Elderberry trees are getting leaves and popping up everywhere telling me its time to pot some up! Irises are peaking through the dirt... Buds are forming on the blueberries and grapes...Snow peas are starting to grow more rapidly!
Farm Season: Spring
March still has some cold weather coming back this week but all the new life does brighten my outlook a lot! Makes me want to really jump start ALL those new garden projects I got rolling around in my head!
As well as get some things in the ground and many more seeds to be started inside! So exciting!!!!! But at the same time, I'm kinda lazy from the easy winter!!
To see my previous garden checklist for the months you can check them out here Garden Checklist
To see my previous garden checklist for the months you can check them out here Garden Checklist
Spring is so busy on a farm and here in the southeast, it can be gone in a few weeks. Ok, it's not officially spring yet but when I see daffodils I call it spring! It helps get my brain back into the busy farming 'flow' after winter. Which can be really hard sometimes! Even for a gardening lover like myself. I'm very excited about all the things I have plans to do.. but actually doing them takes me some time to refocus and a few motivational tricks.
Things that help motivate me to get my farm hustle back
Motivation trick 1: Bringing out my easy low tunnels to transplant hardy vegetables in helps get me going! Normally I use simple plastic and hoops but this little fold out tunnel is so easy to set up and it works great! Less effort to set up than pvc hoops, rebar, and wrestling with plastic! I'd like to buy more of these! You can find different brands on Amazon and greenhouse shops online.
Motivation Trick 2: Getting excited to prep beds for early greens and peas can be hard because it's still cold but all the work I've put into my compost and topsoil helps motivate!
Good topsoil can take years of work! Using raised beds helped me accelerate that though! Being pesticide free, chemical free helped along with good compost added every year and every season! So Finally the earthworms found my soil acceptable to call home! With every turn of the broadfork, lots of these guys were hanging out now.
Seeing earthworms is most definitely a motivator to compost and get my beds ready!!
Motivation Trick 3: Ordering new gardening Gloves!!!
One of my new most favorite garden tools!!! These waterproof gloves!!!! I love them.. I go through garden gloves so fast and they have never truly been waterproof but these are! In my top 5 garden must haves! I also got these at Amazon.
Motivation Trick 4: Getting out last springs garden journal and log sheets of planted seeds and amounts harvested!!
I always keep a garden journal type book but its often a hot mess at the end of the seasons with ragged sketches and notes. It's more like a creative recording than die-hard record keeping.
I love keeping my garden journal but I also keep more structured log sheets for quick clear references. I keep logs on how much I planted, amounts harvested and how much I canned or preserved in other ways. It works wonderfully to motivate me to get out there, cold on not and get everything ready! I seriously surprised myself when I started record keeping like that. I had no idea I harvested so much food before I kept records. Very, Very Motivating!!
Motivation Trick 5: Livestock work! My barns by this time are a hot mess and getting piled very high! It can be very hard to get back in the routine of cleaning out barns (or coops or whatever livestock you need to clean up after) To help get me motivated to get out and clean up I start by cleaning out the feed room and going through equipment. What I don't need I put it up for sale and use it to buy new equipment I do need! That's usually the first step to getting me prepped to clean out the barns! I then start with the small stalls and work out toward the main areas. Adding to the compost pile usually helps keep me shoveling away because I like to think about all the vegetables it will grow!
Motivation Trick 6: To help me get excited about the added livestock chores spring brings I print out a new journal! When I had poultry or goats I'd print out new brooder or new milk production/kidding record keeping pages. That always helped me get organized for new spring babies and ready the added livestock chores that come with spring.
Now with the horses and donkeys, I print out a new training journal with health records. If I have a mare or jenny getting ready to foal I'll print out health records and milk production pages for them too. Then I place it all in a pretty binder with a pretty cover!
If you need an equine training journal I have the one I use here.
It has so many extras with it, like DIY herbals, essential oil and herbs for horses guide sheets, health records and more! Equine Training Journal
Picture of Bianca being long lined for her training session a couple of weeks ago.
You can also find more posts about donkeys on my blog Donkeys on the Farm
So if you need an extra nudge to get moving after the cold winter I hope these motivational tricks help you like they help me!
So much to look forward too on a farm! Many times my head is more excited than my body after 9 years of farming so anything helps! We all need extra motivation sometimes!! 😆
You can check out my homesteading pinterest boards for even more ideas Homestead and Horses
Happy days and many blessings for your dream homestead life.
Till next time....
Just want to say, I'm not an affiliate salesman. The products I recommend are products I actually use and recommend because they have worked for me. All pictures are from my own farm, they are not purchased stock photos!
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