The best gardeners (and farmers) are the ones who have put in the reps, made the mistakes and learned from them. On Fridays I will (and I invite you to) share the things I learned the hard way so we can learn from and support each other. There is no such thing as a perfect garden.

Psst , don't tell anyone....although it sounds super fancy, with all the stuff I do, it really doesn't take a ton of time. I have developed systems and rhythms that reduce both the time and mental load, so a lot of it runs on mental autopilot while I am half awake and thinking about other things. My planting list for this week took less than 10 minutes to do. (Except the houseplants). Which is why in February I break it down week by week what I need to plant for the season. Then each week I just look at the list and do the small steps. It is easy enough to be able to do even if my life/ADHD is super challenging that week. My 100+ houseplants take about 10 minutes per week to care for. The 20 rabbits now only take 10 minutes a day (total) to care for (except for breeding stuff). Systems and rhythms are my biggest strength. They mean I can keep going when I am sick, or busy caring for family members, or just really distracted. The concept of permaculture is an established set of 12 steps to build systems that are efficient, reduce inputs or waste, and sometimes run themselves. It was originally for ecologically based food systems, but the sequence applies to medicine, families and business as well. What is one task in your week that you wish you had a better or more streamlined system for? What is one system or rhythm that you have developed that you are really proud of? Image of tulips blooming in my yard from a few days ago.

The goslings got to swim for the first time today. Afterwards I put them back in their old tote to let them dry off. Absolutely amazing how fast they are growing.

Agnes is due to deliver her first calf sometime in the next few weeks. Between March 7th and March 28th. Put your guess in the poll below. Person who gets closest will get a few packets of my favorite seeds. I'm guessing March 13th because I will be gone the whole day... 😂

Before you get swept up in the Reels-inspired "new thing", do a quick check on how many mental "open tabs" you are currently running. Then: Automate, Eliminate, Delegate. A lot of these actually take less time and mental bandwidth to complete than it does to keep that tab open. For every "don't forget to..." item we have running in the back of our brains, there is that much less energy for our main task at hand. This is something I had to teach myself over the last two years, and I can't begin to tell you how amazing it is on the other side. This doesn't happen in a single evening, but it is a habit built over time. If it takes less than 5 minutes, just do it. Identify if this REALLY should be someone else's task (unlearning people pleasing). Does this REALLY need to be done? Either this week, or ever? How much of our list is self-inflicted to live up to someone else's values and priorities? These are the fastest things to close out when you realize they weren't even your tabs to keep! Is there a way I can do it once and not have to do it again? We live in an amazing world of software! Is there a way to structurally set it up that it will take half as much time from here on out? Is there a sequence of tasks that I can sandwich this in, that will make it happen on auto-pilot? I will touch on automation in more detail in April. The point here is to look for ways to finally close out the mental tabs once and for all. Because you have a lot to offer the world, but it is hard to get there if you are only able to give 10% of your focus. You will be amazed at how much better you will sleep, and how much less caffeine you need at 2 pm. What is ONE mental tab you are going to finally close this week? I'm cheering for you!