Outdoor chores

One of the reasons I've always dreaded the chore of weeding is that it's a chore you can never complete. I can go out to the yard, stoop down and weed for 30 minutes to an hour, get up and pass about a million other weeds on the way back into the house. Not very satisfying to someone who likes to make a TO DO list and check off the items as they're done.

Now the kind of chore I prefer would be something like, say, cleaning the kitchen. I can walk in, begin cleaning, and 30 minutes later have clear counters and floors and walk out hearing the hum of the dishwasher and feeling a sense of accomplishment. Done.

For several years I just didn't weed. Mark did all of the weeding. And then last year when Mark had his accident, and injured his hands, I had to do it. I wouldn't say it was my favorite chore, but I readied, planted, and weeded the garden, and things grew! And I derived a bit of satisfaction knowing that I had done it.

Mark's hands are better this year, so I could let him do it all, but when the kids are in the yard (as they frequently are this time of year), it makes sense that I'd do something.

Knowing that I like to have that sense of a job completed, I've finally figured out a system that works for me. I sat down and listed all of our outside chores, and then broke them up into manageable chunks and divided them up on different days of the week. I came up with this:

Outdoor Chores

Monday
 chickens: food and water
 garbage out
 recycling out
 weed dahlias and strawberries
 water gardens

Tuesday
 chickens: food and water
 garbage out
 slug bait
 weed herb garden and back beds (pumpkins, squash, ella’s flowers)
 water gardens

Wednesday
 chickens: food and water
 garbage out
 weed front flower gardens and walkway
 water gardens

Thursday
 chickens: food and water
 garbage out
 mow lawn
 weed back half of vegetable garden (sunflowers, corn, and beans)
 water gardens

Friday
 chickens: food and water
 garbage out
 weed front half of vegetable garden (carrots, lettuces, tomatoes, etc)
 water gardens

Saturday
 chickens: food and water
 garbage out
 miscellaneous weeding (hydrangea bush, beneath apple trees, etc)
 clean chicken coop
 water gardens

This has helped tremendously. Now that I've broken the weeding into smaller jobs, I don't mind it so much. And I know that if I miss a Monday, next Monday will come around soon enough and it's still being done more regularly than it was before. And best of all, when Mark gets home in the evenings, he can just rest and play and doesn't have to worry about the weeding.