Lessons from the 2023 garden

Like you, I’m embracing the New Year by looking back on the past year and trying to harness all the good stuff…

While remembering the struggles with grace and self-compassion…hoping not to relearn some of the hard stuff if possible.

I love sharing the lessons the garden has taught year after year.

Very rarely are the lessons reflective of growing things alone, and rather are lessons in the bigger garden of LIFE.

You can read the lesson’s from 2020, 2021, and 2022.

And 2023 was no different. Here’s what I learned. Take them with a grain of salt, or maybe see how you can work something similar into your own life.

GET HELP

I told myself for years that I couldn’t afford help. And that even if I could, I liked doing everything myself. HA!

Well this year I was blessed with an intern, Elena, who’s a senior at Whitman College.

And lemme just tell ya, having an Elaine and Elena on the farm was a force. I grew as a business person more than I ever expected — it was so critical — and so well timed.

In 2024, I’ll reach Level 44, and what I know about aging is — just because I can do everything, doesn’t mean I need to — or even that I should!

Read that again - and louder for the folks in back - Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!

Having Elena to help harvest, deadhead, and weed, freed me up to do the other important things for the farm - and in my personal life.

I was lucky to have Elena for 10 weeks. By week 2, I was like — why haven’t I done this sooner?!

The lesson — help helps. And it doesn’t have to be full time, year round help to actually help. As with many things in life, start small, let it compound, learn & adjust. Just think of the things you’ll accomplish.

FIND A FLOW

Having Intern Elena here helped me keep promises to myself. I dedicated an hour a week to really analyze what the week would entail so that I could utilize Elena (and give her a great farm experience).

What this meant was I created a flow that I could rinse, lather, and repeat. Sure, there were slight adjustments here and there, but for the most part, each week had a similar flow.

That alone really made it easy to fall into a rhythm. I used to think being “too scheduled” would hamper being spontaneous. But I found the exact opposite. Now that I schedule things with a lot of thought, we get into a weekly flow and shiz actually gets done. And it’s not a slog, either! Being scheduled actually allows me to follow my whims — to be spontaneous.

Not leaving things to chance — whether its big projects or everyday stuff — means things get done regularly. So when the moment strikes (like a sunny, breezy day), I can take the dog for an unplanned hike. Or my person fave - when it’s screaming hot out - a guilt free nap in my actual bed!

The lesson — find a flow that facilitates spontaneity without sacrificing the goals.

DON’T TOUCH IT TWICE

This is a lesson I learn year & year again, lol.

The phrase is one that my late Mom used to say…all…the…time.

Instead of setting the dirty knife on the sink ledge, don’t make yourself touch it twice. Assuming you’ll actually put it away eventually, lol, Just put it right into the dishwasher first - it really takes only 2 extra seconds.

When rolled out into real life…and the garden…what this looked like this year was scheduling projects for longer blocks of time so that I didn’t have to cut corners later.

For instance, when it’s time to transplant, I had a habit of leaving tools out after I was done. Invariably this meant that I had to TOUCH IT TWICE later, because I’d leave it out. But usually the wind would relocate it, so then I’d not only be touching it twice, I was doing so with double the amount of steps.

The lesson - do it right from start to finish. Otherwise the garden will look like a flea market and you’ll be annoyed.

BATCH IT

Most Sundays in 2023, I batch made breakfast platters for the week. A dozen scrambled eggs, a whole bag of frozen hash browns and a package of breakfast sausage. Took me 2 hours tops, and I always enjoyed a fresh breakfast on Sunday, too.

I’d portion them into microwavable dishes, or roll them into burritos, then eat on them all week long. Clearly this isn’t an original idea, but it was so clutch to my daily life that I just have to jump on the meal plan batching bandwagon.

I’m so glad I implemented it in 2023 because it meant that 1) I never ran myself to empty and got hangry, and 2) I wasn’t eating garbage.

I’m already thinking of other areas of life and business where I can batch to save time and improve the daily-ness of life.

The lesson - batching doesn’t have to be all or none to have major benefits. Starting simple with one meal or one task and you’ll be a convert in no time.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN?

Would love to know what lessons the garden or life taught you that you’re taking into 2024. Leave a comment, please!