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.