Habit stacking on the homestead

Reduce homestead overwhelm during the spring and summer wildness by layering habits.

Photo by Lala Azizli on Unsplash

I’m almost finished reading ATOMIC HABITS by James Clear. It’s made me see ways I already stack habits, and it’s also helped me optimize routines during a time of year that I’ve described in a poem as the spring fugue.

Several things stood out from the research and examples shared in ATOMIC HABITS. What resonated with me was the clear cue flow the author diagrams. I also liked that it breaks down motivations. For me, the most relevant aspect is how habit stacking fits into a permaculture mindset. In permaculture, you use what you have for multiple purposes and turn waste into resources. I shared about this in my post about creating your own plant guilds. Also, a common permaculture practice is to keep a flock of chickens near the garden for ease of compost access and ease of sharing garden waste as flock snacks.

The book reminded me of something I learned way back in elementary school. I remember a teacher sharing about how Disney planned their parks. Allegedly, when the parks first opened, they didn’t have designated paths. They allowed visitors to walk and stroll where they wanted to and based their path construction on the true usability. A poet friend of mine learned about this design practice years ago and had shared the term for this method as defining “desire lines.” I’ve noticed our own desire lines have popped up around the yard that differ from the gravel paths the original owners had set up. Previously, there was no path between the house and the chicken coop because the previous owners used it as a wood storage space. Seasonal traffic went to daily traffic after we converted it into a chicken coop. Part of why I started creating a food forest in between the house and the coop is because of that traffic. It’s a perfect habit stacking example – take an existing habit and tack on to it. I habitually visit the coop every day. With the food forest on the path, I see progress of potatoes, snip fennel to add to a meal, or pick bee balm and lavender for tea.

Another common homestead practice is to always carry something. You should never be emptyhanded. Since I generally take a harvest basket with me each time I visit the garden, my new habit stacking effort is keeping a pack or 2 of seeds with the basket. That way I can direct sow some things around the plants that I’m harvesting from.

I often forget to replenish the quail coop dust bath. Since reading ATOMIC HABITS, now I keep a cup of wood ash next to the quail egg carton so that I can take advantage of my existing egg collection habit to keep their dust bath jacuzzi fresh.

My big challenge the past few years is keeping clean seedling trays in rotation. Unsanitized seedling trays can completely ruin seedstarting time, efforts, and resources. Sanitized trays prevent damping off, spores, and other issues that can kill seedlings. I’ve notoriously become overwhelmed in the spring and summer with garden and bee demands, and trays will pile up still full of some soil left over after transplanting seedlings. By the time I make time to start my next seedlings, the trays aren’t ready. I’ll clean the trays and then not have time to start seedlings. It makes gardening not fun. Instead, I’m habit stacking as part of my succession strategy this year. I’ve added tray rinsing as part of my transplant habit this year. So far, it’s working. Instead of transplanting and then moving on to the next thing, I add any leftover soil to containers, then thoroughly rinse the trays and let them dry in the sun. Before storing them, I spray down with white vinegar and let it sit for 10 minutes before rinsing, drying, and storing. I’ve had clean trays available for each round of seedlings that I want to start.

The big question the book poses is: What am I already doing?

What are you already doing?

Check out my earlier post specifically about stacking permaculture principles by mixing up your planting patterns, utilizing silvopasture, and resource collection.