Wonderful glorious espresso (Image by Mark Prince, CoffeeGeek.com, 2006 - released into public domain for Wikipedia))
Another short blog post on topics I can write about in between longer, better-researched and more satisfying articles. On this coffee break, did you know that some maintain that the Italian word for coffee (caffe’) originated from the name of the Ethiopian or Abyssinian region of Kaffa, where coffee consumption first came to be widely practiced — based on the apocryphal goat herder noticing his goats prancing about after munching on coffee beans. More likely, it is derived from the Arabic word for coffee “Qahwa” or Gahwa”, and then filtered down into European languages. Both the Ethiopian and Arabic coffee ceremonies are pretty cool (subjects for future blog posts) In any event, espresso sure is wonderful. Other examples of 101C coffee breaks can be found here and here.
Most of last week we took some spring break vacation, working out at the country hacienda.
Mrs. 101 was painting and fixing and feathering the nest, and I was outside doing garden stuff. Replanting trees, excavating, weeding, mulching, mowing, composting. chopping, sawing. Everything but planting. All in between interruptions and other little projects.
The days were ticking away to Sunday, and I still hadn’t planted the nursery-bought onions, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, strawberries, garlic, kale and broccoli (this year is not one for self-started seedlings).
Doing everthing but planting. A little composting, a little weeding, prune this tree, round and round. Well, planting is highly time-sensitive. Miss this week’s window, and you’re just one week closer to the dog days of summer, with tomato bloom-killing high temperatures.
It occurred to me why I was putting off the planting.
Building the frames for the raised beds, mulching, and mowing are all activities with a short-term goal horizon.
Mowing the front two acres, for example. Fire up the lawn tractor, get headphones and a cigar, and after an hour, done! You have a concrete result. Same with eradicating invasive bermuda grass. Each ripped-up rhyzome has the finality of accomplishment. Done!
Planting is uncertainty itself. There is no guaranteed outcome to the risk of plant placement and grouping. Is this new location good for the broccoli? Don’t know. How will these seedlings like this new bed. What about the strawerries? No idea.
I realized at some point that part of this rank procrastination was due the lack of a defined plan. I normally have all zones mapped out aforehand, seedlings ready to deploy from their clear plastic totes (not unlike Higgins landing crafts at D-Day).
Last season's seedlings, ready to storm the beaches
This year, no seedlings. No plan. No charts. And therefore, no action.
Getting things on paper concretizes the uncertain. Good planning commits to a course of action. Without commitment, everything is ad hoc. And planting sure is commitment. Once in the ground, it’s not likely to move.
And as with gardening, so it is with personal finance. Paying off this and that little debt, saving on this coupon, cutting the cable bill. All good actions, but in the big picture, just white noise activities. Best to have a plan. An investment strategy or philosophy, a budgeting plan, a retirement goal. Commit.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading and following along. More gardening and personal finance to come.
101, I have an article request: talk to me about lawns with low water requirements – buffalo grass, fescues – especially ones that can deal with a 6 month drought annually (Bay Area). I’ve got a massive evergreen in my front yard too (the frontlawn itself faces southwest), so I think I’ve got to drop some lime and mix shade and sun fescues to pull it off.
Any hints?
PK recently posted..The Roth IRA Movement
Hey PK – I don’t know if that that’s the subject for a whole article (wouldn’t want to put Aloysa to sleep). One approach in California is sticking with native ground cover or grasses, and not try anything that needs a whole lot of water. Buffalo grass I think is native to the Northwest. Yarrow is another ground cover that does well in the Bay Area, as an alternative to turf grasses, but it won’t take a lot of traffic (think stepping stones).
Low mowing is also not so very good. It stresses the grass and stunts root growth. I have a neighbor who regularly scalps his front lawn down to an inch or so, and the waters the heck out of it. “High” mowing is better. Try this article from Paul Wheaton on organic lawn care.
I love the picture of coffee. Made me thirsty. I almost could smell it.
Are you going to fullfil PK’s request? It might put me asleep! 
Aloysa @ My Broken Coin recently posted..My Mother Was a Mail-Order Bride: The American
Would not want you to fall asleep, Aloysa, especially when reading this blog!
I agree,
Making concrete plans and sticking to them is the key to make impossible things possible. There would be times when it feels that plans are not working and would never work. Dont listen to your mind then, keep working.
One more thing, my Dad is very fond of Gardening. It seems to be very relaxing to me too. I would love to have a living like
I with Aloysa on this one. glad you made it a two part post. I’m reading with my morning kahawa. That’s the swahili word for coffee and very close to “Qahwa”
no surprise there as Swahili is a trading language with a very strong Arabic influence as the Arabs have been trading and slaving up and down the East African coast for millennia.
no matter what you call it, coffee is one of life’s great blessings!
jlcollinsnh recently posted..How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part IV: I become a Landlord.
I love the planting/financial planning analogy. I’d use a similar one “back in the day” (I’m soooo hip) when clients would ask why we were using a certain strategy…. I’d explain that in farming, you plant in the spring and harvest in the fall because it’s successful. Using stocks for short term goals is like planting in the middle of winter–better hope for a big long hot streak.
AverageJoe recently posted..Estate Planning for Really Smart People
I love gardening. I always feel that it’s spiritual as it connects my soul to mother earth. And, it’s healthy too as it give me a great deal of exercise. It gives you pleasure to eat your home grown veggies.
Shilpan recently posted..7 Habits to Live Happy Life with Less
Small post, but great advice! I have been working hard to pay down debt and save money, but I think I have lost sight of the larger picture, which may be why I am lacking motivation. Time to go write down the larger goals. Thanks for the motivation.
Melissa@PersonalFinanceJourney recently posted..5 Ways to Save on Interest on Student Loans
The ultimate goal/want/need requires commitment. The mechanics of how we get there is what gets done in incremental small steps.
I get stopped on the ideas. If I could get to the plan, I’d get to completion, but everything just sort of stops these days. I might be bogged down in the ugly rain though.
Andi @ MealPlanRescue recently posted..4 Reasons Your Kids Hate Vegetables
Hi Andi – having a plan could be a hard step. Sometimes, it’s a simple matter of finding a convenient and/or suitable place to write down a to-do sheet.
Years ago I hit on a way to organize by using a week-at-a-glance planner from Lett’s of London (model 32Y) to be exact. To-do lists, meetings, personal notes, doodles, phone numbers, performance review notes, it all gets jotted down in the this planner agenda.
A colleague uses legal yellow pads. Another a double-entry accounting ledger. Yet others use online task organizers. The method boils down to individual preference, but the concept remains.
Hear hear! I totally have to see where I’m going, but then things kind of go on semi-auto-pilot. I’m switching it up this year though by trying for a 10% return that I meet month to month. Kind of like dirty marketing timing, but different.
Well, maybe it is dirty market timing…
Jacq recently posted..Stuff I read this week
Maybe dirty dollar-cost-averaging?