Dealing with discouragement

[Chic Rustler]

Do you guys ever get that overwhelmed feeling? Perhaps you set too many goals and then finances, normal responsibilities or just plain life gets I the way and sets ya back?

This year I'd like to do alot more work to the garden before spring so we can put up more food, plant some fruit trees....so we can put up more food, build a pig pen....again so we can put up more food, and put in a drive point well so we have another water source....oh and do something for another means of heat incase of emergency.

So far it seems I'll be lucky to get the garden things done. The day to day bs and responsibilities keep getting in the way of progress. But that's life I guess. Old cars break. Things wear out. Kids out grow clothes.....and those darn chicks are ALWAYS hungry! (Can't wait to get them in the freezer!) Lol


I really want to finish one project before I start another. But maybe I need to bounce around some. Divide the projects into different tasks. Like if I can just get one more raised bed done next week and then maybe buy one fruit tree. Then maybe build one trellis the week after and so forth.

 

[Mini Horses]

Been doing this over 50 years....still have all the feelings you describe. Like FEM, you plan & then "put out fires", the unplanned emergency issues. Like Bay, I role with the chaos. Like Sumi, try just one tiny thing if that's all the time you have right then, at least something was done. Always something happening. My human kids are grown & gone but, my animal kids give me plenty of "unexpected" to deal with.

I am "back at" gardening after 5 yrs out of it (mom & the big A lived with me) and it's still old hat and yet brand new. As you can imagine, being on a retirement budget has it's challenges. At this point there are days that remembering has it's challenges and while it is blamed on age, it's just a long to do list. I use a roll of TP for my list, that long.

SO -- you need to know this is "just farming". If it isn't time, money, weather, emergencies....then it must be happening when we are trying to get 4-5 hrs sleep! It's always good to know that everyone else is in the same boat. Let's just hope it doesn't sink! By the way, I've been on this farm 19 years now -- still not where I want it all.

Keep on keeping on! This life is why ANY little plant sprouted is a HUGE deal.

 

[Calista]

Sometimes I think, if you're not feeling overwhelmed, then you're not doing enough. Then I give myself a mental slap and remember that's my Type-A personality speaking.

I get up every day with a plan, God laughs, and then I take comfort in what I DO get done.

I'm lucky not to have any personal health issues but my Vietnam vet husband has PTSD and we have to roll with the punches when he has bad days and can't help much. Poor guy has been dealing with the fallout from that war for 40 years -- gee, all he wanted to do was stay in the seminary, studying for the priesthood and do good for people, and his government drafted him and trained him to be a sniper. One can sympathize with why he's so messed up.

 

[mythreesons290322]

I too, feel very overwhelmed with daily tasks of dealing with a adult son that was born super intelligent but lacks all common sense, doesn’t drive at 25 years old because frankly I don’t trust his judgement and he would be on our insurance, a legally blind brother whom lately keeps getting sick, and my 86 yr old MIL who just moved in 6-weeks ago with us in our very small house that has dementia and is mostly blind..

Oh,yea my life feels like it’s caving in right now.

However, I just keep myself thinking that spring is around the corner and soon I will be seeing all my flowers that I planted last fall, watching everything bud out, wondering if my fruit trees and berry bushes will give me a good abundance of fruit, adding new raised beds to expand my garden...walking my edible/medicinal gardens..watching my chickens do their peck and scratch dance as I free range...I have to focus on what gives me the most pleasure to keep me from sinking into a deep dark hole...

Hugs to all that want one or need one.

 

[baymule]

There will always be something that comes along to knock you down. Sometimes it can really get to you. A day of being down in the dumps is to be expected. Then you have all your friends on SS to commiserate and pick you up and make you feel better. I hope you have the best garden season ever!

 

[FarmerJamie]

Just keep on keeping on. One foot in front of the other. Keep moving as long as it's forward.

Five years ago my entire life was turned upside down - 20 years of building up a mini-farm gone in one divorce decree. Still don't have a place for a garden, but we have a plan for canning this year. We are already buying meat in bulk and putting up meals. Life is good

 

[Britesea]

No matter how frustrating it can be, this lifestyle is still better than living in a gated community and being told what color you can paint your house and what plants you can have in the front yard.

 

[Mini Horses]

I am in awe of my grandparents who raised 7 children and fed them from small farmsteads. No equipment except the hand tools and borrowed the plow horse "Nellie" in early Spring to get the first turn of the garden behind them. Can't even begin to feel what must have been "pressure" to hoe a garden large enough to feed 9 people!!! Canned, pickled, dried...all their feed. Talk about needing to hunt? They had no electric, a well with a bucket. Some chickens. Heated & cooked with wood.

It has taken many, many years to realize what a feat that was

 

[CrealCritter]

I think you are onto a good idea to sell your plants. Very few people start their own plants from seed- either they don't have a good spot to do it, or they procrastinate until it's too late to start them. Look around at what the nurseries in your area are selling and try new varieties that might do well in your area-- something no one else has for sale. You might also consider making up some medicinals and such that you could also sell... things like deodorant, sunburn ointment, hand or lip balms and first aid salve. Maybe some teas and tinctures as well. The jars and bottles will be another expense though, so you might have to wait on that.

I have found that I can pick up used transplant pots- 2" all the way up to 6"- for very cheap at some nurseries. I just wash them out and rinse with a bit of bleach water to kill any pathogens and reuse them. You could maybe do the same and save some money, as the pots and the soil are the two biggest expenses in what you are proposing to do.

I did that one year with tomato seedlings
But they were volunteers that sprouted in the garden from the previous year. I had thousands of seedlings. I just.pulled up a dozen at a time rolled them up in new papper and soaked them in a bucket of water. I sold quite a few bundles for $1.00 each - once the word got out. I still have folks stop by in the spring asking if if have tomato seedlings.

Here is what the volunteer tomato patch looked like in May along with a few volunteer sugar baby water melons also.

Then again in a few weeks later in June and this was after selling off a bunch.

Tomatoes are so easy to grow it's almost to easy.

 

[Britesea]

maybe they are easy for you. Where I live tomatoes are more an art than a science, or perhaps it's an act of hope and faith. You can get frost and even snow in any month of the year, so you never know if your plants will make it.