Battling perfectionism
Perfectionism has
long been a character failing of mine. When other kids were
aiming for straight As in high school, I figured I should keep an
average of 98 and above --- 97s were a sign I needed to work
harder. I'm afraid I carried that need for 98% perfection
over to the homestead.
Years ago, Mark
helped me awaken to the fact that striving for perfection results
in missing the true joys of this imperfect life. But try as
I might, I only managed to make about a C- on pop quizzes in that
subject.
While reading and
watching introductory
permaculture materials over the last few weeks, though, I had an epiphany.
My main trouble is that I treat our entire homestead like zone 1,
with all the high upkeep that choice entails. (Okay, I treat
the house like zone 4, but that's neither here nor there.)
Two people can't maintain over
an acre in zone
1 conditions with hand tools and stay sane.
I need to think more
about how to plan certain portions of the farm as zones 2 and
above, but in the meantime, I decreased my stress considerably
with some stopgap measures. The broiler pastures are getting
severely overgrazed since the Starplate
coop is taking
longer than anticipated to finish, but moving at least one flock
into temporary pastures is easing pressure there. We've been
wanting to install drip irrigation for the blueberries and
mini-apples, but it occurred to me that rearranging my sprinklers a bit would allow quick
coverage in the meantime. And I decided most of the woody
perennials are going to get a quick-and-dirty
kill mulch
rather than a real weeding job this month.
The result? I
got an A+ in noticing the sheer beauty and peace of the farm this
weekend. Creek-walking, bathing in the rain, reading while
watching chicks, mini-experiments with silkworms, lightning bugs
in the dark. That's why I moved to the farm, after all ---
I'd better enjoy it!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Yep, I can relate, too. My garden is supposed to be a tranquil, relaxing place. All too often, when I go out there, all I can see is work that needs to be done. I love the work, but I need time to relax, too.
Knowing which spaces are free to hand over to nature (or at least to put on a low-maintenance schedule) and in which places I need to be more attentive, really helps to reduce the perceived workload. My mower has been broken for the past two weeks so that hasn't helped at all.
A multiple benefit. Your time which is always in precious supply and the plant and the soil. The mulch will prevent evaporation and shade the plants roots. The mulch will break down into compost over time. Check the edge zone between the mulch and the soil and you will see all kinds of life at work decomposing the mulch. And imagine the life that you can't see.