Summer is starting to wind down, school starts in a week and a half here. Once again my spring "to do" list was wa-a-a-y longer than I had sense (or cents) for!! I think I actually accomplished 5 out of the 27 projects I had listed :{ I tried making it a "honey-do" list but that didn't work either. Oh, well, I have an awesome garden this year, and am getting lots of canning and freezing done. I'd like to hear how your to-do lists are coming along, and maybe some tips on getting more done.

-- (trigger@mcn.net), August 13, 2000

Answers

Our gardening ambitions got WAY ahead of our backs! We tilled up a huge garden in front and got overwhelmed in three years. So this fall, I'll be building more raised garden boxes in the back, closer to the kitchen door. Nothing wider than two feet. Nothing longer that 6 feet. You can reach all parts while sitting on a stool. We've also got 4 x 12 and 2 x 12 boxes, but I've found that the smaller sizes lend themselves to "hit-and-run" gardening. (Hit the weeds and Run to the front porch with iced tea). The boxes are nice, because you have better control over how things grow. When not in use, we just cover them over with straw and / or plastic. So, that's my main Fall-To-Do.

I'm actually getting more done by doing less, if that makes any sense.

(:raig

-- Craig Miller (CMiller@ssd.com), August 13, 2000.

Like Craig said, sometimes you need a rest. We got 2 years worth of food put back, the plum wine and jams put up and most of the major repairs done. We've decided to give our neighbors run of our garden till we turn it under and enjoy this last month of nice weather. Come February, we start all over again. If you want to work yourself to death all the time, thats what the "rat race " is for. What I find appealing of the country way of life is it runs with the seasons and the yields are so plentiful most times with a homestead patch, you can always find some time to take a breather.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), August 13, 2000.

Well, on the DONE side of the list (a much smaller area than the Un-done)....Finally got Pop to abandon the garden out back of the shed where no one ever goes and the ground has been worn out since 1958 that I know of for sure.... Tilled up some ground out by the road on the east side of the house and put in a geometrically pleasing raised bed garden. (Pop - "you got 30 acres, why the heck you want to plant a garden in little bitty boxes?!?) Filled in the area between the boxes with wood chips and filled the boxes with manure (Pop - "don't you know all you're doing is dragging home a bunch of weed seed?!) and a load of black dirt. I have spent this summer as a learning curve - getting used to gardening in boxes again - now if I can just remember what I've learned 'til next year! I did manage to grow more veggies to put up in 359 sq. feet of raised beds than I did in the last several years of a 2400 sq. foot normal garden. Only problem now is that Pop has gotten enthusiastic and is dragging home perennials that folks have given him ... yeah, right - it really broke my heart to pull up the zucchini so he could plant that rhubarb!!

I also managed to talk Pop into letting me put up a real clothesline - he has a pathological hatred of them resulting from a confrontation between a clothesline and a lawn tractor - with him in the middle...something about a garrotte..... So I have been saving on the electric bill and enjoying crisp fresh sheets and scrubs.

I got a half dozen hens and a rooster and Hubby, Unc and I got a chicken palace - I mean tractor - built to put them in, and they are happily scratching around in the grass, rooting out bugs and eating all our spoiled garden produce and tough sweet corn - 2 1/2 dozen eggs last week!.

We managed to make some decent headway on getting the shed cleaned out - 3 plus households full of junk on top of the usual accumulation of 40+ years of living in the same place. I found the drinking glasses that I had packed away two moves ago, and a box of mending that at a guess was from about 1988 - given the size of my daughter's clothing that was in it!

On the un-done side, well...I don't have the grape arbor yet, but my birthday is in Sept so I think maybe I'll hint around a little in that direction. I'm thinking maybe that derelict old satellite dish up on some old pipe???? Couldn't decide where to put the fruit trees, so those are on hold 'til next spring; but we're going to go ahead and dig the holes (when we decide where to put them!) and start building some compost and stuff in them. Need to expand the garden - may put the grape arbor in the middle of the patch that we've kept tilled this summer (right behind the raised beds and in front of the chickens) and put in some raised beds around it. Still need to get the boxes of books and fabric in and on shelves; need to wallpaper the guest room and make a comforter cover for the bed in there - after I paint the bed frame, that is. But, right now - I've got a bushel of peaches and one of tomatoes waiting in the kitchen, and peppers that need to be picked and put on to soak - No wonder I'm hiding out on the forum!!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), August 13, 2000.

I just came in from outside and I have to admit, I am actually depressed. Usually, I just buck up and count my blessings. Today, though, I am really kinda down, and having a tough time shakin' it. I know I have just spent 2 quarters in school; I know I just spent a fabulous vacation hiking in Colorado, and I am grateful that I got to go...but I look around at stuff to do around here, and it just never seems to end! Do you ever feel that way?

Listen how lame this all is: Besides spending too much time mowing the stupid lawn, cleaning house, doing laundry, and shopping (no church today...we are "closed" for a month), I spent some time clearing off the walkways from all the dirt and debris that the chickens have been digging up, and not more than an hour later, they had it all messed up again. (I know, it's not the chicken's fault!). Then I tried to make my patio look nicer by putting up a table with a red checkerboard tablecloth....first the cats start jumping on it, then my husband gives me one of those looks like what am I doing putting an obstacle in his space; then I look out and see that there's trash piled up getting ready to go to the dump and I was hoping to keep things tidy 'til after our company leaves tonight. Then the ducks pooped all over the other sidewalks! Maybe I should go to the other post and put something there! The hard part is I beat myself up so much, because I know it's SO insignificant!!! I have so many wonderful things, experiences, people who love me, etc. And I AM getting some stuff done! But just for once I would love to complete something, have it stay nice for a couple of days, and not have to do it again and again. Sheesh. What a whiner I am! Anyway, I need to go over my list and maybe I will see some accomplishments. Right now I feel like Sisyphus with that #^@# rock!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), August 13, 2000.

