Now that Labor Day is behind us, it’s officially the fall season, at least in my world.
For decades I have consciously chosen not to do any fall ‘put the garden to bed’ work. By then I’m too busy, tired, and just plain over it. Never a really good idea, I decided that this year it is a particularly bad strategy. If I want to sell my house (and I do), I have to make it look as good as possible all the time.
So I’ve set my September goal. Two buckets a day. Pull two buckets a day of weeds, trim two buckets a day of perennials, spread two buckets a day of mulch, whatever. Just do two buckets a day, every day. Sometimes those two buckets will take 1/2 hour, sometimes 3 times that long. Doesn’t matter. My goal is quantity, not time. If I do it every day, it will eventually get done.
Today was my first day. I pulled two buckets of weeds and carried them to my compost bin. I’m going to continue in that garden patch tomorrow, and when I get it done, whether that’s tomorrow or several days hence, I’ll mulch it. My springtime mulching was, in hindsight, foolishly, done more for looks than for utility. I was hoping my house would sell quickly. I’m paying the price now. Oh, well.
On the loom-y front, I’m making good progress on MG’s baby wrap – over half done. I’m working with my next batch of 4 moms to plan their wraps so I can get their yarn ordered. With the holiday that’s taking a bit longer than usual. That’s okay, too, ‘cuz I have other non-baby-wrap weaving I have to do, too.
I also did my prep work for my fiberarts guild‘s annual dye day. Instead of making this one more ‘must do’ for me, I decided that I’d use this day just for play.
So I bought some pre-mordanted muslin, ripped it into roughly bandana-sized pieces, made a resist paste, and goofed around. I used my fingers, bottle caps, a cardboard tube from yarn, a piece of foam, and string to make designs (I’m using the term very loosely – I don’t consider these particularly artful) on the muslin. They’re drying on my rack. On Saturday I’ll dye the cloth in indigo. It will either work or it won’t. The cloth will either look good or it won’t. If it works and looks good, I’ll either hem the squares for bandanas or I won’t. No pressure, no stress. Just for fun. Yeah!
[…] this month I set my goal (aka rule) to do two buckets a day of work in my garden. Although there were a few days when the rain prevented it, there were other […]
Wonderful idea! I once read a suggestion about having too much to do, and it becoming overwhelming – make a list of all you want to accomplish. Each day cross of 3 (or 2) items and get them done. Soon it’s all over. Same thing! Two buckets a day! I love it!
I’ve been lax with my garden this year. Partially because, well, nothing grew! I had 18 roma tomato plants and only 2 produced. Even the onions (and I had over 150 plants) didn’t grow. I don’t know what was with this year and the weather, but it’s not like previous years. Lets hope next year will be better. On the bright side all my potatoes produced. Had 5 varieties.
I often break my large tasks down into bite-sized pieces. It’s the only way I know to approach them. And I pretty much always have a to-do list. I remember back when my kids were home and I was working full-time at a very challenging job, sometimes at the end of the day I couldn’t cross of anything from my list. Sometimes I’d then write down what I actually did just so I could cross it off and feel some sense of accomplishment. 😉
I use the same goal for yard work! Depending on heat levels and personal motivation, I may adjust from buckets to wheelbarrows, but steady progress has been great!
I have similar goals for weaving and exercise 🙂
Clearly great minds think alike, Diane. My wheelbarrow is BIG, old, and hard to move around. At times I do my two buckets twice, if the first two were easy or if I’m in the zone.
Good start, it looks to me!
I’ll let you know how it works out, Alma.