Fitting it in

I was running through my list of unfinished blog post drafts, and came across this one.  It had the above title, and then, here, in the body of the text was this and just this:

(Canning)

My intent, back whatever day probably five or six months ago that I jotted down the quick little bit, was to write a helpful post on how I fit everything into my busy days when the garden is pumping out produce and there is all this amazing, wonderful fresh food that needs to be canned or otherwise preserved. But, I obviously never got around to writing more than that one word.

Now, sitting indoors on a real Winter day; a cold, gray, gloomy Winter day, I see that while my intention was to be upbeat and full of inspiring advice, the plain truth of it is that I, and most likely you too, just can't fit it all in.

Good intentions don't always come to fruition. Some of that awesome fresh garden bounty goes to waste before we can get it properly taken care of.  Things come up that interrupt our plans.

I don't know about you, but I'm guessing that, like me, you get a little depressed, a little disappointed, a little hard on yourself when that happens.  No one likes to throw out food that was once perfectly good, but now is spoiled because you just didn't get it used up in time.  No one likes missed opportunities.

There is always so much to do, so much that can be done, so much that probably should be done, so much that we want to do, that we are not humanly capable of doing it all. We have to prioritize, shuffle schedules, and do what we can.

As I sit here, at the cusp of another gardening season, I make notes, make lists:

• how to keep the garden weeded better (MULCH!!), 
• average annual date of ripeness for each crop (why I put the actual month and day canned on the lid of each home processed jar or freezer bag rather than just the year--I can look at the jars/bags and see the date range that crop came in the previous year), 
• better watering strategies for the areas of the garden that don't always get enough moisture throughout the growing season (again, MULCH!, as well as maybe a different type of sprinkler, or at the least a different sprinkler arrangement.)

Weeding takes TIME, so if I can cut down on the amount of weeding needing to be done, I can fit in more.  Watering also takes TIME, whether it be moving hoses and sprinklers to different parts of the garden, or just being around to turn the water on and off at the right times of the day, if I can water more effectively I can gain a bit of time for fitting in more.

Armed with my approximation of what will need picking and processing when, I can then go to my calendar and see what non-food related events are going on at the same time.  I can try to keep my schedule as loose as possible during the expected heavy food processing dates.  Work is a must, but other than that, I can attempt to keep my daily allotment of 24 hours as open as I can to accommodate putting up food to last us until the next years harvest of each crop.

Will there be unexpected events that cause me to stray from my good intentions?  You bet there will.  Maybe its unfavorable weather, maybe its unpredictable family issues, maybe its a too good to resist invitation to spend a weekend or several weekdays camping or kayaking.  Life is never perfect.  I just have to fit in what I can, and hopefully not waste too much.

I also need to remember that I can combat garden waste in a number of ways when my life just doesn't coordinate with keeping a perfect garden and being on top of harvesting and canning or freezing things.

• If I am going to be out of town for some can't miss event, I can ask neighbors or friends if they would like to come harvest and keep for themselves the ripe fruit or veggies while I'm gone.
• If things get overripe, I can see if the chickens (or deer, if I take it to the woods) will eat it.  This way it get turns into protein that I can eat at a later time.
• I can compost it, and once that compost is finished aging, I can spread it over the garden to feed future crops.