Monday, March 9, 2009

Hello, My name is Brad and I'm a Procrastinator!

It’s the internets fault of course. Whether it is square foot gardening, aquaponics, sheep, composting bins, composting worms, cattle, quail, rabbits, greenhouse vegetables, bees or anything else, I can find more information than I could possibly read in my entire lifetime within one Google search. Yet, read and plan is all I do. I have grown tons of strawberries in my plans, as well as sold a thousand head of grass raised livestock in these same plans.

Just when I think, I’ve got all the information I need I see one more website. I find where one more person does it a different way. I can’t just pull the trigger. I have to follow one more link. Then it's next year and still no rabbits. This fall I’ll put in the apple trees. I’ll study the weather patterns one more year before I put up the greenhouse. (It’s a greenhouse for goodness sake, if it needs to be moved, I can move it) The agony is killing me.

Planning is out of character for me. By nature I am a reactor. I can quickly take control in a stressful situation and accomplish tasks. I am a military man and have learned well from all my training. In other words, I excel with the “ifs” as they appear, it’s the “what ifs” that get me second guessing what I’m doing.

So no more Mr. Planner from now on, you can address me as Mr. Doer! Or probably more accurately “Mr. Don’t Know What He’s Doing”, but our little homestead is going to start growing, and I’ll be looking for peoples help along the way.

Y’all Come Back,
Brad

4 comments:

Carolyn Evans-Dean said...

I love to educate myself through reading on the internet. It is so addicting...

I believe that I have finally completed my plan but it is so hard to just wait until the weather cooperates so that I can get something done. So to pass the time... I read on the internet and the vicious cycle begins all over again as I discover something else to follow.

Here's to a year of accomplishment and to hoping that we can move away from the computer!

Brad said...

It seems like I'm scared to commit to anything. Somewhere I lost site of the big picture and got lost in the details. I forgot my goal is to feed my family with the best homegrown foods we can produce to trying to turn a profit with everything. The quality of our efforts and just living the lifestyle will be my "profit".

Carolyn Evans-Dean said...

That is a great way to look at things! I have a habit of trying to make sure that everything can make money, too. The truth is that there IS more to life than money. I'd really like to be able to show some of the kids in the city where food comes from. Just like producing wholesome food, teaching kids has a value, too. I just can't put a price on it.

Walter Jeffries said...

Procastinate? No, no, I'm just awaiting full information. Never make a decision before its time! :)