Cheer up Sheepish, at least you are in good company!LOL - seems to be the state of things with this type of lifestyle. Maybe our dreams/aspirations are just set a little higher (albeit in a different direction than most). I think we all have those moments that it seems "nothing" ever gets completed. In reality we have completed a zillion little things, a million middle things, and probablly hundreds of big things. But when we are done, those things are put out of our mind and zoom on to the next project or twelve. I go through this myself. It would take way too long to list our "undone" projects, and I see them everyday to remind me. But then I remember we had a choice, and this is what we choose... and honestly I love our life on this tiny, undone farm with waaaay too much to do and never enough time/money to do it!! Wait a minute, maybe I am a little off my rocker?!?! Anyway, hang in there - this to shall pass!! God Bless! Wendy

-- Wendy@GraceAcres (wjl7@hotmail.com), August 13, 2000.

My wife has finished everything on her summer to-do list except defrost the freezer. She wanted to get to it before the garden veggies filled it up but DIDN'T HAPPEN. Either wait till fall (a little cooler) or next spring.

As to doing chores only to have them undone. I know what you mean. My wife is continually frustrated with the unending cycle of clean...messy...clean...messy...clean...But standing in front of the pantry or looking at everything that DID get marked off the to-do list usually makes her feel better.

-- Vaughn (vdcjm5@juno.com), August 13, 2000.

I have a list as long as my husband's arm (he's 6'6")! And there is not one thing finished! LOTS started but nothing finished!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), August 13, 2000.

I have over 100 tomato plants alone. I have no time to beat myself up. Perhaps Sheepish could come over and beat on me for a while just so that I get my fair share this year!

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 14, 2000.

Why worry about completing the honey do list, she will just add more!! I was able to complete a number of her task. Some are being put off till it cools down a bit. No dear I am not going to put a floor in the attic when its 90deg outside. I dont care if the boxes have to set in our bedroom for another month!!!

Our garden did pretty good, I did loose a lot of corn to corn smut but the rest looks real good. I have some tomoatoes that could be mistaken for pumpkins in size. I did put "isles" in our garden. A 2 ft wide multch path downt he middle to allow access to the inside of the garden. makes de-weeding easier (i.e. wife will do it if there is an isle).

Did get the stables cleanedup, the pasture fence straighted up and keep the yard mowed.

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), August 15, 2000.

Wendy and Vaughn, thank you. I had a bad day. Thanks for the cheer..

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), August 15, 2000.

Sheepish, I know what you mean. We moved to the country 15 years ago to simplify our lives and we are busier now than we have ever been. The only difference is that now we are doing the things we love to do. But still it seems that nothing is ever done and there is always something more that has to be added to the list. Every once in a while we find an old list and we have discovered that if you can put off doing something long enough the need for doing it will often disappear! The problem with lists is that once something is done we cross it off and forget that we did it. Feels like we didn't accomplish anything at all. I'll bet if you look around you'll find a thousand accomplishments too. Just going to school is enough for most people!!

Today I put 6 gfci outlets in my husband's shop like I've been promising all summer. He didn't have ANY outlets in there- new space. He'll be so pleased and I can cross it off my list.

-- Peg (NW WI) (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), August 15, 2000.

Some of the stuff on my wanna-do list got put off until the weather gets a little cooler!!! It's just too hot to be digging fence post holes and stuff like that right now!!! I try to get the animals feed and their sheds cleaned out EARLY and then have to take extra ice bottles to the rabbits because it's mid day...

But when it gets a little cooler we'll be back out there finishing the last wall on the rabbit's house; making a goat enclosure, and working on the main fence!

We had a great garden the first part of the summer and I did a lot of freezing and canning then but it's just too hot and dry now. Lately I've made lots and lots of apple, blackberry and grape jelly and still have pear preserves to go.

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), August 16, 2000.

If you ever get everything done, you'll know you are about to die. As it stands right now, I have enough things undone, that I know God expects me to live until somewhere around 120! GL!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), August 17, 2000.

first off i am going to do away with my to do list and start a book. really i think it is important to look at what you have gotten done not just on the things still to do. and we all need to remember that leading a homesteading life means that we have daily chores to do that those in the city never have to do so just our normal routine getting done means we have accomplished a lot. i am not really sure i am kidding about a book or not but have managed to get two pig pens built and two sheds one for each . a new goat pen and shed with the milking stand too. and have the area cleaned so i can get my second goat pen and shed done by next month when i will be getting my nigerian dwarf buck. also have the trees trimmed around the working area of my house. true i did this without a garden this year but i also have done this with a herniated disc in my back so i think i have done okay. again don't forget to look at what you have done. gail

-- gail missouri ozarks (gef123@hotmail.com), August 18, 2000.

Everybody (especially that young whippersnapper Scharabok) warned me that retirement would be no vacation. They were right.

I have accomplished---oh, maybe 5 of the 27 projects I had listed. (Just like Trigger.)

The sad fact (which you can only realize when you get older, in my experience) is that you can NEVER do everything on your to-do list. If you have any amount of ambition, anyway. So you go with the flow. Seize the moment. Enjoy the NOW.

Glory in the 5 projects you accomplished. (And then note how many of the other 22 will seem important next year!)

You dont have to get more done. You just have to appreciate more what you HAVE done.

-- jd (belanger@tds.net), August 19, 2000.