What a year! It just flew by and here we are already at the mid point of January…. Ugh! I know I’m a little late to the whole “reflect on last year” party wagon. But better late than never; right? There’s so much to think about when reflecting on last year’s garden. Like most people I tend to focus on my failures. I didn’t get the harvests I wanted. Why? Because I didn’t MAKE time to weed, to water properly, to fertilize at the correct times, to even get my monster tomato plants trellised properly (the longest one was 8 feet long!). That’s just the tip of the iceberg! And it’s a very BIG iceberg.
But this methodology just doesn’t seem right. I mean, we’re all busy. Many of us have jobs, family, pets, sports, hobbies…. It all takes time. And whether we’re trying to be Super Mom, Super Dad or just a Super Human Being; everyone has their limits and sometimes other things just go to the way-side. I’m definitely no different. This past year found me travelling more for my job, a bout of depression from losing my first horse I’d ever owned and trained-my best buddy Mr. Gus, and then hockey started in September, which is a major time sink.
Even with all the trials and craziness of this past year, all my failures, all my disappointments…. I’m changing my tune. I’m going to “flip the script.” I’m going to focus on all that went well. All the things that I’m grateful to have experienced this past year. I want to reflect on all the things I tried; whether I succeeded or failed. Because as Benjamin Franklin said about creating the incandescent light bulb; “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that didn’t work.” Good words to live by both in the garden and in life.
So what good happened this year? What blessings occurred? What am I grateful for? LOTS! First, the harvest that I got was good. We harvested potatoes, onions, apples, strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, pumpkins and some monster tomatoes. I got lots of fodder for the chicks in the form of cucumbers, over ripened cantaloupe and leftovers from the watermelon patch. I had great farmhand helpers this year; our kids. They helped me till, weed and harvest all sorts of goodies from the garden. Our chickens grew big and tasty, as well as, keeping us in a steady supply of pasture eggs. Our horses kept the fields mowed nicely and provided entertainment and riding lessons for us all. We learned new skills like pruning our apple trees and trapping gophers. The boys even started a little side business of trapping gophers for the neighbors! I like their entrepreneurial spirit!
With all the things I’m grateful for, there are things I’m going to do different. I plan on redo my strawberry beds with ever-bearing berries and straw/hay mulch. Second, if you’ve seen my raspberry videos, I’m definitely trellising those this year. Also, I’m going to try a different method to trellis my tomatoes since the heavy duty cages didn’t even come close to standing up to my monster tomato plants last year. And lastly, I’m going to install drip and soaker hose irrigation to deliver the water more precisely, which will reduce water water and cut my irrigation time.
With all these ideas, I’ve decided my mantra for gardening in 2019 is EFFICIENCY! To work smarter, not harder. This way I’ll have more time for everything in my life: the farm, the garden, the animals, work and the most important thing of all… MY FAMILY! I just love this life and love the fact that our children can grow being closer to the food we eat, the land we farm/garden and have a more simplistic life…. full of frogs, snakes, four wheelers, wildlife and fresh country air.
So when you reflect on last year; try focusing on the good… not the bad. Try “flipping the script” and writing a story based on all the good that happened and all the fun you had. Set goals for this year’s planting and if something doesn’t work out…. try again. Because it’s not a failure… unless you CHOOSE to stop trying.
HAPPY GARDENING!