Motivation for Springtime

by Kate
Living the Frugal Life

I don't know about you, but I'm a fundamentally lazy person. I like winter, because it really justifies a lot of hanging out on the couch in warm comfy clothes, with a good book, a cuppa tea, and a cat or two. I know as a gardener that I am bound by blood oath to adore spring, pine for it, and burst into song when it arrives. But the truth is, I secretly dread it, just a little. There is so much work to be done. And even though all the work on my task list is stuff I want to do, that I decided should get done, I still find it overwhelming to the point that I sometimes wish winter would go on just a little longer.

Don't get me wrong. I still do (at least some of) the work. But in this between-season time, when the weather is warm enough, but spring has not yet put forth her gorgeous show to compensate me for getting outdoors, I need serious motivation. Frankly, I find that motivation hard to come by. Am I alone in this? Are you self-motivated? Or do you need external things to inspire you to do the things you want to do, but just can't seem to work up much enthusiasm for sometimes?

Sure, getting things done even when I don't feel particularly motivated does bring satisfaction. And that satisfaction is a species of motivation in itself. But recently I've found myself watching some of my favorite online videos, because they really do get me fired up. I thought I'd share some of them with you, in case you get a similar case of the blahs when you contemplate your spring to-do list. (They're listed in decreasing order of runtime.)


A Farm for the Future

This BBC show features Rebecca Hosking returning to her family farm in Devon. After the petrol price shocks of 2008, she confronts the challenge of reducing the farm's dependence on oil in order to keep it running and viable in a future of increasingly scarce energy. She explores the history of British agriculture and considers what other British farms have done to wean themselves off fossil fuels.




River Cottage Urban Smallholding

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, a British food activist, helped a small group of wannabe smallholder families get their project started against great odds. The story is quite moving and is told in five short clips.



Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Will Allen, Growing Power

Finally, here's a clip from the movie Fresh, showing the amazing Will Allen, an urban farmer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, co-founder and director of the community food project, Growing Power, and recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.




Watching any one of these videos can get me out of my easy chair and out into the garden, at least for a little while. So what inspires and motivates you when you can't seem to motivate yourself? Please share in the comments.