My Challenge this Spring ~ Discipline
This is the time of year when the pace seems to pick up more and more everyday.
Five-month-old puppy “ i.o.” is not entirely sold on the idea of cows being out in the pasture instead of the barnyard where she’s always known them to be!
Sometimes it’s a delicate balancing act to get everything done that needs to be done. And, sometimes, when nature and time collude in pushing, it feels like a rude shove!
We felt the shove this week, but it feels familiar and is even welcome because it means our work matters.
lettuce popping up in the field
Animals smell the pasture grasses greening up, turn their noses up at their dry hay rations, and stomp their feet waiting anxiously for their turn to leave the barn.
Seedlings continue germinating in flats regardless of whether or not there’s room to squeeze them in the bursting-at-the-seams propagation houses.
tomato seedlings
Directly-seeded-in-the-field crops like peas, lettuces, radishes need watching over for watering and covering from frosty nights while other soil beds are being prepared for planting in the next weeks.
Bill & Aidan filling sandbags to weigh down row covers needed during recent below freezing nights.
There’s also desk work - billing, responding to questions and concerns from new CSA members and customers, and writing newsletters, as summer quickly approaches. Those tasks fall to me.
I love communicating with members and organizing almost as much as I love working outside. But I end up pushing it off in favor of the demanding animals and plants.
I optimistically (and often erroneously) think I can catch it up in the evening.
Ha! What a not-funny joke I play on myself and, sometimes, you all when I get behind at replying. (Sorry if you’re one of those waiting!) I always feel younger before 3 pm. After that, reality hits, and I find not only has time run out to get it done today, but so has my energy!
I’m realizing I need to discipline myself to get these important tasks done. Maybe if I get up earlier? When it’s quiet, and the day’s commotion hasn’t caught me up in its eddy yet? But I'm reluctant to do so. I don't want to get out from my snuggly warm spot under the covers earlier . . .
But where else would I find the time and space?
So maybe . . .
(I know getting colorful highlighters from my mom’s store, while making my calendar look nicer, weren’t the solution. Lol.)
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about this time of year.
The push/pull can be overwhelming, but all five of us feel the excitement of the main growing season’s potential.
It’s all in front of us and is gathering momentum. Kinda like a roller coaster approaching the crest of a hill.
Getting on the ride means navigating the challenges spring throws at our feet as it hurtles us into summer.
But it means feeling motivated, getting caught up in creative problem solving, knowing the satisfying tiredness of meaningful work, and having the opportunity to grow as farmers, team members, and as people too.
And we're clear on our farm - "we got on the ride" years ago.
And we choose to stay on again and again because it makes us grateful for this land, family and friends, farm members and customers, each other, and this life.
It's all worth it.
Us
We're rewarded again and again as our feet touch the ground we've been privileged to farm. We're rewarded again and again when someone tells us how much they like our lettuce, or enjoy our maple syrup in their morning coffee, or love the color of our eggs.
We're rewarded again and again and again and again.
