Getting Organized: Flower Farmer Style
I love organization. I love spreadsheets, lists, outlines, calendars, planning, filing, and arranging. I love taking a pile of mess, or thoughts, and laying them out in a logical manner. Of course, everyone has their own way, and to each their own. I love big, in your face, color coded reminders. Others prefer a small notebook or even their phone notes. I need something that I have to look at consistently and will be easy to reference at a glance. This has been helpful in my life previously, especially as a teacher. When I became a mother and decided to stay home with my little ones, I initially tried to apply that same system to my household. I thought that my children and home were no different than my cozy Montessori classroom full of small children, at least in the sense that I could plan it all out. Shocker: it did not work!
Don’t get me wrong, I still apply much of my early childhood knowledge to my family, and there’s no way to have five children without some modicum of calendar planning. However, there are no systems in place to keep everything flowing in the way that I’m used to. So many times over the years I’ve told my husband that I know how to organize our lives, I just need the time to lay it all out! I never found that time, as there’s no teacher’s planning hour in my home. My husband suggested on numerous occasions that I wake up early, before the children, in order to do this. I am NOT a morning person, and I’ve fought him on this for years. I’ve agreed to it a couple times, and woken up a handful of early mornings to do yoga. The routine never seemed to stick, and it certainly never led me to a more organized life.
Then came the flower farm. As the idea slow rolled in to reality, I began to lay out a timeline and realized that there were some steps that needed to happen ASAP. This meant think and then act immediately, instead of the thorough planning that I’d like to apply to just about anything. This way of working makes me feel like I’m scrambling. I’ll admit, a lot of the time the end result is similar. This means that I’m capable even under pressure, which is great, but it comes at the cost of my anxiety and nervous system. Well, the flower farm is supposed to have the exact opposite effect! Beautiful flowers make me feel warm and fuzzy, and so do lists and sticky notes! I knew that for my sanity I absolutely had to find a way to get very organized. Not to mention logistically; I cannot expect to run a home and family, a farm, and a flower growing business without it.
I started the only way that someone can, and that’s with baby steps. Just doing something to get started. As long as you can start, the rest will mold to fit the way you need it to. One of my first steps was to organize our office, which was a long over due task. It had a desk, and was therefore technically useable, however the rest was basically a bunch of junk and storage. You could barely move around. So we got it all cleared out and cleaned up! We put up our shelving that had been sitting in wait. One thing at a time. Every day a new little task is completed to continue making it a functioning and comfortable place for us to work. Move the printer and table over there. Hang a picture over here. Now I have a place that I feel happy to be in every day when I work. Which is the next step; work!
I decided that I couldn’t keep fighting to squeeze in hours here and there to complete the hundreds of things that I need to do daily, weekly, and so on. I took a hard look at my day and how I was using my time, and it was obvious that so much was wasted. The next step was to dedicate actual hours of time to actual tasks. What works for our family, at least at this point in time, is unique to us and will be forever changing with the seasons, with age, and with all the other factors of life. For right now- I spend my early mornings with my twins while my husband does school drop off for the older girls, then an hour in the barn, then the day is dedicated to the flower farm until I go to do school pick up!
When trying to plan I always find that it’s easiest to take a broad scoped view of the situation and then work your way in to fine tune the details. I’ve found a way to break up my day and dedicate the adequate amount of time for all of the things that need my attention. How to fine tune that? Well, I started to find that every time I sat down at my desk, or stood around in the barn, I was making a list in my head and trying to figure out how to navigate my time. I needed a way to organize my to do lists and tasks, even within my dedicated hours. First off, I decided that there are some tasks that absolutely need to be done, either daily or weekly, and those need to be divvied up so that I know exactly when I’m doing them. An easy example is grain and hay for the horses and sheep has to be done daily, no exceptions. So that’s first up on my barn chores every day, and after that I need a running list of tasks that can be completed in my remaining time dedicated to the barn. Another example is the different business tasks that need attention, and can often be left to pile up because they are tedious and easy to ignore. These are things like accounting, inventory/orders, social media, emails, succession planning updates, etc.. I decided that every day I would spend an hour of my dedicated business time to these tasks, one for each day. This way I have no excuse for getting behind!
The last way that I’ve found to help me with all of my tasks is using my wall space. I have an entire year of calendar up on the wall with all of my succession planting plans and harvest dates. I have chalkboard walls with seedling start dates, office hours, and content ideas. I have a weekly task planner made of sticky notes, with each task on a sticky note. This way I can spend a Sunday evening or Monday morning planning out my entire week, and I can shift the tasks around as needed. They are absolutely color coded as well! Now, when I sit down at my desk I don’t need to spend twenty minutes figuring out how best to use my time- I just look at my wall and know what I’m doing.
This organization has absolutely spilled over into my personal life, which stands to reason because they very much go hand in hand. However, it is neat to see the power of what these small steps can do, and the how the little habits we create can turn into larger changes. I can say with so much truth that I feel like I can literally breathe easier knowing that I have a way to pull all of the crazy “to-do’s” out of my brain and write them up on my walls where I can see them logically. It’s like the weight of a heavy hat is being lifted off and shelved away, freeing up space for new information. Now the easiest part, which is also the hardest part, is to stick with it and show up to it intentionally every day. I’ve made a plan, and I hope that if I follow it I’ll be rewarded with amazing bouquets of flowers, and peace and warm fuzzy feelings.
