.

While sleep is hard to come by as he embraces the busy schedule, he wants others who want to leap into the podcasting world to know that it’s possible.

“When you pick something you love, you’ll sound the most knowledgeable,” Wagenknecht says. “And make sure you have a partner in crime. You can do it by yourself, but having someone to bounce ideas off of and challenge you is valuable.”

He suggests getting started with a $40 USB microphone, and notes that there are free streaming services where you can upload your podcast. Other than that, he advises future podcasters to just take the leap, and to not be afraid to put yourself out there. JENNA JONES

Before you rush out to take that DNA home test Aunt Sally got you for the holiday, Simone Faure urges you to ask yourself one important question: Why do I want to do this?

A fierce genealogy enthusiast when she’s not making elegant pastries at her bakery, La Patisserie Chouquette, Faure has helped numerous people around town trace their roots since she fell in love with the field several years ago. She’s witnessed family reunions, has seen people uncover exciting details about their histories and has made the voices of enslaved people speak to their descendants — but she advises would-be explorers to do some serious soul searching before they dive into the past.

“There are lots of reasons why people want to look into their family tree,” Faure says. “Some are trying to figure out where their family’s schnitzel recipe came from and why they are always eating these traditional things. Some are trying to find lost loved ones. Some are adopted and want to learn about those circumstances. There are a million reasons, and identifying why you want to do this is important, because it will dictate the route you take. When you are looking up your family history, it’s not just your history. It’s your parents’ and your siblings’, and it’s important to think about who has the right to tell that story and be the keeper of that information.”

For those who have decided to take the plunge, Faure says there are numerous resources, some free, that will give you the tools to trace your roots. Though there is a fee associated with it, she encourages people to start with a DNA test.

“DNA doesn’t lie, but Grandma Eunice definitely does,” Faure says. “Oftentimes, it’s to protect you, they believe; to cover for someone who is dead and gone or because the truth is simply too painful to talk about. That’s where DNA comes in, because it will show you things clearly.”

Faure notes that, although the countries of origin that are revealed through a DNA test should be taken with a grain of salt, they are fun places to start. From there, she encourages those serious about tracing their family tree to buy the basic Ancestry.com subscription that gives you access to every census record published to date and access to other people’s family trees, as well as some newspapers’ military records. If this is cost-prohibitive, she notes that the library has its own subscription that can be used, for free, with a library card. Those institutions also offer free classes in genealogy that can be very helpful.

Death records — free to access in Missouri if they are at least ten years old — are another important resource, as are online resources like familysearch. com. TikTok has been another great source of information, especially when it comes to learning the tools for tracing your tree or even watching others do their own. Even something as simple as walking through the cemetery in your family’s hometown can reveal important information.

“They say dead men tell no tales, but that is a lie, honey,” Faure says. “They are, a lot of times, speaking loud and clear, and because they are dead, there is nobody there to contradict them.”

Whatever path you take, Faure urges patience and respect. Though she understands there

will probably be disappointment along the way, Faure believes the important thing to remember is that this is your journey — one filled with curiosity, beauty, ugliness and everything in between, but one that will give you a greater understanding of what makes you uniquely you.

“If you come up against somebody that matches your DNA, and they don’t want to answer you back, that means they had a different reason for getting tested,” Faure says. “Perhaps their family circumstances are none of your business. Just because you are a match doesn’t mean they want anything to do with you. You have to respect people’s wishes, because your story is your own.”

CHERYL BAEHR

The American workplace is changing. But amid what many are calling the Great Resignation in 2021, many workers will be walking into new jobs in 2022 — and, unfortunately, a lot of those places are still going to be filled with pointless rules, intolerant customers and unreliable coworkers.

Cori Bush can relate. Elected in 2020, the Missouri congresswoman marked the first day of her first legislative session by hiding from a mob of insurrectionists on January 6, 2021, but ever since then she’s made headlines for staging an outdoor, overnight protest of evictions and taking a personal stand against the onslaught of abortion restrictions.

