Shorter Days, Longer Lists?

     This past weekend was, as predicted, absolutely beautiful with cloudless skies and abundant warmth. We broke the record on Sunday for a high temperature for the date and so I had the opportunity to linger on the patio enjoying what will likely be the last of significantly warm weather this year. Kathy and I were able to enjoy a few glasses of wine and relax on the patio because there is much less to do in the gardens now. That is at least how I justified my inactivity but the shortness of that beautiful weekend reminded me that there is a lot to do. I like to make lists because they help me get my thoughts in order and keep my priorities straight. If you visit my house you will often see a piece of lined note paper with number running down the left margin sitting on the coffee table in the living room. Kathy likes to poke fun at me because " the list" is always if front of me even when I'm trying to relax. My boys might tell you I'm a workaholic but I would rather characterize myself as determined and it is this determination to do well that drives the list.                                                       I have found myself thinking lately that my list should be growing shorter because there should be less to do. The growing season is just about done, but we have yet to have a frost so plants are still growing. That means that if I want the late harvest plants to do well I still need to weed around and water them. These two chores have been at the top of the list all summer and I still can't strike them off the list yet. I walk around the garden and hope for just another week of good weather because then I should be able to harvest snap peas and a whole bunch of habenero peppers. If the weather holds then I'll have to add brining and storing jars of hot peppers to my growing to do list. I had resigned myself to doing little or no hunting and trapping this year due to my recent shoulder surgery but I'm progressing faster than I'd hoped. If my progress continues I might have to add scouting my hunting and trapping areas to the list.                                                                            We have built the chicken coop, the does have been bred once again, I inspected the rabbit hutches which I'd hoped to add to our farm, we made iced cream using some of our freshly picked raspberries, many of the spent plants have been cut to the ground so I can check those things off the list. I have also determined that I want a bigger area for the chickens to free range in so I can now add a larger run with a fence to my list. The hutches weren't what I'd hoped for so now I'll add that search to my list. There is a lot to do before the snow flies and the ground has frozen into an unworkable state and the shorter days just don't help. I was hoping the the shorter days would shrink my to do list but the opposite seems to have happened. Then when I look at the numbers on my list I can see many have been crossed off and less have been added. I know there will always be numbers added to my list because that's the nature of the farm. Paces and gears change on the farm as the days shorten and the list changes too. I look at my list and I have just about the same amount of numbers in the margin that I always have and so I can relax just a little. I recognize this fact and can be happy with what we've done on our little farm this year; it seems the shorter days only seem to make the list longer. Oh there's a lot more to do but at least I can enjoy our accomplishments because I love this little farm project and I won't be a slave to the list.