As I am closing in on the final posts of my 31 days of living homegrown, I wanted to mention something important.
I recently had a discussion with a group of writers about perfection in our writing. When we write magazine articles, blogs or even TV shows, we usually only showcase the best (most perfect) parts. As writers, we write about many of the things we have been doing for many years. But we didn’t become good at it overnight. And usually when we showcase it, we are sharing our secrets or tips on how we figured it out.
Apple Crop #Fail
I think sometimes when we are sharing our information with perfect photos, it can look like we never have failures. But we do! Lots of them. It can take a lot of trial and error to get to the point of sharing.
So there are failures.
I don’t know anyone who does this sort of thing who doesn’t occasionally fail.
Listen…I’ve had beloved chickens die, corn that never got to “knee high by the 4th of July”, failed batches of jelly (I just called it syrup!), disastrous videos and complete crop failures in my homestead (many times actually!).
Of course we don’t want to fail because it can be expensive, but don’t let yourself think that failures are a complete waste of time.
When we fail, we learn. We can all learn by sharing our mistakes with each other too – sometimes more than sharing the successes. Don’t you think?
What happens when you rush.
It’s a Journey
Just remember that perfection is NOT the goal in homesteading, gardening or even life. This whole process is a journey. And as the old saying goes, it is the journey that is the important part – Not the destination.
Besides, the destination changes.
You might start off thinking you want to just be “organic” and soon you find yourself striving toward “sustainability”. And later “self-sufficiency” and before you know it, you are going “off the grid”!
Baby steps…baby steps…
That’s the beauty of it. We can change our mind and change our goals at any time. That’s what makes this journey so great.
So, don’t ever feel that you have to be perfect. I don’t. I just want to be on the next step on the path. Thanks for letting me share my journey here with you.
Tell me…What sort of failures have YOU had???
This post is part of the 31 Days of Living Homegrown. Sign up for my newsletter (weekly or monthly) so you don’t miss any of the inspiration and resources I will be sharing for living local, fresh and homegrown!
About the Author
Theresa Loe blogs here about taking the garden full circle while striving for a more local, fresh-from-the-garden lifestyle. She is a TV producer, video host, freelance garden writer and a wrangler of chickens and children. (Not necessarily in that order.) For more information on these topics, you can subscribe to her free monthly newsletter.
Theresa Loe is the award- winning Co-Executive Producer & Canning Expert on Growing A Greener World TV. She blogs here about Living Homegrown®, local and fresh-from-the-garden. 
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Such great words of wisdom from a real do-er! Hey, and sure I started a bunch of brassicas indoors under lights to get a jump on the season, but if I don’t pot them up soon they’re gonna become compost instead of an early crop. All of our best intentions sometimes turn out to be only that — an intention. Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you Robin for stopping by. I think I will add to the end of the post asking people to list what is there biggest failure. LOL
Failures…. Oh boy a favorite topic of mine, pulling away the veil. I’ve lost crops of potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, cabbage and more. I’ve had a hard time growing zucchini and I still have a hard time growing carrots. I’ve yelled at my kids to give me time in the garden, and I’ve abandoned the garden to other pursuits. (Both garden failures of a kind.)
I’ve messed up my composting and messed up my timing. I’ve had blight on the tomatoes and scab on the parsnips and bugs in the apples and even one year worms in the peas.
And yet still I go on because, for as long a list of failures as I could make, the list of reasons to keep growing is a hundred times longer. Juicy grapes, my kids eating raspberries by the pound right off the cane, apples so crisp they shatter as you bite them, lettuce as soft as a lambs ear, tomatoes that taste like savory sunshine and kale that becomes shockingly sweet after a frost. Those are just a few of the more hedonistic reasons to keep going and keep growing. The health and social and environmental and financial reasons would require more room than I should really take in your comment section.
Wow Erica – You nailed it with: “…for as long a list of failures as I could make, the list of reasons to keep growing is a hundred times longer.” I think so many of us feel that way, even when everything seems to go wrong.
Thanks for your honesty. That is one of reasons your blog is one of my favorites. You are always so honest and open there. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to comment here.
~T
I am still NEW at many gardening, after only 3 years my list of failures is LARGE. Last year I told a friend that I am convinced that many gardeners are like gamblers: you hear about all the success and not the losses
THANK YOU for the honesty!!!! Last May I lost 15 trays of seedlings when I left Michigan and went to Massachusetts for our sons Graduation with his Masters Degree. Came home and replanted tomatoes and cucumbers 4 times thanks to groundhogs, bunnies, and squirrels. Three rows of electric fence slowed them down BUT not completely. Today is the last of day of February and I have 5 trays of seedlings in my backroom sitting on an old electric blanket HOPING for a better yield than last year. THANK YOU AGAIN for the honesty!!!!
