Getting our garden in the ground for the 2022 growing season was tough. We battled horrible weather and several failures. It was a good reminder that we homestead because it’s worth the fight.
You’re probably wondering how I got into this mess.
That’s me, trying to get our 2022 garden underway. It was well past 8 or 9 o’clock at night. We had come home from Wednesday night worship early because one of my kids spiked a fever in the middle of Bible class and the other was already snotty. Not one of my indoor seed starts sprouted. And we had to get the garden planted because rainy weather was forecasted that weekend.
You’re probably thinking – why bother? Go buy plant starts. Wait a week for the weather to pass. It’s easy to just try again. And to that I say – there are some things worth taking the easy way out. But food security and learning a new skill are not those things.
Learn from lessons in defeat
None of my indoor starts sprouted. And sowing directly proved to be just as useless. Only 3 of my corn plants sprouted. I had to seed my garden again. I can pause here and say, “that’s it, gardening just isn’t for me.” Or I can begin to problem solve. What was the weather like? Should I change seed providers? Was the planting method I used a good one?
The lessons we learn in defeat can be the most valuable if we let them. So when your seeds don’t sprout or you lose animals to predators, learn from your failures.
The winds will change
If there’s anything living in Arkansas has taught us it’s this – if you don’t like the weather, just stick around. It will change.
The same goes for seasons in homesteading. There are good years, and there are bad years. There are good crops, and there are bad crops. But an even bigger lesson to be learned is this – just because we had a rough start to our gardening season, doesn’t mean the gardening season itself if going to be rough. The winds will change and we have to have faith that we can make the best of our situation.
Take notes
The fun thing about being a lifelong student is that you’re programmed to just keep learning. So with every challenge that came along, I just took notes about what was happening, what we could do to fix it, and what ultimately worked. Now, I have a notebook full of tips I know will work for my family, my growing zone, and my soil. All beneficial to growing my homestead.
Remind yourself why this matters
We started a homestead because we knew we wanted a better world for our kids. A world that means work is what you shoveled out of the garden that day, not what you did in an office. A place where you depend on your family, not on an unreliable program set up by someone who doesn’t truly have your best interest at heart.
Post your goals where you can see them. Remember to dream. And to keep those dreams alive.
Stick around!
Read this post for tips on how to get your chickens through winter. Read this post for tips on things to consider for your next spring garden.
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