I ASK YOU EVERY YEAR around this time, when the garden cleanup is basically done but the harvest of fresh seed catalogs hasn’t really arrived: What shall we do this winter? Shall we keep our gardening conversation going, or all dig into the woodchuck burrow with you-know-who (my nemesis)? Or maybe get snug in a basket with a blanket, like the little love bug in that vintage Library of Congress archival photo I just had to share. (Jack disdains such posing; he is macho–and, ahem, too big to fit.)

I need to do the annual gifts for gardeners thing, right? Coming up this next week, promise. I have a lot of catalog-related stories planned, too, including more expert Q&A’s–like the ones earlier this year on growing carrots and herbs and biodynamic seeds and organic vegetable-growing tips and more).

There will be regular book-related interviews and giveaways, too–cookbooks, or bird books, or nature guides and yes, of course, garden books. Admittedly, I have books on the brain, with my new one, “The Backyard Parables,” due in January.  (For news about that, with a sample chapter and video, click here.)

BUT WHAT DO YOU want to do? Any topics you wish I’d cover–any particular techniques or types of plants, or a catalog or expert to recommend that’s you’d love me to reach out to?

How about we:

• Make baked beans, and soup–lots and lots of soup.
• Watch birds, and learn more about them together.
• Stare out the window at colorful conifers.
• Read a lot, especially books inspired by the natural world, whether fiction or non. You know, about bugs and stuff.
• Turn more winter squash or sweet potatoes into custards (just to keep up our strength, you know). But of course not till we finish the December chores, right?

So tell me, friends, what shall we do together this winter? Thanks!