Lifestyle, Writing, and Attitude: A Year of Weekly Essays, #3

By Leah Cutter

At the beginning of 2020, I started writing articles on Medium. I had originally believed I'd write only one a month, but it quickly turned into a weekly thing as I had so much fun.

 

So I kept writing them, week after week. This is the third year of articles collected.

 

At least for part of the year there's a pattern to the essays, one about the farm, then the writing, then something personal.

 

Come explore something new! Learn about the craft, and business, of writing, DIY topics, as well as living with attitude.

 

Book Three of weekly essays by Leah Cutter!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Knotted Road Press
• Release date: Mar 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9781644703441

Leah Cutter

Leah Cutter--a Crawford Award Finalist--writes page-turning fiction in exotic locations, such as New Orleans, ancient China, the Oregon coast, ancient Japan, rual Kentucky, Seattle, Minneapolis, Budapest, etc.  Find more fiction by Leah Cutter at www.KnottedRoadPress.com. Follow her blog at www.LeahCutter.com.

Book preview

HYDROPONICS UPDATE

As you all know I am no longer posting essays on medium. I have instead moved all of my essays over here to Patreon.

When I announced this, several people came over and became patrons. Thank you very much! I appreciate it.

However, that meant that I started putting pressure on myself to write essays. Instead of this being something fun and kind of off the cuff, it now was IMPORTANT.

Making something important is one of the easiest ways to stop me from writing.

I struggled writing an essay for this week for the first Patreon post. I was trying to write something important. And that was just never going to work.

So instead, you’re getting an update about my hydroponic system.

I first wrote about my hydroponic system back in December 2020, so a little over a year ago. My hydroponic system has expanded since then. In addition, this last weekend we got a new table as well as new lights.

New Hydroponics system

I really enjoy growing plants using hydroponics. The way I have my system set up takes me about thirty minutes a week to replace the nutrients, clean out the jars, and like that. I have several plants in jars as well as two systems. The plants that are in Mason jars get their nutrients replaced every week. I have a deep water system and just a regular kind of Kratky system where I replace nutrients only every other week.

Now, on to talk about some of my favorite plants!

Tall Kale

Tall Kale

This is one of the original kale plants that I started way back in June 2020, so it’s about a year and a half old at this point. As you can tell from the picture, it’s about 3 feet tall at this time. For a while, we thought that tall kale was on its last legs. Then I got new lights. As you can tell, tall kale decided to regrow all along the base of it. I don’t know how long the kale plant will live. I know that kale plants live up to two years and continue to produce leaves the entire time. We’ll see how long tall kale continues to live and be productive.

Old Man Kale

Old Man Kale

Old man kale is actually not as old as tall kale. It’s obviously a different breed of kale. He’s fat and happy at this point, though.

Again, we were not certain how long old man kale would live. However, as you can tell like with tell, old man kale has started producing a tremendous number of new leaves all along the base of it. Hopefully, he will continue to grow and produce new leaves for a long time.

I have three other kale plants. One is one is called Junior, as it is the same variety as old man kale. I have another tall kale that’s growing in the deep water system. Then there’s a third breed of kale that we have yet to name. It needs to grow more before we can figure out just what its characteristics are.

The Sweet Jalapeno Pepper

Sweet Jalapeno Pepper

The sweet jalapeno pepper started life as a seedling that we bought at a store. I washed all the dirt off of it and then put it into nutrients. As you can tell, it has not suffered from this treatment. It is currently flowering like mad. We have at least half a dozen peppers that are growing on the pepper, plus another half dozen blossoms that will become peppers shortly. As I said these are sweet jalapenos. They will turn a bright yellow-orange when they are ripe. Right now they’re all green.

I have recently started a new pepper that is supposed to produce sweet bell peppers. The sweet bell pepper plant is supposed to be a miniature version, so growing no more than 6 to 8 inches tall. It’s supposed to produce mini sweet bell peppers. We will see how it grows. I’m growing it from seed. The plant is only about an inch tall at this time.

Basil

Basil

The basil plants continue to be insane. I almost killed them because they got root rot for a while. I cut away almost all of the roots on the smaller of the two plants. I didn’t cut off all the roots, though, and it has come back like mad. All the roots are on that plant are now clear. I did not cut away as much of the root base for the other plant, so I am still clearing off the root rot. However, the plant is much happier than it was. Probably in the next 2 to 3 weeks I’ll be able to clear out the rest of the root rot and all of its roots will be clear as well.

Mustard

Mustard and other plants

Mustard has also done incredibly well in the hydroponics systems. We use a method called, cut and come again for most of the plants. Basically, instead of allowing a plant to grow into a large head (think a head of lettuce) instead, are always taking leaves off it.