In November, the Riverfront Times interviewed Bush about her new reelection campaign and being “an activist in Congress,” but we also asked her to share advice for people who might be facing familiar challenges in the coming year as they take on new roles in jobs that might be very, very far from ideal.

Bush’s advice starts with a mantra she has told herself in the past: The sky is not your limit.

“It’s just walking in with the assurance, the knowledge, of what you came through to get here,” she says. “It’s understanding, ‘If I came through that, I’m ready and equipped to go into this next chapter.’”

It can be easy to let uncertainty and criticism lead a person to doubt that they really belong in that new o ce or new position.

Bush herself has plenty of doubters, but she hasn’t let that stop her from calling out abusive behavior from the likes of Republicans Mar orie Taylor-Greene and Lauren Boebert, or even lobbing criti ues at members of her own party, such as Joe Manchin.

For the newly hired of 2022, Bush has a message that she’s carried with her from her days protesting in the streets of Ferguson and St. Louis:

“Remember who you are,” she says. “Know what your mission is. Whether it’s a group, whether it’s your ob, whether it’s school, whatever it is, it’s, ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I connected to this?’ Be rooted in that. And once you know why you’re there, you have to stay connected to that once you get that settled, that path becomes clear, and that path is the path to success.” DANNY WICENTOWSKI

Whether you want to actually address climate change on a personal level, or you recently learned that turkeys can purr and even recogni e human faces — whatever it is, you’re ready to stop eating animals. Here are some tips to make it stick and make it a pleasure):

Set yourself up for success. Find a few easy home staples: a bagel with ite Hill cream cheese, pasta, stir fry. If you’re going out, check the menu first: If there’s only a lone veggie burger or sad red pepper sandwich who wants those?), keep looking. Find places you can thrive. Most Asian restaurants are rich with vegetarian food. Lean into St. Louis’ many great Thai, Indian and Vietnamese spots and you’ll be set.

Don’t sweat the small stuff, especially starting out. It can seem daunting at first, and you’ll get caught off guard the menu didn’t mention cheese, so why is this salad covered in it? . nce you get the hang of it, you’ll spot the red flags. Do your best, don’t beat yourself up, and keep going.

Remember why you’re doing this. For some, the giant carbon cost and deforestation of the meat industry is enough. thers focus on the conditions and abuse of animals in factory and even organic farms. r you may have recently learned how wretched and dangerous slaughterhouses are, even for the humans who work there. Whatever it is, let that be your guiding principle. You’ll definitely get friction from others. But know that your actions do matter, and that this is a way to make a positive impact each day, every day.

EVAN SULT

In the spring of 2020, Mark Labrayere was just trying to keep his head above water. As a respiratory-care practitioner at SSM DePaul, he was on the front lines along with his coworkers as C ID-19 swept across the world, taking it day by day while trying to understand how to treat the deadly virus. Since those early days, the pandemic has claimed over 15,000 lives in Missouri, and Labrayere has felt the weight of that with his own patients. He describes what it was like those first few months with a nurse and himself in the room, holding the patient’s hand as they took their last breath so they wouldn’t die alone.

As the crisis rages on, Labrayere remembers the words his mother told him fourteen years ago when he went into health care: “It’s to be sad. God made people to be teachers, to do this or that, but he made you to do this. You get your five minutes, but there’s people that need you, so get back in there and do what God made you to do.”

“That’s the biggest thing for me,” Labrayere explains in an interview with the RFT. “It’s to be sad, for the families and for the people that we’ve lost, but we also have to be able to bounce back to help the next one. It’s tough to walk out of the room after pulling a breathing tube out and walk into the next room with a smile on my face, but the patient’s room I’m going into, they deserve the best of what we got.”

In order to piece that resilience together, Labrayere explains there are two parts: leaning on your support system and remembering why you’re passionate about what you’re doing. For the support system, he says it’s important to not be scared of asking for help from those around you. Remembering your purpose is as easy as asking yourself why you’re doing what you are is it because of money? Is it passion? r love?

