Urban Homestead Morning Routine

Hey y'all!  I live on a small urban homestead in Georgia.   Today's  forecast high temperature is 100.  Ah-July in Georgia!   With this in mind, I was more thorough in this morning"s homesteading chores.

Filtered and boiled previously harvested rainwater for personal care.  (No rain in today's forecast!)
Watered ground garden
Watered and added mulch to my patio garden
Filled bird baths and feeders
Checked my 5-gallon bucket worm bin's temperature, added ice.  The bin was already at 78 degrees at 7am - inside the house!  Ah- July in Georgia!
Jotted down brief record keeping notes.

For a healthier, thriving homestead, I should be this thorough daily.  Especially the record-keeping bit!  However, these simple tasks took me more than 1 hour.  So I'm frustrated.   I'm still tired from the more intense yard-work and gardening chores of yesterday.  Or maybe I'm just just hot and hungry.  
Nevertheless the time spent got me thinking about other urban homesteaders.  How thorough are you in your daily upkeep of the homestead?  How long does it take?   I understand your answers depend on the size and scope of your urban homestead.  
Encouragement needed.  So thanks in advance for your thoughtful  replies.

I spend about a half hour before work doing a quick garden walk through with my coffee,  checking on the rabbit, and taking care of the dogs and cat, and another half hour after work when I first get home to take inventory and think about what needs to get done.   I'm useless in the heat so we go back outside for anywhere from one to three hours in the late afternoon/ early evening when the yard is shady.   That is when I do any "projects" like taking apart pallets,  watering if needed,  seeing if there is anything to harvest,  moving the rabbit to/from her grazing pen,  doing any planting or fence building, etc.   I'm usually to bed pretty early,  by 8pm most nights.    Weekend mornings are more leisurely time in the garden  hanging laundry,  etc.  while it's still cool out.

Hey Denise, hang in there!  Cooler weather is coming...someday!  

I try to do as much as I can as early as I can - I tend to rise fairly early anyway, but once 9ish rolls around, it is usually getting too hot!  Then I try to stay out of the sun/heat until the sun goes behind the trees.  I figure why suffer, even if it means some things go undone until cooler days.  A few weeds don't get pulled, projects don't advance as quickly as I might like - but I don't get heatstroke or make myself miserable, either, and that probably helps me to stick to it in the long run.  

Love your art, by the way!

Oh yes, it's starting to be summertime here in the south. Please don't let it get you down. I sometimes think of how nice it is not to have to deal with several feet of snow every winter:) It seems to help a little.

I try to prioritize. Some things like animal care are not optional. Those chores get done first thing every morning without fail. Sometimes things are urgent. For example a tree falling & breaking a pasture fence or a big indoor water leak. Something like that gets done right now now matter what the conditions. For lower priority tasks during the heat of the day I work in short bursts & take as many breaks as needed. I don't use air conditioning so I take full advantage of an ornamental shade tree in the garden area to observe & enjoy nature. (I call it the outdoor office under the watermelon eating tree) After dinner when temps cool down is when I usually do garden chores.

Sounds like rain is about start. Outdoor impromptu showers are very refreshing events this time of year. Probably not good with neighbors or HOA's though.

Apple for your beautiful artwork!

["A few weeds don't get pulled, projects don't advance as quickly as I might like - but I don't get heatstroke or make myself miserable, either, and that probably helps me to stick to it in the long run"]

Thanks Artie!  I do want to stick to homesteading.  I really enjoy this more thoughtful way of living.
The message I'm getting from y'all is PRIORITIZE and stay flexible in your routine.  
So... I don't have to try to do it all?  Everyday?  Perfectly?  YAY!

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!

P.S. Glad y'all like my art!  Its a homesteading perk!

Hi Denise, I've been thinking about how to streamline my routines too.  Permaculture is supposed to be a bit initial investment in labor, and then just simple maintenance afterward, right?  I think I might not have this concept quite down yet myself, as I'm still putting in a lot of labor, despite supposedly practicing permaculture for the last six or seven years.

One of your tasks is watering your patio plants.  I do this too.  I fill a watering can from the rain barrels and go to each container individually.  They all have a bit of mulch (some more than others) but most of them still need watering every single day.  Even if I was dragging the hose around, I'd still have to do them one at a time.  There must be a more efficient/time saving way to do this!  I'm going to research and think about it (I'll take suggestions but can't implement anything that isn't free).

