Ask HN: Does anybody balance farming activity with software development?

#1

Post by joe8756438 » Tue, May 31, 2022, 4:13 PM UTC

Over the last ~five years my wife and I transitioned from city to rural life. Since leaving the city our priorities changed; we've become more focused on caring for our bodies and the environment and participating in activities that support those things (growing food, foraging, hunting, caring for the forest).

I have a software development practice: I build Tap [0] and do generalist web development consulting. Over time I see the farm and the software activity supporting each other. I'm curious, if there's anyone on HN that's further down this road than I am. How's it going? What does your practice look like? Do you continue to enjoy farming and development? Has one or the other taken over?

Thanks!

[0] https://www.tatatap.com

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody balance farming activity with software development?

#2

Post by octokatt » Tue, May 31, 2022, 4:58 PM UTC

Haven't done it myself because my health isn't good enough to be a farmer, but I want to subscribe to your newsletter and live vicariously.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody balance farming activity with software development?

#3

Post by s1artibartfast » Tue, May 31, 2022, 5:04 PM UTC

Not personally, but my father did the same thing in the 90s. He went to consulting 4 days a week and running a 100 acre commercial farm the other 3.

I would say there are some synergies in that engineers have access to capital that not all farmers do.

Burnout is a risk and it takes a special kind of person who is a glutton for punishment. If your farm is more recreational, this could be less of a challenge.

As he aged, farming became more of his identity and his farm employees became more of a family and some of the most important aspects of his life. I think this is was a positive development and am glad he has this surrogate family.

In the long run, I dont think it was a wise financial move, as he sunk close to a million into the farm in the 90's, and the long term value of the farm will be destroyed by California regulations. A lot of heartbreak on that front. From the outside I think it is causing more anguish than loosing his parents.

If asked, I think he would still do it all over again.

That said, my 02c would be to keep in mind how much of your life are you placing in a basket and what the threats to that basket are.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody balance farming activity with software development?

#4

Post by codingdave » Tue, May 31, 2022, 5:49 PM UTC

We're more on the side of homesteading than farming. We own a 40 acre property where we raise chickens and collect the natural foods here - berries, grapes, hickory nuts, apples, mushrooms, various edible greens. We'll hunt a deer in the fall and could easily expand that to turkeys and waterfowl. We've started some patches of plants that should grow into sustainable supplies over a few years - lingonberries and elderberries. We're encouraging the growth of our maple trees and likely can have a small maple syrup operation running in 5-10 years. We have a stretch of the property that borders a corn/soybean field so likely will start to grow some small-scale grains there to feed livestock and then we will be producing our own dairy. We're coppicing a few evergreens for Christmas trees, and as our 150 year old hickory trees die off, we use the wood for our winter heating and some lumber.

So we aren't exactly far down a farming road... but we do take full advantage of where nature has put this property to begin with. Add a 1 Gig fiber optic line and that provides the connectivity to do tech.

Tech still is definitely what we live off, with all the homesteading being more of a hobby.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody balance farming activity with software development?

#5

Post by joe8756438 » Tue, May 31, 2022, 5:50 PM UTC

s1artibartfast wrote: post #3

Not personally, but my father did the same thing in the 90s. He went to consulting 4 days a week and running a 100 acre commercial farm the other 3. I would say there are some synergies in that engineers have access to capital that not all farmers do. Burnout is a risk and it takes a special kind of person who is a glutton for punishment. If your farm is more recreational, this could be less of a challenge. As he age…

At this point in the development of the farm it's all investment and no return. I rely on income from software development to get the farm off the ground. Long-term it's hard to predict.

But, I think it makes sense to account for the stuff you get out of the farm that's not money. A lot of the stuff I do, is stuff I like doing. If I didn't have a farm, but had time, what would I do with that time?

A friend of mine that lived in rural upstate NY would have "farm days" where people from the city would come up and do farm things, unpaid. Everyone would learn different work depending on what needed doing that time of year. But, a lot of it was pretty basic farm maintenance like splitting wood. The people that came really enjoyed it, myself included.

That said, I'm looking to develop a deeper relationship with the work than a recreational activity apart from the software development. As in, the farm is all problems to be solved, software is all about solving problems -- how do the two areas develop together?

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody balance farming activity with software development?

