Time...Can I Have Some More, Please?

No matter how much time I have set aside in a day to do different chores, it seems there is never enough!
Time management is one thing anyone that wants to be self-sufficient has to learn.
Using time wisely is as important as having the skills to garden or deal with livestock!
If you get bogged down trying to reach *perfection* standards doing one chore, more than likely you won't have enough time to even begin the next!
If you are a homemaker (wife, mother) on top of homesteading or run a business out of your home on top of homesteading, it complicates matters even more!
Sometimes, things just *crop up* when you least expect them (or when you downright didn't expect them) and throws your entire day off kilter!

I TRY  to have a bit of a schedule to my day. It doesn't always work!
My day always starts with my getting up,getting the goats out of their pen and into the big side yard (the *outer pasture*), giving them a bit of grain and a flake of alfalfa hay.
Then I fix breakfast for the fella and get him off to work.
Then, I feed the chickens.
Then I get the kids up, fed and off to school.
After that, what I do is varied.
I have already cleaned the chicken coop and put down fresh straw for them while they scratch away in the goat pen. I intended to come in and vacuum, but got side tracked when I noticed that Someone (name with-held to protect the guilty!) had left tools out and about in the yard, so I stopped to pick them up, wipe the dust off of them and put them back where they belonged. While doing that, I noticed that the compost heap needed to be watered a bit, and while I was at it, watered the plum, fig and pecan trees as well.

I need to rake out the big goat pen later today, but that will wait. I intend to let the chickens scratch around in there for a bit while their roost and nest boxes dry thoroughly. I blast it clean with the hose about once every two weeks. Chickens can get mites and lice, so I keep the coop as clean as I can and dust the hens with DE and also let them out in the yard to take sand baths. A healthy hen is a happy hen and happy hens lay more eggs!

Back to time management....
With livestock, time management seems to be a laughable concept. That goat or cow may decide to give birth just as you are putting in new fencing. That sheep may get sick and require your undivided attention just when you have the time to weed the kitchen garden.
You cannot tell yourself to "have a schedule and stick to it!" It just doesn't work that way.
You have to be able to adapt to everything thrown at you while it's being thrown at you.
Kind of like juggling!
But still, you have to get certain things done at certain times.
The key is to schedule time sensitive chores and then work around them as best you can.
I tried milking the goats in the morning, but with the general daily chaos of feeding animals, the fella and the kids and getting everyone off to school and work, morning milking was an impossibility. The few times I accomplished it, I was exhausted by 8 am.!
We only milk once a day, so I milk in the afternoons now. The kids get off the bus, sling their school stuff in their rooms and then help. The goats get a much desired snack of sweet feed while they are being milked, the kids get good experience and I don't feel like I have been run over by a freight train!
I schedule certain chores for certain days of the week. I try to not pile too much up on any particular day. That way I can do a chore in *little bites* so I am not overwhelmed if something unexpected occurs.
If I get everything done for a day, then I can throw myself into a new project or the next days chores and get a bit ahead of the game.
My scheduling may not work for anyone else, but it does work for me!
(For the curious, I started this post at 8:53 am and am finishing it at 10:20 am. I had to start laundry, hang up laundry, break the dogs up from a fight they were having, start a load of dishes in the dishwasher, and clean the refrigerator.)
How do you manage YOUR time?

Less Than 5 minutes Out of Your Day

Take that time to watch this:

Planting By The *Signs*

My seeds are sprouting like crazy and as soon as the new moon hits, I'll be ready to plant.

A word about planting by the moon and all that..
Some folks laugh at me for planting by the moon. They can go ahead and laugh. It works!
Man has planted by the moon since agriculture reared it's head. Many (primitive) cultures still do it and smart gardeners do it.
When our ancestors used the moon as a guide for agriculture, they did so to ensure the highest yields and the healthiest plants. It wasn't some *new-agey* thing they were doing to be trendy!
You can check a Farmers Almanac :
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening/
to find the best days for planting, cultivating, etc.

Some books that are good to keep in the Homestead Library on the same subject are:

Moon Times  (I have this one...good stuff! It is a bit dated, however and the moon sign charts in the back are out of date)

Raising With the Moon (Next on my *to buy* list!)

You and the Man in the Moon  (which explains how to use an almanac to your greatest advantage)

Guided By the Moon  (their lunar calendar runs out in 2010, but this is still a good book!)

My Irish grandmother gardened, harvested, preserved food, butchered, etc by the *signs*. She did this to make sure her family would have a full pantry and larder. She also made her soap and did other things around the farm under the correct *signs*. This was not considered *trendy* or foolish, ALL the farm wives (and farmers) paid close attention to the timing of their work so as to achieve maximum benefits for their efforts.

If you know any older farmers, see when they plant and then check the almanac. Or try an experiment...plant seeds or transplant seedlings on various days. Note which plants were planted on the correct (optimum) days and which ones were planted on the worst days. Treat the plants the same.
Now see which plants produce the most!
If you do that little experiment, you will soon be convinced of the time-tested tradition of planting by the *signs*!