Finding Our Rhythm

Tomorrow is the first day of the harvest holidays and I think it's a great time to implement a few changes around here. If you read my previous post you will know that we reached a point a couple weeks ago where we ran out of steam. At the time I wasn't sure what we were going to do to get things under control, but slowly and surely the answers are starting to come into focus.

The first thing that has become quite apparent to me is that our family really needs to get into some kind of rhythm that will help us streamline our lives and focus on the things and people we love. I've read over and over how important rhythm is in family life and I guess it took a meltdown for it to sink in.

After examining our lives and doing a bit of research I was able to break our family rhythms down into four sections: 

Life Rhythm
The cycle from birth to death. I don't really have a handle yet on how to pin this down. By observing our birthdays and life milestones? I'm open to suggestions.

Seasonal Rhythm
The cycle of the season of the year. Our family has been okay about being observant of the seasons, but I think we can do better. I'm also planning on dedicating each season to a specific task such as preserving, handwork, gardening and so on. That way we are able to focus on one seasonal task at a time instead of trying to do all the things all the time.

Weekly Rhythm

As the old poem goes,  


Wash on Monday
Iron on Tuesday
Mend on Wednesday
Churn on Thursday
Clean on Friday
Bake on Saturday
Rest on Sunday

We will obviously have to modify this somewhat to fit with our modern life, but the basic idea will be the same. Although, I have to admit that I think this will be the hardest for us to keep up with. I can micromanage the day to day well enough. The seasonal comes naturally. This mid-range rhythm is going to be a bit tougher I think.

Daily Rhythm
We've already been working on this one. I have daily lists posted on our tack board of the things that we have to do in the evening when we come home. I'm going to revise it a bit and add one for the morning as well.

In the next few days I will be dedicating an individual post to each of these types of rhythm with a plan for how our family will keep up with each.

Update

It's been nearly a month since I've written anything. The first week I was absent I was working on another project that I'm trying to get off the ground. The second week I was gone was supposed to have been spent relaxing, but instead it was spent putting out those little fires that life likes to throw at you when you're least prepared. The third week was the breaking point.

After running out of steam Jacob had to go to the hospital and was treated for exhaustion, dehydration, vitamin deficiency and an upper respiratory infection. No great surprise since he works three jobs and takes care of the yard and the animals and helps out with the garden and of course parenting. Thankfully, we have some wonderful friends and family who came to our rescue to help out. However, after all this, one thing has become apparent. We cannot continue to do all the things we do. I'm not exactly entirely sure what we are going to give up yet, but some things are going to have to go. It's going to be a process to see what we can keep and what we have to give up.

I will continue posting here, but perhaps not as frequently. We simply have to get the basics under control before we can put our energy wholeheartedly into any of our projects. Stay tuned folks. I'm not abandoning this blog just yet, but it may be a bit quieter around here for a while.