#6

Post by joe8756438 » Tue, May 31, 2022, 5:59 PM UTC

codingdave wrote: post #4

We're more on the side of homesteading than farming. We own a 40 acre property where we raise chickens and collect the natural foods here - berries, grapes, hickory nuts, apples, mushrooms, various edible greens. We'll hunt a deer in the fall and could easily expand that to turkeys and waterfowl. We've started some patches of plants that should grow into sustainable supplies over a few years - lingonberries and elder…

Very cool. Are you planning on developing any of the hobby into a commercial enterprise, or do you already?

We have a similar mix of homesteading-type stuff that is all primarily to support the family and have fun.

We're also working on a commercial operation that is producing material for artists. We're starting with willow, which was just put in the ground.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody balance farming activity with software development?

#7

Post by joe8756438 » Tue, May 31, 2022, 6:11 PM UTC

octokatt wrote: post #2

Haven't done it myself because my health isn't good enough to be a farmer, but I want to subscribe to your newsletter and live vicariously.

Noted. At the moment it's mostly mowing grass. I was on the mower the other day thinking I wonder if there's anyone out there who'd like to come along for this ride... It is a weirdly fun problem trying to real-time determine the most efficient path to cover what needs mowing.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody balance farming activity with software development?

#8

Post by s1artibartfast » Tue, May 31, 2022, 6:12 PM UTC

joe8756438 wrote: post #5

s1artibartfast wrote: post #3

Not personally, but my father did the same thing in the 90s. He went to consulting 4 days a week and running a 100 acre commercial farm the other 3. I would say there are some synergies in that engineers have access to capital that not all farmers do. Burnout is a risk and it takes a special kind of person who is a glutton for punishment. If your farm is more recreational, this could be less of a challenge. As he age…

At this point in the development of the farm it's all investment and no return. I rely on income from software development to get the farm off the ground. Long-term it's hard to predict. But, I think it makes sense to account for the stuff you get out of the farm that's not money. A lot of the stuff I do, is stuff I like doing. If I didn't have a farm, but had time, what would I do with that time? A friend of mine th…

I had a similar experience to your farm days. Many of my fathers engineer friends would take a week of "vacation" to come work a 60 hour week in the hot sun on the farm. They enjoyed the hustle, seeing a tangible product from their work, operating heavy machinery, and the comradery.

I think doing something different like this offers an opportunity to build community in many ways, and it is important to consider this as relationships have a lot of value independent of the "things" on the farm.

Regarding codevelopment, I don't think I have too much to offer that isn't obvious. If you like solving problems, I agree that farms certainly provide a ton of problems. Having an analytical mindset is applicable to both. Maybe you will find problems on your farm that need a programming solution, maybe not. Im not sure that you can force it.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody balance farming activity with software development?

#9

Post by User23 » Tue, May 31, 2022, 6:16 PM UTC

joe8756438 wrote: post #7

octokatt wrote: post #2

Haven't done it myself because my health isn't good enough to be a farmer, but I want to subscribe to your newsletter and live vicariously.

Noted. At the moment it's mostly mowing grass. I was on the mower the other day thinking I wonder if there's anyone out there who'd like to come along for this ride... It is a weirdly fun problem trying to real-time determine the most efficient path to cover what needs mowing.

An appropriate sized tractor can pull a finishing mower that will get the job done considerably quicker than even a good zero-turn riding mower. The nice thing too is tractors and implements hold their value far better than riding mowers, so the total cost of ownership is actually lower at the price of a larger up front capital investment.

And once you have the right tractor, you get to go down the rabbit hole of all kinds of implements, including fun things like backhoes.

Re: Ask HN: Does anybody balance farming activity with software development?

#10

Post by User23 » Tue, May 31, 2022, 6:29 PM UTC

s1artibartfast wrote: post #8

joe8756438 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point in the development of the farm it's all investment and no return. I rely on income from software development to get the farm off the ground. Long-term it's hard to predict. But, I think it makes sense to account for the stuff you get out of the farm that's not money. A lot of the stuff I do, is stuff I like doing. If I didn't have a farm, but had time, what would I do with that time? A friend of mine th…

I had a similar experience to your farm days. Many of my fathers engineer friends would take a week of "vacation" to come work a 60 hour week in the hot sun on the farm. They enjoyed the hustle, seeing a tangible product from their work, operating heavy machinery, and the comradery. I think doing something different like this offers an opportunity to build community in many ways, and it is important to consider this…

> Maybe you will find problems on your farm that need a programming solution, maybe not. Im not sure that you can force it.

Rigging up some kind of drip tape based automatic garden watering system that uses moisture sensors in addition to timers might be interesting and could involve a little programming.