Brenn Lemon, a nurse manager for the oncology-hematology unit at Mercy St. Louis, agrees with Labrayere, saying it’s important to reflect inward to measure how you’re doing. Lemon says C ID-19 has affected her unit through nurse and patient morale, since safety measures make it harder to celebrate things like her coworkers’ birthdays or for patients to have visitors. She’s become flexible the past year, finding ways to celebrate her nurses through cards and a rmations, while she’s working to connect with patients. Flexibility has been key in building her resilience, as well as celebrating small wins, whether it’s a new coffee creamer or something you find motivating.

“I think that’s what I would encourage someone to do,” Lemon says. “Take that step back and look at your challenges and find what your passion is and then put that back into the task. I think that really builds your resilience.”

Labrayere echoes her, saying it’s your passion that will push you forward. But, he also would add one thing: “ esilience is not going to happen on its own. We need each other.” JENNA JONES

Though there is an art and a science to cooking with mari uana,

Dr. Clarence Lovebutter (name changed to protect the not-soinnocent) wants home bakers to know that they should treat making edibles as they would any other culinary endeavor.

“Basically, you can make whatever you want,” Lovebutter says. “Any treat that includes butter in the original recipe can be applied to edibles. Once you have the basics of green butter down, you can apply it to whatever treat you like, whether caramels, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, blondies or whatever you want to make.”

As the number of dispensaries that have cropped up around town continues to rise and marijuana use (cough, medical marijuana use) becomes more widely accepted, Lovebutter has seen more and more people interested in making edibles at home. A veteran cannabis cook, he has perfected his recipes and believes that anyone can make their own baked goods by following a few simple steps. Once these are down, the sky is the limit.

For Lovebutter, the foundation of edible baking is green butter, a marijuana-infused product that is easy to make in just a few simple yet important steps. For his recipe, he says to use an ounce of fresh trim post-harvest per pound of butter. For those who aren’t growers, take a quarter-ounce of buds and grind them up, or an ounce of shake left over from previous amounts you have.

“If you’re using fresh buds, I wouldn’t use any more than a quarter-ounce per pound of butter,” advises Lovebutter.

For the next step, add your pound of butter, your green material and two cups of water to a Crockpot and slow cook it for about six hours, or until the water is gone. As Lovebutter notes, the water gives the butter time in the slow cooker to heat up the material and infuse the butter without burning it. After roughly six hours, remove the butter and strain it through a metal strainer, pushing down on the marijuana mash and squeezing as much out of it as possible. Put the melted butter into a container, refrigerate, and let it harden. It’s that easy.

Though Lovebutter uses Kerrygold Irish butter because of a personal preference, he says that any butter base — salted or unsalted — will do. He even suggests playing around with different fats using the same method, such as vegetable oil, olive oil or even coconut oil, which he also notes is an especially good base for a healing salve when combined with arnica oil.

As for the actual baking, Lovebutter keeps things pretty simple. A simple box cake mix will do if you do not want to make your treats from scratch, though whatever you do, he insists you follow the recipe, even if it might be tempting to play around.

“Like anything with baking, if you don’t follow the recipe and do the process the way you are supposed to, you will end up with different results,” Lovebutter says. “That goes for using the amount of butter it calls for. If you want it less strong, use half green butter and half regular.”

Lovebutter understands that increased access to cannabis means that many people will be experimenting with edibles for the first time. If you are new to this form of consumption, he notes that the high is significantly different more of a body high and more gradual compared to smoking, which makes edibles more of a commitment.

“As with anything, you want to start off slowly,” Lovebutter says. “If you are looking at that brownie and thinking you want to eat the whole thing, you might want to think again. Start with a quarter of it and work your way up. If you’re a beginner, work your way into it and give yourself an hour or so to feel the results. You can always take more, but you can’t take less. That’s my rule of thumb.” CHERYL BAEHR

If you’ve ever sliced into a warm just-off-the-vine tomato and put a piece of that pure sunshine on a sandwich, the taste of a mealy outof-season grocery-store guy just might make you weep in disgust. Even if you live in a tiny four-family flat or can’t keep a cactus alive, you can grow at least something to eat this summer.

