To Do Lists by Rhythm

   Most people have to do lists, some are self imposed others are work imposed and yet some have to do lists dictated to them by nature. If you have a garden, raise animals or run a farm you know what I mean by nature dictating your to do list and I find myself in this place at this very moment. The weather is turning a bit warmer now and the pressure of things that need to be done is starting to build. There is the pile of raspberry canes, old flower canes, last years Christmas tree and winter debris that must be moved from one of the garden plots before it can be tilled. There are other garden plots covered with the winter's accumulation of rabbit manure and now spouting unwanted weeds that also need to be tilled before all the years vegetables can be planted.
    Nature has a rhythm of its own that we must bend our to do lists around. The rabbits have their own rhythm as well, there are so many weeks the does are pregnant, so many weeks they nurse the kits and so many weeks between being bred again and the weening of the kits. We are learning those rhythms slowly but surely and we are making our to do lists based on those rhythms. I can see the trees beginning to bud and leaves are slowly unfurling in their bright greenness, lawns are turning green too and weeds are making their presence known. I see all the signs of an impending growing season and the pressure is starting to build as my to do list grows and the urgency of getting it all done grows ever greater. The time to breed the does again is here and so is the time to move all that brush and debris. The plans for the weekends are being made and a truck has been arranged for to remove the brush pile, plants and seeds are ready for planting and the pressure builds.
    There are bags of mulch for the blueberry and raspberry plants still sitting in the back of my Jeep and the pressure builds some more as I see weather forecasts of an uncooperative and rainy Saturday. I have to remind myself that there is still time yet and nature's rhythm of planting is not yet in full swing. The weather is still swinging to the colder side at night and there are still four weeks left until we really need to plant like crazy but the to do list is still growing. As I look at the list and then look outside at what needs to be done I calm myself and try to attune myself to that rhythm that nature sets, everything goes at its pace and everything grows as it should when it should. So I'll take a deep breath and relax and settle into that rhythm that I've determined to become attuned to and this weekend I'll breed the rabbits and next week the brush will be gone, the ground tilled and if I'm lucky potatoes will be in the ground. I'm a product of the Baby Boomer generation we get things done whatever it takes but I've found that many of my generation have lost that smooth quiet rhythm. I hope the longer this small farm goes on and the dream of a bigger farm is fulfilled that my to do lists will settle into the rhythm which  Kathy and I are learning to love.
   

Patience

    Kathy and I had done some planting of a few cold weather plants such as lettuce and onions in the gardens the first week of this month and the weather was warm and beautiful. We had gone to Home Depot for some potting mix and a few other small supplies and noticed tomato plants and other warm weather vegetables being put on the shelves. I commented that it was pretty early for those plants and Kathy agreed but also noted that eager gardeners would probably buy and plant them since the weather was so nice. I agreed and we headed home to do some planting knowing full well that we might have to cover our plants with a floating row cover to keep them from getting nipped by the frost. I have to admit that I was also getting that planting bug, as I turned over soil and smelled fresh earth I felt a twinge of urgency about getting more in the ground.
    There is an old farmers guide to planting in New England and Connecticut in particular that no warm weather plants such as tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and the like shouldn't be put in the ground until after the last full moon in May. There is certainly a validity to this guide and when the weather seems warm enough and the ground workable it serves as a warning to resist the urge to be impatient. We live in a society of instant gratification, where faster is better and the slow moving are left to the wayside. We have microwave meals, fast food restaurants, drive through coffee lines and we rate our experience based on how fast our wants are satisfied. Farming is different, farming requires patience something that we are quickly losing touch with today. Patience once considered a virtue is being replaced by convenience and instant gratification. When you are in touch with your little plot of land and you watch the angle of the sun and the effect of the rain on the soil you learn patience. You patiently watch for the signs that its time to plant and you wait and wait and wait. You learn to wait when you want to plow forward, when you want to till, plant and reap in the same instant.
    This past Wednesday made me thankful for the patience we have learned. After a day and evening of much needed rain the weather turned colder Tuesday night. Weathermen talked of snow in the northwest hills and I had taken some comfort that this weather wouldn't likely affect us in the southeast part of the state. I walked down the stairs after arising Wednesday morning and saw a covering of granulated ice and snow covering the ground, the lettuce in pots and the onions in the garden and I thought about those old farmer guidelines and took comfort that we had adhered to them. There were probably some tomato plants purchased the day we saw them and most likely other plants that shouldn't have been were put in the ground. No matter since more can be bought again and paid for again and that will the cost of impatience. We want to get planting, we want to get things growing but we have learned patience and we will wait until the  last full moon in May so that we may reap what we have so patiently waited to plant.

