Putting Work in Order

I have often struggled with knowing where to start when there is always so much that needs doing. I have learned over the years to make lists, so I won’t forget anything, but I still waver on what to tackle first.

As a wife, mother, farmer (and now grandmother) it is challenging to balance everything that demands to be accomplished. I have often gone to the verse in Proverbs 24:27 to help me to prioritize my list.  “Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that build your house.”  Accepting that Nature waits on no one makes it easier to avoid the mundane chores of housework and laundry if only until the outside tasks are done.  Animals and weather have cycles and deadlines that cannot be ignored.  But having said that if you don’t want a naked and hungry family, laundry and dishes must also be done.

I have found that having routines in place for tasks helps a great deal.  Routines make daily tasks into habits and provide a comfortable structure to life.  We have daily routines, weekly routines and seasonal routines.  Simple things like making sure everyone, including the animals, starts their day with full stomachs is important to having a successful plan. Not all routines are set in stone, some change as the seasons change and some are completely blown out of the water by the unexpected.  But, having a framework to plan in takes a lot of wavering out of prioritizing your to-do list and keeps you from overlooking something until it becomes overwhelming.  It also gives one a sense of accomplishment even when nothing goes according to plan.

Daily: Breakfast together and go over the plans for the day.  Dinner together to go over the day’s accomplishments and challenges.

Weekly: Monday through Saturday, clean one living area each day.  Clean one area daily in the Barns, Shops etc.  Plan one thing to recharge yourself.

Seasonally:  Winter is time for paperwork, planning and rest.

Spring is prepping fields and planting crops and gardens, followed by fence maintenance.

Summer is all about harvesting all the plant life and putting up enough feed and food to last till the next harvest.

Autumn is the continuation of harvest and prepping the gound for the next year.

By breaking these jobs down to daily tasks, no one task becomes so overwhelming that you just want to avoid it.  Keeping up with the cleaning and organizing the time intensive jobs of planting, birthing and harvesting are not such a hardship.