[greenfingers]

Am I sad?
I have gone through all my seed packets, put them in alphabetical order and given them a filing card with sowing, planting out and harvesting dates on, so when the time comes I can list it all down and cross reference in forth coming years.  I have also put the same information in a note book, alphabetical of course and can also write down how much harvest quantites I have acheived, record where planted and weather for the year, crop rotation etc.
I started to record it all down last year as it was my first year, but planting become very rushed suddenly as my daughter was getting married in Hampshire and Stuarts, my hubby, brother committed suicide which left him devasted, and more time was lost in May to go down to Kent for the funeral and to sort out his belongings etc.
So all my records went out the window and finish digging my ground for the rest of my raised beds.
The reason for recording all this info like this is to see what I am doing when, and if it does well, which also leads to part 2 of the question.
Am I mad?
I work part time at the moment and have done so for the last 2 years, but since September I have had 2 part time jobs which both run nicely along side each other and leaves me plenty of the time for the garden and my vegetables.  My vegetables this year are going to be twice as many as I have alot more ground prepared now
and all my raised beds are now built.
My second job is working in the kitchen in a nursing home and at the end of November the administrator left one day and did not come back the day after.  My first job I work in another kitchen and the place was closing down for 3 weeks over the holidays but with my shifts I would not be woking there for 5 weeks.
So I said to the Matron in the home that if she needed any admin help that I was free on certain days to help her out for 5 weeks, she started the same day as me in the home and had not interviewd me and therefore did not see my CV, (previous office manager & admin work)  I was serving lunch in one unit and she came and found me and said  the area manager was on her way to see me.  I wondered what I had done. After lunch she arrived and I was duly interviewed for the post of the administrator for the home and was offered it there and then.  (She had looked out my CV and the call and appointment must have been made in less than 5 minutes.)  It was for 9 till 3 which would do me fine as I could still get home by 3.45pm and get out in the vege garden etc for a couple of hours each afternoon, but now the hours have been increased to 9 till 5pm 5 days a week which would leave my time in the garden now less each day.
Like everyone at the moment money is a precious commodity and luxury.  I have agreed to the hours as the extra would help to pay off the debts my brother in law has left us with as he had stolen Stuarts identity and a funeral to pay for etc, but I an really itching to get out in my garden and start growing again and living off the land etc and not eating GM foods,(Chicken feed-Poultry section).
I don't want my time to be compromised in the garden, but I also enjoy working at the home, and I still will be working weekends at my other job because I also love it there too though not every weekend!
I have a feeling that I will be gardening till midnight some nights up here.
Which leads me to the title of this thread am I sad or mad or both

Elaine

[doganjo]

I think you have been dealt a hard blow - my sympathies are with you.  When I lost my husbands (had two - both killed in accidents) I threw myself into work to try to alleviate the pain. It only postponed it, but it gave me the breathing space and the protective curtain from other people's grief that I needed.

I think your idea of keeping records is very commendable and probably inbuilt because of your administrative training and experience.  So chin up, you are neither sad nor mad - you are a very caring, well organised lady, and I wish you the very best for the coming year.

[greenfingers]

Thanks for that,
I am really sorry to hear about your 2 husbands, I don't know what that pain is like but you have obviously picked your self up now and are getting on with your life, I commend you to.
It is still very difficult to make that right balance with work and the land, I shall be working hard at both I think this year.
Elaine

[doganjo]

How is Aberdeenshire doing - my move down here has been a great thing to do but I still miss the North East!  Will be back up on 24th for the Aberdeen (Bon Accord) dog show at Thainstone.  The weather is a wee bit warmer down here!
Annie

[greenfingers]

A sharp frost last night, but we have lovely blue sky and sunshine this morning as well, I have just been out to the chickens and it is still fresh, but we love it.  My parents who still live in Kent came up last week for New year, love the scenery, we walk about half a mile up the lane from us and the view across the Cairngorm National park is just unbelievable with the snow capped hills.  But she thinks thinks that I am totally daft moving up here and talking to my chickens each day when I feed them, but they do talk back.  My dad thinks I have worked wonders with my vege garden and he can't wait to see it later on in the year when all my beds are in use and everything growing.  He has taught me alot as he has always had a vege garden or allotment in the 70's.  He is just at the end of the phone with an answer to a gardening question.
I could not move back to suburia at all, when we had to got down for the wedding and agian for the funeral, Stuart could not believe the M25 and all the traffic, and that used to be his run to work each day when we lived there. 
Elaine

[doganjo]

Have you found the Spotty Bag Shop yet?