Somebody thinks I'm special!

Sandy, at garden path, has tagged me with a Thinking Blogger award. I'm so tickled. Seriously. I read your blogs every day and gain inspiration and motivation from what so many of you are doing, but I never consider that I may be inspiring somebody else. That makes me feel good. Sandy is a prolific poster and each and every post has an amazing photo and frequently a wonderful haiku. Her blog always makes me feel peaceful and calm. And when she posts recipes, they are awesome! I still make her pozole recipe a few times a month.

So I am charged with the impossible task of passing it forward to five blogs that I think are awesome and inspirational and just all around cool. Just so you know, I think all the blogs I link to and read are great and I've learned so much from so many people that it is difficult to narrow it down to five. And I think several of the blogs I'm mentioning have already been given Thinking Blogger awards, but whatever. I don't think its a bad thing to have more than one and to know that you inspire many.

So, here are the people that motivate and inspire me:

Liz at Pocket Farm. Liz was one of the first blogs I read and has inspired me to do many things. She definitely has motivated me to think about the food I eat and where it comes from. And has inspired me to try making things that I find intimidating (for whatever silly reason) like yogurt and most recently cheese (totally making mozarella this weekend).

Kim at Black Swamp Girl. Kim is a gardener extraordinaire and has inspired me to take a more critical look at garden design. I have a tendency to buy things I like and then find a place for them. Lately, thanks to inspiration from her blog, I have been walking past impluse purchases and really thinking more about what would work best in a spot.

Shannon at Not So Virtual Homestead. My gosh, just reading this blog makes me feel tired. Two people, two full time jobs, a baby, a market stand, many, many chickens, goats, crafts, a huge garden, baking, canning.....just crazy. But always motivating. After reading Shannon's posts, my thought is always "I need to get my butt in gear". And she is a wealth of knowledge and answers questions whenever asked.

Rurality is another one of the blogs that I have read since the beginning. I love the mix of wildflowers and wildlife and chickens and gardening and just about every facet of the piece of ground on which she lives. I always learn something and I think much more about what is creeping about my yard at night after the introduction of her Gamecam.

Judith at Weeds between the cracks. Sadly, Judith has decided to stop blogging at least for the time being and has been on hiatus since early December. I've been inspired by Judith in gardening, attracting and respecting wildlife, having a sense of humor in the garden (see Judith's gnome doors), crocheting (even though I've never progressed beyond a simple hat and scarf) even possibly to keep bees one day. I will miss Judith's writing and humor and hope to see her back this fall.

So, if you've been tagged, and haven't been tagged before, and feel like it, and are still blogging, make of list of five people that inspire and motivate you!

Here is the link to the origin of the meme:the thinking blogger

Thanks again Sandy!