How Do You Get it All Done?

[craftnkids]

I am a wife and mother to 4 teenagers. My husband is in the military and I homeschool half of the kiddos. Between kids activities and farm work I feel like I don't have time for anything, including sleep.
I am just wondering how do you all juggle the farm/homestead chores/upkeep, families and feel successful?
Trying not to whine, just really need some insight into how to do this all.
We are fencing 50 acres for our 30+ sheep, 5 LGD (who keep getting out). Trying to maintain a 1 acre garden year round, adding a greenhouse (that needs to be put up), running one farmers market, and attending another in addition, homeschooling, and part time work. I know it is a bunch to do, but others seem to do it seemlessly. Help me figure this out! What are your secrets to success?
Angela

[Becka03]

reading your post made me tired! I feel lazy!
I am not sure how to get it all done- I know what I let go of- vacumming/dusting/worrying about what others thought when they came over- since they were visiting I figured they wanted to see me- not my house in a perfect manner-
but - then again- you are doing a Heck of alot more than me-
is there anything you can let go of- that isn't a priority? like I know right now I am feeling overwhelmed since it is harvest season- is that part of your stress? cause that would be normal- we all feel it now- hurry up and can can can and preserve and save food for the winter-
I only have a tiny garden/ a 5 acre workshare garden and 2 kids- one of which is in college now-
but here I sit making more work for myself trying to make my own yogurt!

I am sure you will get many replies- you are one busy woman!!! and I know there are many more here that will be helpful- since they are just as busy

[gweny]

Delegate

[idigbeets]

4 teenagers.... should be helping to run that garden and market.

Fencing... use the right equipment and it'll go up quick, what kind of fence are you building? HT, woven wire, stranded?

[craftnkids]

Kids are helping as much as they can - which is a lot, but I still feel like I am not able to give 100% to anything. Probably stretched to thin. We are putting up woven wire with barbed wire at the top. We have already fenced almost 6 acres on borders and cross fenced insides, put in permanent troughs, and water lines on pastures. We also have a year round high tunnel and really need to get our greenhouse put up soon.

[Trainwrek]

Dump the kids, keep the sheep.

[badlander]

No kids here to help. Just DH and myself, and our 4 legged children with tails and 30 acres more or less to take care of. Everything doesn't get done. I've learned in the 5 years that we have been homesteading that what I don't get done today will be waiting for me tomorrow. Also my house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy. I don't sweat the small stuff....I think you get the point. My favorite line to people who drop in and there are dishes in the sink because I have been out weeding the black berry arbor is "pardon the mess but we live here". And hope as I might, those homesteading fairies just do not come out during the night to help out around the place.

Of course you feel stretched thin. I imagine most of us do but that is the nature of homesteading. Stop being so hard on yourself . Right now I have a arbor to mulch, an orchard to mulch, wood to gather and stack, a house that needs fall cleaning, boxes to unpack from liquidating our second home and business, more boxes to move, lawn to mow, apples to process and freeze, windows to be washed, folded clothes to be put away, a kennel to finish building for the winter, chicken house plans to work on....yeah, I feel stretched thin too but you know what? It will get better and little by little I will get caught up.

Hang in there. I bet when all is said and done, you are doing just fine.

[Ozarks Tom]

How do you get it all done?

Simple, you don't. Homesteading is a never ending challenge, and there's always "just" one more project to be added to the list. Time management and prioritizing will help, but some things just have to wait. Don't stress yourself out over the temporarily neglected tasks, you'll get to them when their priority rises from "need" to "necessary".

[Jennifer L.]

Shelve the greenhouse for now. Look at it as a project for next spring, and you can stop letting it bother you. Work with the high tunnel for now.

I see you say you are "trying to maintain." Cut garden down to the size where you can handle it, then cut the farmers' markets down to just one. If you have customers at the one you drop that are loyal, send them to the other market or have pick ups on your farm.

I would put all the extra energy into the sheep pasture right now and get it to a size that will maintain those 30 sheep for awhile. They sound like your major commitment with the amount of work you are doing (permanent water) and the cost of the fencing, five LGDs, and are probably going to be a large income source for you in the next few years. However, while your goal is 50 acres fenced, I'd do about 20 before going hog wild on the whole thing. Then wait a year and see what your market might be and then start doing more. Don't put money into something that isn't going to be making a return for you right away. It's a money saver, and a time saver, and time seems to be your problem.