Start small. Chuck a little basil plant and some dirt into a bucket and plop it in the sunniest corner of your yard porch fire escape. Maybe a cherry tomato, too, and a pepper plant if you have space. Do it after Memorial Day. Water them most days, and keep an eye on them. You can try starting your own seeds and planting spring crops in the wintertime, but those are kind of varsity moves — maybe save that for your ’23 or ’24 resolutions.

Truthfully, you’ll probably kill a fair portion of what you plant, especially at first, but you’re probably not depending on this harvest to keep your thirteen children alive through the harsh winter. (My personal agricultural Yoda is my dad, and he’s been at it most of his 81 years. Almost every year something fails in his legendary garden — every year is an experiment.)

“You have to just do your best and also give up control,” says Madyson Winn, garden center manager at Flowers and Weeds on Cherokee Street, a great source for veggies, herbs, fruits, ornamentals and houseplants. “It’s a team effort, you and the plant and the surroundings, and sometimes things don’t always work out how you want. The good thing about that is you learn how to do things differently next time.”

It’s low stakes, and every year you’re gathering more data for what to tweak next time. If you go into it with that mindset, the inevitable setbacks (I’m looking at you, Great Zucchini Blight of ’20) won’t seem as disheartening. Remember — you’re doing this for fun. And sandwiches.

Winn caught the gardening bug early.

“I started just as a kid. My mom told me to pick one plant to grow,” Winn says. “I picked yellow squash. I went out every morning and checked on it. When it was ready, it was just the coolest feeling, picking it and helping cook it for dinner.”

It’s not exactly sex, drugs and/ or rock & roll, but seeing a little green marble forming on a tomato plant early on a June morning is a pretty incomparable thrill.

“It’s just watching all the work that you’ve been putting into something come to fruiting,” Winn says. “It allows you a chance to appreciate the natural world, how beautifully and organically things want to grow.” MELISSA MEINZER

Living in a house with more than one other person, it’s easy for the trash to pile up. If you’re anything like me, by the time trash day is there, the can is filled to the brim. Finding ways to waste less not only helps the environment — it can make life a whole lot more simple. It helps prevent running out of things, too.

Too many times, I’ve gone to get a roll of Saran wrap that wasn’t there. Using beeswax wraps could have prevented so many of those headaches. Beeswax wraps do the same things Saran wrap does, but you can wash and reuse them. They cost more up front you can find a pack of three from Bee’s Wrap for about $15, compared to $5-$6 for 100 square feet of Saran wrap — but it saves money in the long run and helps the environment.

Reusable bottles are another way to save money while being mindful of waste. There’s no need to go all out and get a $40 Hydro Flask. Discount options do the same thing.

In a guide to students, Harvard University notes that bottled water is “about 3,000 percent more expensive per gallon than tap water” and that 86 percent of plastic water bottles in the United States end up as trash. Landfills account for 17 percent of the United States’ methane gas emissions. Buying reusable water bottles and actually using them reduces the amount of plastic water bottles going into landfills.

Along with reusable water bottles, reusable straws and reusable deodorant containers can also help reduce waste. A pack of silicone straws will last a lot longer, and be significantly more durable, than the plastic single-use ones that break easily.

Buying everyday items in bulk can eliminate a lot of plastic packaging that comes with buying smaller quantities. It’s best to stick to things like toilet paper, paper towels or nonperishable food products that get eaten regularly so produce doesn’t go bad before you can use it.

Any step toward reducing waste, even considering how what you consume impacts the environment, is a step in the right direction. MADYSON DIXON

For years, Kristan Nickels and other members of the Zombie Squad have prepared for a possible apocalypse through the tropes of their favorite horror movies, approaching real-life disaster preparedness as if they were also facing hordes of the shambling undead.