I think one of the most labor intensive daily tasks I do is vegetable preparation and cooking.  Don't get me wrong, I love this time of year when we're starting to overflow with food, but I can easily spend an hour harvesting, washing, peeling, or otherwise preparing vegetables for eating.  I'm also working on this, by slowly moving away from foods that take a lot of time to prepare;  for instance, I'm not growing peas for fresh eating--I'm growing them for dried peas, which are much easier to pick and shell (put them all in a bag and hit with a stick).  I'm growing snap peas instead for fresh eating.  Same with curly kale--I've exchanged it for a smooth leaf variety which is much easier to wash bugs off.

I wonder if we can think of any other ways to make our routines quicker and easier?  My 9 year old does the morning chicken care, and my husband feeds the ducks (though I have to change their water--one at a time again).  Can I mulitask?  Set up systems to work automatically, or with minimal input?  I need some permaculture design :)

My hot summer morning rut routine
up by 3 or 4am
turn on the whole house fan to pull in some cooler air
lots of coffee
online french class and permies and facebook
cook breakfast and anything else we need for the day
out to scythe at dawn...sometimes as late as six am, but quarter til works...
haul the cuttings in a wheelbarrow to the garden.
water something
put the pee bucket on something
sickle around something
pick blueberries
pick blackberries
cut greens and pull turnips
walk around with a cup of tea and see what else needs doing before the sun gets too hot
back inside at 8am (many times done for the day outdoors)
turn off the whole house fan and close some curtains
cook something in the crock pot on the porch
more french class
more permies
laundry...wash and hang out on back porch
wash greens
do dishes

all is subject to change if it rains....or if my back hurts, or any number of variables

Salut Judith!  J'apprends le francais aussi!
I guess you can say I'm learning French and Permaculture!  But back to the topic -  I like the way you intertwine your permie's morning routine with other aspects of your life.   I guess that is part of being a permie - its a mindset for daily living.

One of your tasks is watering your patio plants.  I do this too.  I fill a watering can from the rain barrels and go to each container individually.  They all have a bit of mulch (some more than others) but most of them still need watering every single day.  Even if I was dragging the hose around, I'd still have to do them one at a time.  There must be a more efficient/time saving way to do this!  I'm going to research and think about it (I'll take suggestions but can't implement anything that isn't free).

Hi Galadriel!  
I agree the watering those containers is definitely time consuming.  At times I'll use the garden hose.  But the plants seem to do better with rain water - so its me and the watering can!  Maybe you can start a thread on this topic.  I would love to know a better way too!  

Denise Massey wrote:Salut Judith!  J'apprends le francais aussi!
I guess you can say I'm learning French and Permaculture!  But back to the topic -  I like the way you intertwine your permie's morning routine with other aspects of your life.   I guess that is part of being a permie - its a mindset for daily living.

Bonjour c'est une langue merveilleuse...

When our kids were home (and for a number of years my mom lived with us) those responsibilities kept me more organized.  Now, the important things get done, mostly, and life is much more relaxed.  I still try to simplify and weed out unnecessary tasks that after letting them go look more like busy work than anything else.

We collect rain water and hand water many things with it, plants in pots and blueberries first and then whatever is begging for moisture in the gardens.  
It is slow to carry but it goes faster if we don't hurry and just try to enjoy the lifting and walking early morning meditative movement.

Our small (just under an acre) town lot feels so manageable compared to the forty acres we moved from...

Do you have fans? I think by afternoon our house is into the eighties and we joke about those days that are three and four shower days...just cold water and no soap is so refreshing.  Soon I would like to have an outdoor shower like we've had other places we've lived...being able to cool down makes a huge difference in what one can accomplish over the summer in the south...

I think a super early start on the day is key....and in the hot part of the day, a no guilt nap in front of a fan a reward...or a movie...or ice cream...or a swim in the creek.....

Dang Judith, can I have a sip of whatever energy drink you are drinking?  You get more done by 8 AM than I do all day!  ;)

Artie Scott wrote:Dang Judith, can I have a sip of whatever energy drink you are drinking?  You get more done by 8 AM than I do all day!  

Haha...it's all small stuff for short periods of time and the cooking overlaps.  My attention span is such that I need that diversity and growing things offer that.

Judith Browning wrote:

Do you have fans? I think by afternoon our house is into the eighties and we joke about those days that are three and four shower days...just cold water and no soap is so refreshing.  Soon I would like to have an outdoor shower like we've had other places we've lived...being able to cool down makes a huge difference in what one can accomplish over the summer in the south...

Yes fans certainly help!  Especially since the house's air-conditioning unit went out this past May.  So now we have two small window units.  But our house still registers middle 80s before noon.  I cool down using refreshing rainwater kept in a large pot under the bathroom sink - My secret stash!