This is when everything happens at once. Care for plants, animals, and grass…it can be overwhelming.
Still, we always start new projects. All seems possible on the second half of winter and cool early spring days. Why don’t you plant more trees? And grapes! And even a huge space for corn! And then put in the watermelon patch!
Then the weather gets hotter and weeds start to grow. And sometimes floods occur. Or drought. Or, like this spring, floods and droughts.
And… it’s 90 degrees. And 95.
And everything starts to fall apart. And it’s not fun to weed large areas, carry water to new trees, drag hoses around nursery and secure cow fences…
And by the time it was hit in June/July, all my enthusiasm for gardening was gone and I’m happy to be able to heal the fever from time to time with watermelon.
That’s just too much!
Yesterday I was talking with Rachel about what I needed to simplify again. It moved to property almost three years ago. Since then, we:
I planted a food forest
Dairy cows were installed and milking areas were constructed.
A garden with installed grocery
I built a chicken coop
I started a plant nursery
I bought a tractor
I bought a bobcat
I’ve started clearing popcorn tree
A greenhouse was built and filled with plants
I planted an apple orchard
I got a duck
I got a goat
I got a pig
We ploughed a large area and planted corn, potatoes, pumpkins and yum
Attached cow panel trellis sucks crops
We created a large composting area
I bought an old zero-turn mower and started collecting grass cutouts
I bought a plant nursery trailer
Multiple plants did the show
Sales have started at the Farmers Market
Started a private community at Skool with video courses
Expanded on Instagram
I wrote minimalist gardening
Multiple scrub fest events were held
A free-range survival chicken that was released…
…and the guy…we’re so busy!
For all the extra work, the finances have not improved significantly either. You need to go ahead and pay more to fix something or get a new tool.
Life is complicated!
We removed the goats and the chickens were sent by predators. I haven’t exchanged them.
I also stopped quitting the farmers market. The nursery has a lot of attention, but we sell it personally and at events. It’s hard to do everything. But we’re still overdone.
Simplification
Sometimes I look at a small house near a church in Pensacola. A small yard of small grass that can be mowed in a few minutes. You can go to Publix for food…
But then I think I have a noise with my neighbor. And the government is in the way. And in the recession we will be completely dependent on long supply chains. And I look at productive mulberry trees and pers, pecans and yums and I am grateful that we planted them. This morning I chose a handful of huge, fat, sweet blackberries from the main ark freedom shrubs stuck in the grocery line garden last year. And I watch my plums fatten in the food forest. And we still eat pork from the pork we slaughtered last fall.
Work is not a bad job. It may not be our best use of time.
You need to focus on 20% of the great things.
And really, if we had a small place in town, we were eagerly waiting for a food forest and an orchard. It could be a good holiday, but we couldn’t do it for a long time.
I’ve started so many plants in nursery so we don’t actually sell or use them. There are unknown ginger in the pot that doesn’t make anything for us, tropical seedling trees that we can’t live here, and transplants that we have never planted before…
Instead of enjoying all of this, it seems to be too much. Instead of doing some really well, we do a lot well.
There is only a lot of time in a day.
Who will get the x?
Last year I started to do lots of Osage orange trees and honey locusts. I love these trees, but they don’t sell well! I water and take care of them without coming back. I think it’s time to plant it in the garden.
We also found a local source of raw milk. This is less than the value of the labor required to care for the cow, feed, milk it in the winter, and secure the fence. So I think I might just sell cows. Rachel must have a homeschooling child and if she milks a cow, she works several hours a day from homeschooling. Does it make sense to try and grow all of our own food during this season? Probably not!
Just as I loved all the butter and cheese, fresh milk, I can at least meet my milk needs from elsewhere.
And eggs? I have a meadow friend who makes a great deal with 6 dozen eggs a week. Do you need to take care of your chickens now? Do you repair the henhouse, patch the entrance and get another herd? Probably not.
I’m looking at a list of all the things that do great things for us…and what could be too much work…and simplification.
We will abolish our lives and our schedules.
Mulberry, Southern Apples and Yam were great sellers for us so we were able to focus on them rather than 100 different plants.
Writing books usually took advantage of the time, so perhaps I should do it more while spending less time at nursery.
High effort/low reward
This is an example that hit me yesterday.
For four years I have grown jabotitiva in pots. He’s now taller than me, and it’s the first time I’ve had it. Probably about ten small fruits along some branches.
I’ve probably put in 40 hours of care, probably for some fruit. Now you should be able to withstand it regularly, but amazing… what a time investment! I love Jabotiti Baka, but it’s too tropical for our climate to plant in the ground here. It will become a constant need plant, and it may surpass me! In winter, you must keep the greenhouses in lockdown and run propane heaters to keep them alive. And if I’m going to grow it, I have to have a greenhouse. Talk about time sink.
On the other hand, I planted some white soaks in my garden, both of which gave birth to abundant fruit without me being too concerned about them. It’s easy to store here.
Returning to basics
In minimalist gardening, I cover how you can grow food. And how you don’t have to complicate your life. Still, planting nerds is always doing more work for ourselves. Especially in the dangerous and comfortable days of early spring.
Perhaps it’s time to bring everything back to the winners alone and feed them all the time.
Maybe I could throw a huge, rare plant sale and say goodbye to the tropical troops.
Maybe I should limit my gardening to only the groceries gardens and food forests.
Writing minimalist gardening is one thing… to truly live it is another thing.
We are too much to care for, and only so much time. Food forests are easy to care for. Greenhouse plants aren’t like that!
I’m just thinking loudly. How about a gardening project? animal? Homestead? Great tips for reducing – I’d love to hear from you.
