Working and self-sufficiency

[JRmom]

Pat's right - pick easier things to grow. I grew my first garden in years last summer and planted too many things that I didn't have a handle on (along with not having my soil built up enough). Except for the tomatoes and cow peas, it was a dismal failure. Lesson learned. This year, I stuck to the basics, planted things we eat and are easy to grow, and I spent the time/money to get the soil (sand in my case) in shape. Success!

BTW, if you like cow peas (blackeye) they will grow practically anywhere! They don't need heavily amended soil or a lot of water and tending, and they like the heat.

 

[raro]

Pat, you are a genius.

Everyone always makes carrots and beets look so easy to grow. My mom told me that carrots grow much better in sandy soil, not clay. Well, I have clay. And clay mixed with a bit of chicken poop is still...clay. So I think I will ditch most of my garden and use it for a compost heap the rest of the summer, and then let it stew over the winter...

..as to the chickens, the biggest problem is that in the winter, they went out under the deck, which has latticed walls so they get decent sun, etc., but now that it's nice out, I want them to free range more. I built a very pathetic tractor (we call it the Cube, since it's basically farmers cloth over a PVC pipe frame), and it's been kind of a pain to herd the girls out, get them settled, make sure the water and food are okay, and then go get the two little ones, who go under the deck for now. I think once I get the routine going, I should be okay, but right now I feel like Noah's ark!

However, one good thing it has done is that my son has gotten more responsibility. He is nine, and previously pretty much kept his room clean and took out the trash. Now he has to help me with the animals (including 3 cats and a new dog), so he is learning more about responsibility and nature and such.

 

[savingdogs]

When I was working and not feeling well, I let some things go. Like my house looking perfect, or my lawn looking perfect. But at the same time, we gave up "entertaining" except having BarbeQues occasionally. What a load it lifted off my back. I realized my friends/family did not expect an ill woman to entertain them or have an immaculate house. To my true friends, it does not matter. We have met people at restaurants most of the time anyway because of our remote location.

Now that I'm home, I still spend more time cleaning up after my animals than in cleaning my house. I'm sticking by my new priorities.

So my hedges need trimming and I have weeds up the ying-yang, and my lawn is tall enough to graze a goat on, but I've already trained myself that these things are not as important as putting wood in the wood shed and weeding my veggie garden, moving rabbit poo to the compost pile. I do spend the day every now and then working on aesthetics, but it isn't as all-consuming as it used to be.

I'm not saying I have the balance perfect, but in order to be more self sufficient, I had to give other things UP. There was only so much me to go around.