I love the comparison to gamblers! YES! That is it in a nutshell. LOL
Losing 15 trays of seedlings would probably make cry. But I think I would go for it again as you did. Gardeners are very determined and the fact that we don’t give up is what makes gardening fun.
Thanks for stopping by!
Totally agree. I would add that you should plan on failing. In any given year, something is going to go wrong. One year tomatoes, the next year beets. Grow a variety of things and your pretty much sure something will also be OK. It’s the old wisdom… don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
I’d also add that you can steal victory from the jaws of defeat. I planted a bunch of apple trees several years ago. I researched the varieties that are considered the best and selected several heirloom European varieties. After planting them, I discovered that these varieties are ones that require a “High Chill” factor – They are not supposed to produce fruit in climates like mine that are fairly warm in Winter. I was pretty sure I was going to have to uproot the trees and plant new ones that are low chill but I decided to give them a chance. Guess what… They produced plenty of fruit. Defeat into victory. Sometimes you just get lucky.
Excellent advice Mark. We certainly need to diversify! And I just love it when we get lucky…
T
What a great post! Thank you for reminding us of this. Our most recent fail is maple syrup. We tapped our trees and were so excited to boil down our syrup, but didn’t have a big enough pot so it took forever. Then when I finished it inside, my thermometer wasn’t working so I boiled it down way too far and it ended up being like sticky tar! Not the smooth, luscious syrup I was expecting.
I am glad we tried it, though, because I just wanted to see if it was something we’d be interested in doing each year. For us, I don’t think it’s worth it. We eat a lot more honey than we do syrup, so we are getting bees this spring! I hope we don’t have any major failures with beekeeping
Oh man! After all that work! I can see why you would not want to do that every year. Hopefully your bees will go a little smoother. My friends who keep bees say they are pretty easy. No major fails for them yet!
~Theresa
My failures are what I call “Unicorn Crops”–the ones I’ve kept trying to grow from seed despite that they never thrive in my Seattle garden. They’re like little unicorns that I chase–three varieties of okra and even a bell pepper from Seed Savers Exchange called King of the North. You’d think there’d be a chance for the bell pepper, but–no. I have finally surrendered.
I love the term “Unicorn Crops”!
Yes, I suppose we do have to surrender sometimes. And with a name like “King of the North”, you must have tried the most likely variety. I think gardeners are a perseverant bunch but if the writing is on the wall that it is not going to work, I guess we just have to move on to new pursuits. I had the same experience with Rhubarb. It just doesn’t work in my small, hot garden. But my space is better used for…well, I guess bell peppers. Go figure!
Hi, Theresa! I envy you for being able to grow bell peppers! Have you been able to get them to to turn red? (I imagine that takes awhile.) Also, have you ever tried growing okra? The plants have beautiful flowers that unfold like poppies and they have oak-tree-looking leaves. I was able to coax one to flower despite it being a tiny plant. Now I’m mulling over the idea of a tiny hydroponic greenhouse the size of a phone booth with a solar panel–for year-round cucumbers and basil.
Well, they don’t grow great here because I live near the coast and it does not get super hot. But just 1 more mile or so inland, they grow GREAT. In my coastal garden they grow VERY slowly and I end up picking them small. I do get read ones for for some unknown reason, the purple and brownish ones (my kids love the weird colors) turn color faster and stay small. They look really cute in a salad. I grow them for for fun than for production.
I have not tried to grow okra but mostly because I don’t care for it. They are lovely in the garden. Does it need heat?
A mini-solar panel greenhouse would be awesome! What production (and joy) you would get from that! I hope you can have one someday.
Yes, from what I understand, okra requires heat. I happened to have the plants in a full-sun spot, so they actually sprouted a few lovely flowers. Okra is fabulous in this Guatemalan chicken soup recipe I make with lime juice, cilantro, chili powder, sambal, black beans and barley. A dear friend went to Guatemala for a photography seminar and learned from the women in the village how to make the soup, and then I just improvised and added barley, okra and sambal. I learned a method to get rid of the excess sap from the pods so it’s not gross. If you would like to try the recipe, I would be happy to share it. It’s the ultimate comfort soup. I’ve nicknamed it Guatemalan Pho.
The recipe sounds great. Is it pretty easy to make? I’m sending you an email. Thanks!
Hi, Theresa!
I just emailed the recipe to you in a Word document. This soup is easy to make and it’s SO rewarding and filling. If you can find fresh okra where you are, it’s worth buying a pound or two. The little bit of sap that’s left in the okra after parboiling thickens the soup along with the barley, the lime juice and zest and cilantro are fabulous, and the avocado bits make a perfect garnish.
Janet
Thanks so much!!
You are very welcome–enjoy!
)
Janet
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