But if your resolution for 2022 involves becoming more selfsu cient and less reliant on the structures of society — that is, to be someone who might actually make it to the end credits of a zombie movie — Nickels’ advice doesn’t involve cutting off the rest of the world and moving to the mountains.

“In the real world, those ‘lone wolf’ guys are just alone,” she says. “If there’s damage to their bunker, if there is an issue with a pump or water supply, they have to deal

with it, as opposed to having somebody, having a community.”

Self-su ciency has a different flavor in the pandemic era. For Nickels, the wide-scale crash of C ID-19 tested her preparedness skills in ways she hadn’t before considered. Basic disaster preparation steps like maintaining stocks of nonperishable food and warm clothing, and making copies of important legal and insurance documents can assist with the physical isolation and lack of power, but multiple shutdowns of public life and long uarantines posed different challenges.

Nickels is an asset manager with the Tower Grove Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation, and creating community amid the isolation became part of her mission. She says she introduced neighbors to each other, removed fences to create larger shared yards and gardens, and arranged social events when the pandemic conditions permitted.

“Community could be two people, or twenty people,” she observes. While that communitybuilding could involve local social media networks on Facebook or Nextdoor, Nickels says she encourages people to make a direct connection by attending neighborhood meetings, oining community service groups like ombie S uad or simply introducing themselves to neighbors.

“You may only say ‘hi’ to them on the street, but it means you’ve got that connection already,” Nickels points out. “It’s getting to know each other, so that if a disaster strikes or something bad does happen, or you’re in need, that person’s not a complete stranger.” f course, there are many practical ways to make yourself more self-su cient and prepared for the worst. Even with a small budget, Nickels recommends adding 5 of nonperishable food items per grocery trip, which will build up your stock over time. If you’re on medications, talk to your doctor about obtaining prescriptions in three to six months’ supply. It’s also important to consider your pets when stockpiling necessary food, medicine and water. verall, Nickels stresses that while you can fill your home with generators, flashlights, extra water and toilet paper, the best resources in a disaster will likely be other people on your block.

“The hardest thing for people right now is to reach out for contact or community,” she says. “People need to not be afraid. eep your head, use your common sense and take the time to get to know your neighbors.”

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

Twenty-one days. It takes 21 days to form a habit, 21 days of doing something over and over until it becomes almost second nature to your routine or at least that has long been the sage advice of professionals, advice we are constantly hearing around the time of New Year’s. But St. Louisan Grace Walker has other advice.

Start small.

Walker, a full-time student, has had success with accomplishing her resolutions with this strategy. She explains that breaking the resolutions into chunks, instead of tackling them all at once, allows you to feel less overwhelmed.

“The key is to start slow and take them one at a time,” Walker says.

For example, last year, Walker wanted to establish a skincare routine and make coffee instead of buying it. She started with the skincare routine and then, once she established doing that each morning and night, moved on to her next goal.

“ nce I’ve gotten into the routine of that and I don’t see myself falling off the wagon, I add my next goal into the mix,” Walker says. “Eventually, you’ll have all your resolutions together and you’ve stuck to them.”

Went ville’s Detox Yoga studio owner April Elliott opened another location this year in Winghaven, achieving a goal she set for herself. When asked by the RFT how to stick by your resolutions, she points to mindfulness. Specifically, Elliott would recommend a ournal as soon as you can get one.

She recommends starting with writing down how you feel daily: physically, emotionally and mentally. Ask yourself if you’re present in the moment or if you’re letting your mind wander. Then, keep track of the progress you’ve made in your resolution. If your goal is to lose weight, track the way you feel through your exercises and your emotions.

“When you start your resolution, keeping track in a ournal lets you look at your progress,” Elliott says. “As you start to feel better because you are making better decisions, this can be a reminder you don’t want to go back to the place you were before you started your ourney.” JENNA JONES