MARCH 2024 T0-D0 LIST

       We’re officially a few days into march and I knew I needed to make a To-do List fast before I start falling behind. We’ve got most of our trips and vacations planned for the first half of this year so I need to stay ahead of the game if I want to have a productive and smooth full year. It doesn’t take a lot for me to fall off (thanks unmedicated ADHD) I have to focus on tasks and be conscience of what I’m doing because I will switch from 3 different projects in a day without completing a single one! Setting goals and making plans help keep me on track by allowing me to focus on particular things that I found important enough to make it on my Monthly to-do list. You don’t know how many times I’ve stopped myself from working on a project or craft because i realize the project wasn’t even important at the time so I refer back to my to-do list and get myself back on track. I’ve learned to just laugh at myself and push forward, I use to get so frustrated with myself but in the end that doesn’t help anything so why focus on it right?

       I didn’t complete everything on my February list which is totally fine! If you struggle like I do just don’t beat yourself up, there’s always tomorrow! The tasks I didn’t finish were just moved over to March’s list and hopefully I can complete them this month. With that being said here is March’s to-do list and why;

1) Add soil and fertilizer to garden beds- This is a branch off from one of the tasks I didn’t complete last month. Last month I listed to clean and prep garden beds, I have yet to do that but I definitely won’t fertilize an unclean bed so I’ll clean and prep the bed THEN add new soil and fertilizer. During this process I’ll also do some soil tests to check how I can improve the quality of my garden before I add my plants.

2)Clean out chicken coop- Winters over and while I’ve done minor upkeep with the coop it needs a SERIOUS cleaning. Now is the perfect time to de-winterize and prep the coop/run for the hot weather we get in summer. With days already hitting 80 degrees  it looks like its gunna be extremely hot and dry this summer. I’m sure that most of you have already heard about the wildfires in the panhandle north of us, this isn’t a good start to the year for Texas. Please keep Texas and the people directly affected by the fires in your thoughts and prayers. 

3)Disinfect Chicken Feeders and Waterers- Like I mentioned earlier I’ve done minor upkeep this winter like spraying down the feeders and waterers if they got dirty but Since I’ll be giving the coop a good scrubbing I might as well thoroughly disinfect the feeders, waterers, feed containers etc.

4)Replace water hoses- This isn’t a big project but it’s definitely a pain for me, over winter some water hoses have busted and ripped and some had just been put to their limits over the end of last year. We’ve got 3 working water faucets in the front yard alone and some of the water hoses that need to be replaced are corroded and stuck to the faucet. I’ve used WD40, pipe wrenches and force to try to take them off with no luck. So now it’s down to the nitty gritty which means making my husband deal with it haha! Of course I’m gunna help him but he’ll probably have better luck than I’ve had right?

5) Premix chicken feed- This one is super simple. I’ve been mixing my own chicken feed using layer crumble, chicken starter and some other additives and I just ran out. Last month I was just scooping and mixing the feed in a small Bucket every day because I was at the bottom of some supplement bags so I didn’t have enough of some supplements to mix the ratio correctly in a large storage container like I usually do. But I just went and resupplied what I was low on so as soon as I disinfect the feed storage bucket I’ll premix in bulk again instead of mixing it daily. I know this probably doesn’t make sense but I’m thinking about making a video explaining what I feed my chickens and how I organize, store products soon. 

6)Plan April- I won’t do this until the end of the month but it’s definitely an important task to keep myself on track and afloat.

7)Build Compost bin- Now I’ve had this task on my To-do List for a LONG time but I just keep putting it on the back burner, I really want a structure to hold all the used bedding I’m about to throw out of the coop so I’m hoping the cleaning the coop with help motivate me to get it done, I have a small pile of compost but without a structure keeping it in one place it just spreads out and flattens into a thin but wide pile when it breaks down.

8) Prep for our spring break trip- The last item on this list! We won’t be gone long just a couple of days but I need to make sure the seeds I started and the chickens will be taken care of while we’re gone. I like to make things as easy as possible for whoever is going to be checking on things while we’re gone. So I just need to do some simple prepping and maybe labeling along with doing some theft deterrent. Ever since I had almost my whole flock go missing while we were on vacation a few years ago I try to go the extra mile to make sure that won’t happen again. Luckily the last couple times we’ve been out of town we haven’t had any more incidents. Knock on wood..

       That’s it for my March To-Do list, it seems long but some of the projects will be a breeze to get through. Let me know what you think or what your to-do is for this month! Also are you planning to get chicks this year?! I haven’t decided yet but once I do I’ll let you know how many and of what kind! I hope your having a good first quarter of 2024 and like always follow us on social media for more day to day things and check back often for new updates. See ya! 

                                                                                                     -Shelby Ray

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