One step forward, two steps back, it seems.
May, as expected, was a month of increased expenditures and no harvests. As promised, I bought additional seeds, organic fertilizer, and plants for the garden, while nothing growing was ready to harvest. So, we are more than $70 more in the red this month than we were at the end of April.
There's a lesson here, though, and one that I wish business leaders would be forced to learn: If you insist on continual profits posting at the end of arbitrary periods, you never will be poised for truly big growth.
What I mean is this: We posted income in the form of harvests through the first four months of the year, but those harvests were really the result of the previous gardening season. I run my "fiscal year" January to December, in no small part due to the fact that I have time to fuss with spreadsheet set-up in the dark of winter. But those harvests of citrus fruit came from blossoms that set fruit last summer, maturing over the winter. The harvests of greens came from throwing some of last year's seeds into our indoor planter box in January and slowly harvesting the result.
The real gardening season begins in April or May, and plants and seeds put into the ground in May will not bear fruit by the end of the month. But these are some of our biggest crops: squash, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, and basil. Depending on the year, any one or two of these crops can vault us into profitability in the garden, but we just have to be patient enough to wait for it.
Maybe I should start a gardening camp for CEOs where they can come learn this. I can charge thousands of dollars to have them weed my garden and flip my compost pile, all while we discuss the futility of insisting on "increased shareholder value" at the end of every arbitrary fiscal quarter. Call me, corporations of America!
So, I'm waiting. I'm weeding. I'm thinning and transplanting; mulching and fertilizing; and tressing and training. And I'm hoping that by the end of June I'm enjoying the fruits of my labors again.
Cumulative
Totals
Total Ounces
Harvest: 20
Pounds: 1.25
Total Value
of Harvest: $13.04
Expenditures:
-284.24
Total:
$-271.20
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