Tom Carey: Garden chores

Garden chores, unlike the one-off projects I live for, are those multifarious tasks repeated by necessity. Approaching drudgery, chores can inflict a sense of boredom to the most initially inspiring commitments. With a cumulative result hiding over the distant horizon, this humdrum work can start any day with dread. After sighting an inspirational corporate office poster touting the millions who would be happy to replace me at my job in a moment’s notice, I decided to review and respect my chores with their initial enthusiasm. (Note to my editor: I do not consider this column a chore!)

Getting the day started, eyes still blurry from sleep, we string together a number of lifelong chores that thankfully do not require full alertness. Hopefully, by the time traffic is an issue, our no-brainer type chores copiloted us to wakefulness. Now at work, we face more chores, but now with a fully engaged brain stretching for something new and exciting.

More than multitasking, I try to build routines that once set in motion produce on their own choreographed schedule; think like a chef cooking on four burners while the bread is baking in the oven. Keeping chickens requires numerous daily chores. Tossing the hens their breakfast of scratch grains and layer pellets draws their attention while filling their water buckets and collecting their eggs. On an upper level of consciousness, observation of general flock health and coop maintenance (and keeping the raccoons at bay) is layered over everything else. If my dance is in rhythm with the hens, I won’t waste too much water nor crack too many eggs.

My day really begins when I start the assigned projects that create the conversations we share. But some mornings do not even commence until after lunch, chores consuming highly productive early and cool hours. Glimpsing for ways to automate, combine, simplify and eliminate mendacity give suffering through chores a whole new opportunity to earn productivity points. Remaining focused on planning efficiency instead of the tabloid headline separates innovators from the merely employed. Guests to my gardens frequently comment on how we appear to accomplish. With respect to my apprentices, minimizing time lost to chores and focusing on fun projects keeps everyone motivated and productive.

Planting a growing bed is only truly completed when the space between rows is mulched with a layer of newspaper and mushroom compost. As a stand-alone chore, spreading mulch quickly becomes monotonous. By vertically integrating the mulching into the whole planting project, soup to nuts, a routine chore is accomplished and an extra dose of self-esteem is warranted for a job well done.