Easy Decisions

There is a certain level of stress that comes with options.  If you are given no choice, then you just go about doing whatever it is you have to do.  Perhaps you'll grumble about it, but you won't worry too much in the process. But when you can select from a smorgasbord of options, there is an inherent worry that builds the more you consider the relative value each selection might bring with it.

Some options might be very good for you but leave you feeling uninspired.  Other options are exciting and enticing but are definitely a bad idea for your future health.  Then there are all of the gradations in between and the little twists and extra bells and whistles that can be added on top of it all.  Trying to figure out the best solution is probably impossible.  Yet we still let the pressure build as we try to figure it out.

And I was just talking about figuring out what to take from the buffet line for a meal.

I think you get the point.  Sometimes it is easier to accept what is placed in front of you and just decide what goes in your mouth and what does not.  Yes or no can be hard enough sometimes.

Well, we've got a few simple choices to make on the farm this year.  One of which has to do with whether or not we need to get some late winter food to our bees.  The answer for two of the hives is "no."  Why?  Well, there is no reason to feed a hive that has no living bees left in it.  So, it's pretty simple.  The next task for those two hives is to clean them up and prepare for some new bees this spring.  Though, I suppose we have choices there too - do we try to get those hives going again or not?

Interestingly enough, one of the hives still has bees and we did provide them with some additional food.  This was the hive we fully expected to die out as it was the weakest of the three entering the cold months.  Nonetheless, there they were, buzzing as we checked on them during a warmer, calm moment on the farm recently.  I really was expecting to find nobody home and then I'd just start cleaning that one up.

I guess not.  And I really hope they'll still be with us once the dandelions are in bloom.

Another "easy decision" has to do with the lean-to on the Poultry Pavilion.  There was a time not that long ago that we were thinking we might try to rehab the existing framework and just use that.  But, the rapid deterioration over the past couple years made the decision easier.

The best rehab will be to take the old lean-to down and put up new.

It's always amazing how much easier things get once it becomes clear that there is really one choice.  Well, I suppose we have a couple of choices here if I wanted to get persnickety.  We could ignore it and let it come down on its own OR we could help it to come down.  And, yes, we can make choices about timing too.  But once we took the whole series of options away that had to do with shoring up block walls and replacing this, that and the other thing... it got much easier.  And suddenly I find I have more energy for it than I did when there were so many roads we could travel.

It's a fascinating thing - how we react in moments when we either have a paucity or plethora of choices.  For example, I had a whole BUNCH of excellent words I could have used instead of "paucity or plethora."  I agonized for a whole thirty seconds considering those choices before coming up with that selection.  

And you know what?  I actually relished making that choice.  Certainly there was some low-grade pressure involved in the process.  But the task of exploring, considering and choosing was, on the whole, a good thing.  As I think on it, I think I would also have preferred to have more choices to make with respect to living bees too.  I find that I can accept and even appreciate some of the pressures that come with more menu options.

Most of the time.

But I am happy that we aren't going to try to fix that old lean-to.  Sometimes easy decisions that are pushed on you can be a good thing too.