Mustard can get pretty astringent and bitter. At least the larger leaves. Taking small, baby leaves of mustard means I get a hint of spicy without any bitterness in my salads. It's delicious! The mustard plants are only a few months old, so I don't know how long they'll continue producing.

Spinach

Underneath the table, I have plants that are growing in soil, not in water. I could grow all of these plants in water and I have in the past had spinach growing hydroponically, and I will in the future have more spinach growing hydroponically.

As you can tell, the spinach does really, really well. However, one of the things that I have learned is that spinach is difficult to germinate hydroponically.

The way I germinate most seeds is to put them into soaked rockwool cubes, then put the cubes into a container that has a cover. That way the cubes stay very moist, very warm, and most seeds like that. The seeds are also somewhat in the dark because moisture covers the top of the container.

Spinach will not grow that way. I have tried and failed and failed and failed. However, I watched a YouTube video of a guy who germinated spinach using soil, then washed off the roots and put the plants into a hydroponics system. I started doing that and voila, spinach!

This weekend, I will start more spinach plants. Unlike kale, spinach has a much shorter life span. It will only last 4 to 5 months. Then the plant either goes to seed or just kind of withers and dries up, no matter how much water it's getting. In order to have a continuous supply of spinach, I’m always having to germinate new seeds.

The same is true of lettuce. It only lasts for so long before it goes to seed. If I want a constant supply, I need to constantly be starting new lettuce seeds.

Kale is so much easier.

The Future

I have some baby Pak Choi that I recently started. So far, it’s going like crazy. I have some new lettuces started. I tried sprouting a tomato plant, but the seed didn’t take. I’m going to try that again this weekend. One of the lettuce plants I tried sprouting also didn’t take, so I’ll redo that.

Eventually, I'd like to get a second deepwater system, as well as a different pump that's quieter.

In the meanwhile, I get to enjoy the extra light, as well as fresh food from my own little garden!

NEARING BURNOUT

Many years ago, in the late 80s, I worked as a manager for a technical documentation firm. I regularly worked between 60 to 80 hours a week. Did this for two and half years. There were also frequently weeks that were just insane when I was working between 100 and 120 hours.

At the end of this, I was burned out. Crispy. Well toasted. Fried.

It honestly took years before I recovered from that period. Doing any sort of focused or concentrated work was difficult. In addition, I was overly sensitive to stress. Anything distressing would send me into a tailspin. This included social situations, work deadlines, taxes, and so on. Either I would completely overreact and panic, or I would withdraw.

Withdrawing was actually worse. I would not want to answer my phone, I would not want to answer email, and I would stop working. Instead, I would lose myself in other people's creations. Whether that be books, or movies, TV, or even video games.

Last summer, I worked really hard again. I did a lot, both physically as well as mentally. I was trying to maintain the business, write, as well as do construction.

It was too much.

I've only recently come to realize that I was approaching burnout again. My husband has repeatedly asked me if I was depressed. I would think about it and kept coming back to him with no, I'm not depressed.

And I'm not.

Instead, I'm just approaching burnout. Little crispy around the edges.

For me, the symptoms were not obvious, but I finally figured it out.

At first, I thought that I was unable to concentrate due to my knee surgery. And honestly, that might have been part of it, at least at first. However, as my brain recovered I was still having weird symptoms. I would be able to focus and concentrate for a short while, perhaps thirty minutes, maybe an hour, and then I'd hit a wall.

There was no bouncing back from that wall. It would be hours, or usually the next day, before I had any brain back again.

Lately, I’ve been able to concentrate for an entire afternoon. For a single day. Then, the next day, there’d be nothing. I wouldn’t be able to focus or concentrate or do much of anything.

I have found this very frustrating.

Being burned out, even only slightly fried, is not fun. I really hadn't thought that I’d pushed myself that much, but looking back, I realize I had.

It used to be that I would work in the morning writing, I would then do publishing business all afternoon, take a longer break for dinner, and then work again from say 7 PM until 9 PM.

I can't do that right now. As much as I might need, to I cannot.

So I am trying to be smarter about my work. When I have focus, I work. Doesn’t matter if I’ve been incapable of working for most of the afternoon. If an hour shows up just before dinner, I might postpone eating so I can get more done.

(I am still reserving the mornings for writing. I have found a new novel project that fills my heart with joy. I am writing 3000 words a day very easily. I'm able to get in that many words in less than three hours again, which is good.)

Then there are the times when I don't have focus. I cannot force myself to work. I have to be gentle with myself.

What I’ve done instead is to ruthlessly prioritized what must be done. In addition, I set my personal deadlines well ahead of when something’s actually due. For example, I must have all my taxes finished by February 15, in order to use the tax service I use. My original date for having all of my taxes done in my head was the end of January. That's not going to happen because I got sick