[suziequeue]

Well - got loads done and managed to make a mascarpone lime torte and some more lemon cordial along the way 

[Lesley Silvester]

... the best way I've discovered to relax is to invite another countryside/smallholder over for coffee ... doesn't happen often but so very relaxing when it happens..... especially when they bring cake 

I'll try to remember for next time. 

[Rosemary]

Dan's much better at keeping a balance than me and I know I sometimes p*ss him off by nagging about jobs. Sometimes they aren't even important but I see them and they bug me 

Tim Tyne has a wee article about this in Country Smallholding this month.

Dan makes me take time off - yesterday we went to the Commonwealth Games shooting - not that we're big shooting fans but it's at the end of our road. It was brilliant - we were totally absorbed and Jen McIntosh won silver and we were there 

Tim makes the point that if you jump from job to job, you don't get the satisfaction of finishing anything and the place starts to look like a sh1thole (my word not his  ).

We do plan - I have an annual calendar with all the routine jobs listed for each month - so cleaning out the henhouses is in for 1st and 15th of every month and lambing is in for April, for example. I can then, in theory, assess how much "slack" there is in the month (I also add things like courses, holidays and events that we're committed to). We then have a list of one-off projects - and we try and put the projects into the calendar where there is a bit of slack. It's always being reviewed but it does help and the discussion helps us to decide what the priorities are.

It sounds terribly anal when you write it down but we find it helps.

[hafod]

Some great ideas here. Forcing yourself to have time off is definitely something I have found helps. Although it's a careful balance between enjoying yourself and feeling guilty about all the jobs you could be doing!

I try to plan and write lists as I find it helps (especially the little bit of satisfaction when I can cross jobs off the list) but OH doesn't see the point of lists. He had a day off work yesterday and asked me to help write him a list of things to be done. So I suggested things for the list. We were having a meeting with a potential customer yesterday evening so I said hoover kitchen floor and wipe surfaces. He said I don't need to write that down I know I need to do that. So I arrive home from work yesterday evening straight into the meeting and find...... a non hoovered kitchen floor and crummy surfaces (he often doesn't see the point in using plates either    ). Apparently he was too busy doing things on the list 

[Bramblecot]

Your OH must know mine !

[suziequeue]

Yes - we are going to get a year planner aswell and write key stuff in. I am quite good at driving myself to finish stuff otherwise all the unfinished jobs become even more stressful. Also - there is then an added motivation to finish a job because once it's finished, I can move on to something which seems more interesting.

I am not one of life's completer-finishers so finishing is something that I have to make a conscious effort with…… but I do enjoy the satisfaction of completing a project more because of that really.

Did take a bit of time out today to pop into the local nursery as part of the back garden landscaping project and stopped off at a posh-house gardens place for a spot of lunch.

Beautiful day - must get another wash out………and finish the raised beds………. and finish stringing up the shallots…….. 

[Backinwellies]

My recipe (which I don't use!) to less stress and more relaxing is not to read posts on here ...

.........  I sit down with a cuppa having dealt with many of todays todo's ..... only to read posts on  red mite / fly strike / carrot root fly ...... now I have a whole lot of other things to stress over which I hadn't thought of!!!!! .... off to find the dog  and check the carrots!!!!

[Lesley Silvester]

S We were having a meeting with a potential customer yesterday evening so I said hoover kitchen floor and wipe surfaces. He said I don't need to write that down I know I need to do that. So I arrive home from work yesterday evening straight into the meeting and find...... a non hoovered kitchen floor and crummy surfaces (he often doesn't see the point in using plates either    ). Apparently he was too busy doing things on the list 

Mine is pretty much the same as well. If people are coming, I ask him to run the hoover round (I can't physically do it or I would). He then says he was busy doing something else and wonders why I am worried. "It doesn't look that bad." He's totally blind and makes me so mad when he tells me that something I can see (ie an inch deep on dog hair on the carpet) isn't there.

[bigchicken]

Yip sometime the same with me but I like to call most of it planing. None of my family are really interested in my smallholder they will gratefully eat any produce so I am left to do everything and sometimes it's a bit much what with everything else I have to do but hay it has its good bits too and sometimes it's my haven.

[suziequeue]

Yes - I've kind of given up on lists for my OH although he does ask me for them sometimes but it's too disappointing when I get home at the end of the week to find that he hasn't done any of the things on it despite asking for a list........


But on balance he's a star. On Monday he fixed the pump which needed re-priming after the rainwater runoff tank had run dry (5000 litres!!! ) and he can fix complicated things as he has motor know-how which is invaluable.

[Lesley Silvester]

He has his uses then? 

[fiestyredhead331]

relax?......pffft no!

I just had 2 weeks off work from my 'other job' and spent the whole time cleaning out sheds, digging out foundations for a new shed, repairing the stone wall the goats managed to bring down, dismantling the old henhouse/building the new one......
So its back to work on Monday and still feel like I need a break 

[hafod]

My OH is definitely useful (couldn't do this without him). It's just his dislike of lists that amuses/frustrates me. In my ideal world I would also like a list of the big projects/jobs we keep talking about all costed out. Maybe one of those barometer type things they have in churches when they are raising money to fix the roof etc. ( I realise I'm a little bit obsessive about this kind of thing) Anyway that's not going to happen (lists like that are apparently depressing)so I'll just have to imagine them 
Two days off 'work' for me now and a big list of things to do - so I better get on with it. Just on hear checking the forecast to see if it's worth spraying the pesky ragwort.
I know what you're saying about time off 'work'. I've had a couple of fortnights off recently and I go back and people ask what I've done and although I've done loads (and feel like I need a break) I'm sure it sounds to them like I've pottered about - stroked a sheep and planted some flowers! I often joke that I only go to work to sit down!

I guess what we really need to get all our jobs done (and MAYBE relax a bit) is more hours in the day. So if someone would like to invent a device which is like a microwave but for sleep. i.e set for an hour, feel like you've had 8 hours that would be great........

[suziequeue]

Same here. All my holidays are spent here doing jobs....... but I wouldn't have it any other way.


"Work" is intellectually more demanding but more sedentary. I usually come back to work on Mondays feeling like I've spent the weekend at Reading Rock festival. I'm not really back on all four cylinders until Tuesday and by Wednesday I'm planning stuff for the weekend again!!!

[devonlad]

The most commonly heard line here is "put it on the list". Luckily like others my "relaxation" doesn't usually come in the form of doing nothing. There are jobs that are a pain and not at all relaxing, like feet trimming, topping/ spraying thistles, mending fencing and then the relaxing jobs like picking and shelling peas, weeding the beds and making something out of old paletts. My mother rings every Sunday evening and each week the opening exchange goes like this.
"Hello it's Mum, how are you ?"
" busy" says i