Lazy or Overwhelmed?

Me - Sarah Canning - Fall 2010

Sometimes it just feels like life is moving too quickly. At other times life is moving soooo slooowly! These days it is a bit of both. The weather is lighter and spring has sprung. The light rains are good for the land and we are moving right along. I feel like there is so much to do and nothing to do it with! Oh well, I suppose it will all happen in due time.

I planted some of my seedlings for my garden about a month ago and some are coming up. It is time to transplant those to bigger pots and get them to do well before they hit the ground. Other seeds don't seem to be doing anything. We purchased all organic and heritage seeds and they don't have as good a return as genetically modified seed but we knew that and I am sure each year will improve. We also planted some of Len's mom's seeds from about 20 years ago but they don't seem to be doing much... maybe seed can go bad?

We have decided to fence in a garden about 125' x 25' and put grow boxes in it. This way it will be a bit easier on my back and I can put topsoil in so that I have less weeding to do. I am going to try some of the "square foot gardening" methods I have read about to decrease the work and improve the yield. Len is going to purchase the fence posts and wire tomorrow and start putting those in with a neighbours help before the ground hardens up too much. Then we will schedule the barn raising. There is so much to do! 

Of course we still have bedrooms to do and the little "coffee shop" to put in. I really would like to see bedrooms up by summer. It is so hard all being on the same floor, there is little privacy and tension does tend to build up. It looks like we just sit on the computer or our beds, but there isn't many other places too sit at this point, so that is what we are left with. The coffee shop will be fun, but work, for me. It means getting up early, not going back for naps, baking and being perky! Damn! Oh well, I can do it - it is for the summer only!

Of course in the midst of the garden, keeping house, caring for kids, running a coffee shop, baking for Farmer's Market and working 2 days a week, I also have a web design business to put time into. Busy? Yes! I guess this is why time feels like it is flying by. I am excited to have the animals come - of course I have to earn some more money to buy them! I love watching chickens just wander about their day, pecking away. I know the bats will be back soon, but the upside there is they keep the mosquitoes down, so I guess that is good? I also hear they leave great leftovers for gardens!

I do tend to feel overwhelmed and anxious and a little out on my own. I miss having friends to have coffee with and visit with, but not in the way I would have thought. For the most part I am enjoying being out here and alone. I do worry that I can easily shut myself away and putter through the day, never leaving my yard, let alone my house some days.... No, I am not becoming an agoraphobic but who knows, it could happen!

So now it is Wednesday and I am home until 6pm when we are off to the last month of dance classes for the year. I need to clean the house, do laundry, bake and finish up a paying computer job. I then need to shower, make dinner and get the kids to dance to arrive home and rush to bed by 10pm. Thursday is my big baking day to prepare for the Friday market. I do enjoy going there and seeing the people who have started to become regulars for my product. It should pick up soon with tourists and more people coming out in the nicer weather so I will expand my product line. I have decided to really stick to the breads since there are other sweets and cookies for sale at the market - I shall develop my niche!

The goal of summer in our bedrooms does not look good but I have to magically make some money appear and who knows? It could happen! Look at this weeks federal elections? Crazy things do occur! I need to finish paying for our dog, buy some goats and come up with chicken feed to pay for the birds.  Of course the kids are growing and need clothes.... More to do, less time to do it and the clock is ticking....Can you hear it? Or is that my stressing heart beating furiously? Have a great day - it is time for me to get my butt moving! (or head back for a SHORT nap!)

Don't forget to pick up a copy of Synergy Magazine in May/June if you are on Vancouver Island for the second installment of my article. I will post the link here when it is posted on line since it doesn't seem to work to add the document to the blog. If I figure it out I shall let you know! Now, go have a productive or lazy day, you decide!