Anyone else 'going at it alone'?

[canesisters]

It seems that just about everyone references spouses, significant others, kids, parents or other family as sharing chores or helping with the work. I was just wondering how many others out there are doing it alone?
OK... not REALLY alone because of the wealth of info online and neighbors that can be called in occasionally - but getting through the day to day, in & outs alone.

 

[NH Homesteader]

@Mini Horses is a super hero doing it alone

Kudos to anyone doing it alone. I wouldn't do a lot of what we do if I had to do it by myself.

 

[sumi]

Me, myself and I over here DS helps a little bit here and there, but honestly, most of the time he makes more work for me! No big projects going on here though, apart from taking care of the chickens, garden when it's not freezing, cutting firewood and digging old stone buildings out of the backyard lol

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I do have a spouse - but he has health challenges and I tackle the outside chores alone.

 

[NH Homesteader]

FEM is also a super hero. I was going to mention you but didn't want it to sound like I was calling your hubby out for not helping you lol!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

but didn't want it to sound like I was calling your hubby out for not helping you lol!!

That's ok - I call him out all the time! I mean he does have health challenges - but he also has a bit of a (laziness) challenge too. But, the critters are mine and I don't expect anyone else to take care of them. And with his vision challenges I don't even let him near the riding mower, lol!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Lol right!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Short story: I do the day to day "farming" alone. Long story:

My hubby is my best friend and support. He is the tether or string, and I am the helium balloon. He is a city boy with country benefits. He likes to mow the lawn, and is a jack of all trades, plumbing, construction, electrical. He steps up where needed, but for the most part, I do all the gardening, animal care, food prep and processing, and a lot of the building projects.

I have built: stone walls, and stone retaining walls, hauled lots of rocks off the property, leveled and seeded the rubble left behind by an excavator over 1 acre we had cleared a few years ago, dug with pick axe and planted an orchard in bone hard clay strewn with boulders. Built a HK mound, and hauled and spread many yards of wood chips for BTE style orchard and garden.

I built my first coop (cattle panel), 2 chicken tractors, a CP green house. I also do smaller building projects: book cases with ceramic tile tops, rolling carts for portable green house and feed barrels. He and I built the second coop together, with him doing the bulk of it.

DH will feed the birds or gather the eggs when I am away. In the beginning, he helped me with the necessary processing. But, over the last 3 years, I do that chore alone. I figure that "farming" is "my hobby", not his. So, it's not fair for me to expect him to get involved in managing the poultry.

He will come into the garden and pick raspberries when the crop is in full swing. Or he may run out to the garden and grab some lettuce or an onion when I'm cooking supper. Aside from that, he rarely enters the garden (my domain) and when he does, I have to be on guard b/c he's just as likely to trample a newly seeded bed as he is to walk in the path. If I have a heavy task that I simply can't manage, or that requires 2 sets of hands, he'll help me. He will supervise when I use the chainsaw. When I go to town recycling center for mulch, I do all of the physical labor involved in that, but... he often goes with me. The recycle center is in an out of the way spot, and there have been times when I've felt vulnerable b/c of the folks who sometimes hang around there.

Snow removal: He actually likes to snow blow. But, I am usually home so end up doing it unless weather and storm pattern cooperate so it can be left until he has a day off. It takes 2 hours to do the necessary snow blowing, AFTER the snow plow has come and done our driveway.

But, I'm 62, he's 65 and has had 2 back surgeries, and has a bum shoulder. So... It's a juggling act at this point doing the heavier stuff with limited physical ability.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I try to do my projects by myself. The chickens and garden are mine, so I try to do them all myself.

I have a husband who likes to do what he wants to do. Sometimes, that means he wants to help me. I do appreciate his help, and alot of things get done because he is willing to help. When he "helps" me though, it is to do it his way, to heck with how I want to do it.

For instance, about 3 years ago we started fencing the garden area together. We got all the fence posts in and all the corner supports done. He is very good at construction.
I said I would like to put chicken wire around the bottom to keep out the rabbits. He said that we needed to bury it 1 foot deep - I said 8" is enough. He got on the tractor and dug a 1 foot trench around the fence area. One area is actually at the foot of a slope, so I said lets just run the chicken wire on the ground at this point, nothing will dig in with it laying flat on the ground and we don't mow that area anyway. Nope - gotta dig it in.
We stapled the chicken wire to the posts and he started to push in the sod we had pulled out. I said - lets put the sod in the compost pile since it is such nice black topsoil and backfill with the crappy dirt that we had piled up from another project. He said that sounds good, hauled away all the sod and started hauling over the other pile.
Turns out that stuff had branches and junk in it so when he dumped it into the trench - the entire chicken wire would get pulled into the hole and get buried. I asked if he would just dump it in front of the trench and I would follow behind and pick out the junk and then pull the dirt into the hole while holding up the fencing. He got in a hurry and just kept dumping the crap into the trench. He got crabby because "I wasn't helping" while I was trying to fix the stuff he buried - I walked away. There it sits.

This summer I have to go out there and dig up all the buried chicken wire and get that squared away so we can get the real fencing up and be done with it. I am going to lay down a bunch of newspaper and cover it with wood mulch on both sides of the fence to try to keep down the weeds.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I try to do my projects by myself. The chickens and garden are mine, so I try to do them all myself.

I am going to lay down a bunch of newspaper and cover it with wood mulch on both sides of the fence to try to keep down the weeds.

Good idea to block the weeds on either side of your fence.