OK, this will not be popular: Kids' activities are fine, but with four kids you are most likely running all the time. Take a look at the actual number of hours that are going to these activities, and see if it makes sense. Two hours a day may be fine for you, three hours might be over the top but you think you have to do it. I'm not saying to deprive them, but make sure it's a reasonable amount of time FOR YOU to be spending. I get the impression you have no "me" time except work, work, work.

You sound like an amazingly dedicated mother and a very hard worker (a VERY hard worker!). But you need to be easier on yourself or it's going to stop being fun and interesting. Slow down things for awhile to allow yourself a bit of a break so you can think without feeling like you have to be out the door NOW to get things done.

You didn't mention what your DH thinks about things. Does he feel you are working too hard? Does he want the things on the farm that you do? If he is ambivalent, might want to think about that, too.

Good luck. You have a mindset and attitude that will get you wherever you want to go. Just have fun getting there.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Sound like you need a prioritized list.. the most pressing project gets top billing, and stay with it till its done.... and make sure the most pressing project is always "take nap". Once you get the nap out of the way, life flows much easier.

[Ceilismom]

Nobody "does it all"' all the time. At any given time, something has to give, and if a person isn't careful, it might be their health that gives. I don't know how long you've been at this, but I do know a lot of people make the mistake of trying to take on too much at the beginning (or even down the road when they think they've got things figured out) and then burn out.

Take a look at all the things your are doing, and evaluate what can be put on pause while you find ways to reduce the work load on the stuff that is truly important.

Maybe that means the greenhouse has to wait longer than you'd like

or the kids need to switch to a more self-directed form of schooling for a time

or extra-curriculars have to be put on hold

or some part of the fencing project needs to be farmed out

or you trade work with a neighbor so the fencing or the greenhouse, and some project of theirs both get done faster than either of you could do it yourselves

or you look at your 1-acre garden and see if there is a less expensive or work-intensive way to maintain it

or crops need to be changed to something that will either bring in more money for the work put in, or require less work for the same money

or you look at your calendar and determine that there is a seasonal bottleneck (four cash crops need to be harvested at the same time that the school year begins, firewood needs to be stacked, 3 different sports practices begin and the fall calf crop is hitting the ground, for example) that needs to be addressed

or the animals need to be evaluated to determine if: a)they are a good fit for your goals b)this is the right time in your homesteading journey to be raising them c)they are producing sufficient benefits to justify the time and expense and work they require

or the housework needs to be reduced to the bare minimum that you can live with for a time

You will likely find that most folks who appear to be doing it all seamlessly, are actually letting stuff go that you're still trying to do, hiring someone to do an important job faster and better than they could do it themselves, or have found more efficient ways to get the stuff done that matters.

[Whisperwindkat]

When my health was better, I still didn't get it all done. There just aren't enough hours in the day. However, I did get much more done than I do now. The thing that helped me the most was to have a schedule and routine. For housework, I used flylady. The biggest thing that I learned from her and what helped with everything even the farmwork was to de-clutter. I spent a year de-cluttering and the difference it made around her was like night and day. I couldn't believe the stuff that we had accumulated in the 13 years of living here. Once I didn't have to deal with clutter cleaning became much easier. Also, the children help quite a bit. We ran a small CSA every summer and the garden is pretty much my baby. I spend 45 minutes everyday in the garden and I find that keeps it maintained and in good production. The biggest thing that helped there was installing a zone watering system. I could have one part being watered while I harvested and weeded the other part and then I could switch. By the time the whole garden was watered then I was done picking and weeding for the day. Spring and fall are our busiest seasons around here so I have a list of things that need doing before the heat of summer and before the winter. I work on that list one small project at a time. Of course, we no longer have big projects like putting up new fence and such but I still find that this really helps with all those repairs and maintenance jobs. Schoolwork is year round here because there are times during the year that we have to take a break because of canning the harvest or whatever. Kids activities can be time consuming and one thing that I learned was that we have to say no sometimes. Teenagers will run you to death. Or there is a trade off, if there is an extra activity that they really want to do then they have to put in the time in extra chores around the house/farm. With teens schoolwork can be largely self directed. We have a schedule for this also each day. It is usually at a time when I could use a sit down break anyway. During that time the little one is doing her chores for the day. I got overwhelmed years ago with everything and came very close to giving up. What I realized was that I was simply taking on too much all at the same time. Make a list of what needs to be done and work on one extra project at a time. You have your daily things that need doing and then only work on that one other thing until it is finished. You will have a much bigger sense of accomplishment which will motivate you to keep going. If you have too many irons in the fire then you begine to feel like you never accomplish anything. Not good. Build a routine and work with that. Routines make things run much smoother. Even now with my health in poor shape I hold on to my routine because it keeps me going and keep things getting done even though at a much slower pace. I have my winter list of things to do and I know that some of those things won't get done and they aren't that big of an issue to put off til spring. There are always things to be done around a farm. Blessings, Kat