Progress in Inches

Kathy and I were off from work for a few days last week, so we took advantage of the change in the weather. The weather has turned warmer now and finally the chance to turn over soil and plant green things has arrived. Thursday we visited Salem Herb Gardens to see what they had available for planting, as we walked through the greenhouses we looked over the few things available and remembered that truly warm weather is still a month away. We picked up several varieties of lettuce and some bok choi to plant in containers on the patio and in the back garden plot all of which are cold weather plants that can still withstand a little frost this early in the season. Kathy started renewing the containers spent soil with an addition of new potting mix and fertilizer and I looked out over the other garden plots and panicked. I saw lots of debris left from our harsh winter and the piles of recently trimmed herbs, raspberry canes, shrubs and last years' Christmas tree. I thought about the upcoming growing season and how much work there was to be done and how much progress we would have to make in a short amount of time. The day ended with lettuce planted and me thinking about all the things that needed to be done all at once. Our society has trained us to believe that we need to do everything now, we have to have everything now, we have to have the big play or the big gain now or we're not in the game. We applaud the fast break slam dunk, the long bomb touchdown, the breakaway one on one goal and admire those who accomplish them and we forget patient waiting and planning. Saturday came and I remembered the onion sets in the basement which had been sitting in a cardboard box waiting for this day. I raked back the leaves covering that area of the garden and saw black soil and wriggling worms and smelled the freshness of a  newly exposed plot of ground. I settled into the chore and turned over the ground with a pitchfork breaking clods into pieces and raking the soil smooth inch by inch. Now the time to put in the onion sets had arrived and I measured an inch on a small stake marking it with a piece of tape to make a hole in the ground in which to set each plant. Then I measured five inches between each plant as I set them in the ground and slowly I made progress inch by inch, plant by plant and it occurred to me that this is what farming and life is about. The debris will be taken care of inch by inch, the ground will be turned over inch by inch, the rabbitry will have a new hutch added inch by inch, the position of the sun will move inch by inch, the plants will grow inch by inch and we will make progress toward our dream inch by inch.

Anticipation

Anticipation is a funny word because it describes so many things, if you don't believe that look up the definition on line. One thing it can mean is a foretaste and that happened this February during a particularly cold and snowy winter. The weather has been tough this year for a lot of folks but if you raise rabbits or have gardens it seemed like the never ending winter. The rabbits who will normally breed when coaxed wanted nothing to do with each other, oh sure the buck would try but those does knew this winter was bad and that having kits during this stretch would be a bad idea. Then it happened a little three day thaw in the middle of a never ending cycle of bone chilling cold and days of stormy weather. I had resigned myself to waiting for balmier days of March before even trying to breed the rabbits again or thinking about spring planting. I dared not even dream of furry little kits and green things as I looked out at ice and snow covered garden plots and rabbit hutches being warmed by heat lamps. Then there it was a little warm up and as I felt the warmer air and the effect of a now higher sun the wheels began to turn and quick calculations were going on in my head. A rabbits gestation period is 28 to 32 days and my mind started figuring when I could anticipate the kits arrival and their probably of survival if I bred the does that weekend. I thought it would be worth the chance, after all the end of March can be warm and those rabbit mamas have lots of fur to pull to keep the babies warm. In a quick calculation the decision was made and the does were introduced to the buck and in three very willing visits the next generation of kits was conceived. It was like the foretaste of spring, like the anticipation of things turning green again and the taste of fresh lettuce and greens on my tongue. The weather turned bad again but no matter the rabbits and I had our foretaste of spring.