My godmother said to me years ago that everything needs a place to live. She went on to tell me that I should not buy anything new unless I have first decided where it will be stored. And. Returning that tool to its designated space promotes peace and harmony. Because when you need it – you can find the damn thing. There is nothing more frustrating than searching a 6 acre garden for a small garden trowel. Or my red handled spade. Yesterday we collected everything back up (that we could find) and returned them to the newly cleaned tool corner in the barn.
My secateurs are still missing in action. But I am optimistic.
My hammers live on my desk where no one can take them without permission. Batteries go back to the chargers. We are getting closer to being ready for summer.
Today I will send someone off to buy another barn fork and a new pair of secateurs.
Black cat is still here though he was not seen during the time I was away. Weird right? Today he came out twice to make his wishes known and had some good feeds.
It was windy and cool. Quite cool overnight at 50f (10c). Perfect weather for animals.
Pop over HERE this evening to see the full length TKG TAKE TEN version of these delightful creatures.
The living quarters for this year’s plonkers (pigs we do not name) is ready. It is extended so they have a play area as well. We will stuff the old stock trailer full of straw today.
I have let the mulberries grow wild in there so there is plenty of shade. (Plus the pigs get to eat the berries). It will be a good crop this year!
The chick brooder has been washed out and the lights tested for next week’s chicks, ducklings and turkey poults.
Today we will fill the root cellar with straw and shift the big pigs over there. It will be a nice summer house for them. Much cooler. And Our John can take his time grooming this field for sunflowers and oats and heritage corn, yellow clover and grasses even wheat. All organic seeds I have collected over the year.
I love planting fields for pigs! There will be a gourmet medley.
The washing machine has broken. It will not start. Which was a bit of a blow when I went to wash my clothes after traveling. Luckily I have a great supply of second-hand shop farm clothes. A repair man has been booked and will arrive on Monday. Until then I will boil the damp tea towels and wash cloths in a big pot with soap, stirring with a big stick, then wring them out by hand and hang them on the line like my grandma did. The rest will wait!
I hope it can be fixed.
Have a lovely day!
Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
21 responses to “Everything needs a Space”
Gosh! Talk about hitting the ground running!!! That you are!!! And it looks like you are already on top of everything! How wonderful!!! My grandma agreed with your godmother! She always said, “A place for everything and everything in its place.” Unfortunately my John must not have been raised with this saying! 😦 It makes me crazy to waste time looking for something. Frustrating indeed!!! It’s great to have you back on the farmy!!! 🙂
Black Cat knows who his friends are 😉
We had a boiler washing machine with a mangle on the side when I was little.
We had one similar but it did not heat the water. That sounds clever.
It plugged into the mains and was a bit like an immersion heater. I can’t remember if it moved or was just a static hot water tub. Essential in the olden days for nappies!
I so agree with your godmother’s philosophy and also totally agree with Dianeandandjack regarding one’s other half. How hard you are working, it all sounds fabulous. Long suffering mother hen, familiar feeling from long ago!
Everything does need a space, and I try to remember to ask that question when I get the urge to buy something else for the house. It needs to fit.
I have to guard scissors with my life and keep a secret stash on my desk because they disappear like socks in the laundry. You really are hitting the ground running!
Do you have a list? I love ticking things off a list and you are moving at top speed! I have never understood why things do not get returned to the places they are designed to live in. Use a shovel to dig a hole and then leave it beside the hole? Is the expectation that more holes will dig themselves if the shovel sits there? Truly illogical and I much prefer tidy logical operations.
Necessarily we use the term ‘boomerang’ when an item is borrowed. It comes back. Or else.
oh yes!! I had forgotten that term!! Thank you!
Love this post…and yes we do need space although my own experience is that the more space I have the more space I use! Cats know everything:)
Same! I think I should go through my larder and take OUT all the things I don’t use..and ban our John from the second hand shop!
I love it:):)
I wish I had been more insistent with the Husband when we got married. I brought a well-stocked toobox on wheels to the marriage. These days I’m lucky if I can track down a rusty screwdriver when I need one. I have resorted to squirreling away the most important basics in a small toolbox in my sewing room and using them discreetly lest they ‘walk’. The sewing room, however, remains inviolate, which means that my good scissors, rotary cutters, rulers, tape measures and cutting mats remain where they are. Or Else.
There was blood on the floor if we ever borrowed grandmas sewing scissors. (She was an milliner). And then, God help us m, used them for paper!! They were huge black handled scissors – heavy – I have been looking for a pair like that all my life.
My study is the same. No one but me in there.
You can still buy them, but they’re super-expensive. And you need to keep them sharpened, and it’s hard to find knife and scissor sharpeners these days. I have a bloke with a grinder in the back of his ute who’ll come to your house. I get things done 15 at a time to make it worthwhile.
It was the same with my mom, luckily our next door neighbor could sharpen them. I recently bought a good pair, only for fabric, they are a joy to use.
I agree, everything needs its own space. Perhaps its a farm thing but we were taught to put everything back where we found it or else!
That photo of the sky, WOW! Washing machines seem to always know the least opportune moment to misbehave. I hope it can be repaired. I love my ancient washer and dryer; they are low (no?) electronics unlike my boyfriend’s set that texts him when the cycles are finished. (insert eye roll) My late father, a teacher and furniture mover in the summer, used to tell me to put things where they should go–decide on a place and then place them directly there. So when I moved many years ago, I had decided on the layout of my furniture and other things which meant moving things once into their spots.
wonderful images!
Oh, hoping your washing machine can be repaired. They are so essential! We have a very old one (probably 25 years old now) and about 6 or 7 years ago the agitator stopped working. Thankfully the repairman was able to fix it. He asked me how long we had had it and when I told him he said that we had been very lucky that he had not been able to fix so many of this particular model. A bunch must have been put together on a Monday! So now every time I put in a load of clothes I say a little prayer that they don’t break the thing. No heavy things go in there, bedspreads, blankets, etc. Off to the laundromat with those. Not only that, at some point we moved the washer and dryer up from the basement and fit them EXACTLY into a previous closet—-no room for error there. So the replacements will have to be the same exact size!