[bryant]

Homesteading is really a big list of things to do, with the acknowledgement that there will always be something that was down on the list that suddenly becomes the most urgent list item. Every day you get what you can done and those items that didn't go to the top of the list for the next day until that something pops up and you have to stop everything to take care of the most urgent item of that day.

Every day we get a lot accomplished on our homestead, but we never get it all done. We feel like we did well when we get the top two things finished on any given day. Some days we get three or four things finished, when that happens, we celebrate super success.

[Queen Bee]

I have asked this very question, before! First ..you are NOT superwomen... you have to realize you have limits! Second..lists for EVERYONE! Even the little ones can pick up toys, put clothes away, feed cats, dogs .. My youngest loved dusting .. so at the age of two she got to dust the tables and the wooden chairs. So what if it wasn't prefect! There are age appropriate jobs for everyone! By the time my kids were in 9th grade they were doing their own laundry..cleaning their own rooms and bath. they had to be responsible for their school work. I no longer hounded them to get up, get dressed, get bags, eat breakfast etc... As a parent it was my job to instill good habits before they went to college. They all played sports for rec. , school and on travel teams. We had a huge garden, a farm and cows 20 miles from our house.. One day, I announced we won't have a garden next year and the cows went to the freezer and to the sale. I hated it but I couldn't handle everything so something had to go...

[Vickie44]

It helps me a lot to think at the end of the day with pride about what I did get done ( instead of worrying about what I did not get finished.) A positive attitude helps me get more accomplished

[lmrose]

My husband grew up on a dairy farm and had one sister and two brothers. The boys helped with the field work and milking 40 cows by hand back then. They helped at haying time and worked in the woods weekends when school was out. My husband fed calves when he was eight years old before walking a mile to school. His sister helped their mother with cleaning, cooking, washing in a wringer washer, the gardening, cooking , canning. Grandmother lived there too and shelled peas, made quilts and baby sat when the kids were little.It was a total family affair to keep the farm producing and efed and clothed.
When we had four children home they also had to help with chores and household things. Now my husband and I do it all. We get up at daylight and go to bed at dark summers and look forward to winter so we can get some rest!.

My Mother-in-law told me once; " Life is designed so it isn't possible to get everything done everyday. You have to choose your priorities." I think she was right.

[Tabitha]

I have told this story before.
Here is what my friend Arlene did. She had her own Realty business, very successful, her husband had his own repair business. They had five children. All turned out to do very well for themselves.
She raised very competent children.
Since she did not know whether she could be home for supper and since family time is important, family time was in the morning. get up time was five.
Everybody made their bed and cleaned their area of operation plus did the chores. That's when things were discussed, cookies for school baked, etc. At six was family breakfast. and not a box of cereal. She bought en masse and the big kids took turns cooking, fried potatoes, Steak, eggs.... By eight thirty everybody had left and the house was tidy. They were used to picking up and being tidy. A mess not made does not need cleaining.
They raised a garden, canned, made wine. One of the boys at age eight got his granma to buy him fifty chicks for his birthday. Arlene did not fall over backwards when they came hme with 50 chicks. The kid wanted them, it was his project. they had a shed he could use and he kept the family in eggs and did a booming egg selling business. He also made himself a zipline, from the top of a tree, out of which he fell.
On saturday everybody got their to do list. Kids would rush in, where is my list mom, I want to get this over with. Her husband could fix and do anything. He built her a winecellar using the Nearing method. The kids were paid so much per rock that they hauled in. Soon the whole neighborhood kids were in on it. the youngest daughter laughs telling how she hauled a rock in her little red wagon at age six and counted her money.
they lived in New York State close to Canada and heated with wood.
When the oldest left home and was in the marines, he wrote: Dear Mom and Dad, I love it here, it is just like home.