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Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

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Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#151

Every time this topic comes up I say the same thing. If you've never worked on a farm and have some kind of romantic idea about it then you shouldn't do this. Farming is hard work. Modern farmers have college degrees, millions in equipment, and a vast amount of knowledge and experience you do not have. If you're thinking of doing this and do not have experience go work on a farm for a year before you buy in.

I’m a programmer with a degree in Agricultural Science so my opinion is oddly relevant to this subject. Please shut up and stop shitting on people’s dreams. Not everything is about profit and scaling. Anyone can and should learn to farm regardless of their background or education.

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#152
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they have saved enough from working in tech that they can grow vegetables for themselves in a very low scale way. Its nice to escape from the career you've had for decades. Sometimes its not even an escape from the career, but the career and the city you've lived in. Moving to the forest and growing some vegetables and raising chickens isn't that difficult. You certainly don't need "millions in equipment". Its…

It's always interesting to hear from people who moved to Michigan because the better part of my adult life has been devoted to getting out of Michigan. It sounds like you have a peaceful life though

Everyone else's grass is always greener it seems.

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#153

Every time this topic comes up I say the same thing. If you've never worked on a farm and have some kind of romantic idea about it then you shouldn't do this. Farming is hard work. Modern farmers have college degrees, millions in equipment, and a vast amount of knowledge and experience you do not have. If you're thinking of doing this and do not have experience go work on a farm for a year before you buy in.

I read someone who retires and "takes up farming" as retiring to a house in a rural location and maintaining a garden and maybe some small quantities of livestock. IE someone who is not depending on the "farm" to be a commercially successful operation or is even attempting to run it as a profitable business. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_farm

Yep, it's insanely easy and cheap to sustain a family if you have land, a bit of time and two brain cells, but it's insanely hard and expensive to run a successful modern large scale farm

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#154

Every time this topic comes up I say the same thing. If you've never worked on a farm and have some kind of romantic idea about it then you shouldn't do this. Farming is hard work. Modern farmers have college degrees, millions in equipment, and a vast amount of knowledge and experience you do not have. If you're thinking of doing this and do not have experience go work on a farm for a year before you buy in.

That's the same line of advice I give in most disciplines:

> Student: I've struggled with math in the past, what do I need to do to be ready for your class?

> Me: Take the previous class first. You'll get easy A's in both, you'll actually understand the material when you need it, and there's no real downside since you have a minimum of 120 credits to fill to be able to graduate anyway.

In some ways it ties into the "big fish in a small pond" theory of life. People who take that sort of advice have easy, stable lives. I'll keep giving it. Likewise, most people probably shouldn't jump into farming unprepared.

That said, life is short, and a year is a long time. If you can stomach the downside risk (losing every dime you poured into farming, having to work hard at it), by all means just jump in. There are vibrant communities willing to teach you everything you need to know, and you'll learn faster working on real problems you're personally experiencing than rote memorizing the tasks a seasoned master tells you to do.

If you want to mitigate some of the risks, perhaps start with something small enough you could manage it without millions in equipment (high-margin products like mushrooms and arugula -- and if you go with those, focus on distribution as a primary concern).

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#155

Every time this topic comes up I say the same thing. If you've never worked on a farm and have some kind of romantic idea about it then you shouldn't do this. Farming is hard work. Modern farmers have college degrees, millions in equipment, and a vast amount of knowledge and experience you do not have. If you're thinking of doing this and do not have experience go work on a farm for a year before you buy in.

I agree, and I say the very same thing about software engineering. Yet there are plenty of managers who hire unqualified people coming from a 6 week coding bootcamp into teams with highly complex requirements and very skilled, experienced devs. So from that perspective, one would propably think that a 6-week farming bootcamp also gotto be enough :)

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#156

I do hope they enjoy it. I grew up in a farming community, and whist it can be rewarding, if you are trying to make money, or be self sufficient, its fucking hard work. Is it harder than programming? thats a subjective call. Objectively its physically harder work, mentally its way more varied. You need to be a welder, plumber, vet, horticulturist, builder, metrologist, and if you're doing properly, crooked accountant…

> You need to be a welder, plumber, vet, horticulturist, builder, metrologist I love this about farmers. They are the polymaths of our age and folks dont get it. Farming YouTube is a trip because there's more tech in a tractor than in some startups. > and if you're doing properly, crooked accountant as well. Yea, most people dont get what a "future" is, and why corn and lumber have them (but not onions... thats a les…

Can you recommend some good farming youtubes?

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#157
post #96
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened on those two days? Birth of his children? Probably a broken back or some other injury is more likely tho. :)

Lol he got caught in a piece of machinery, which stripped the skin off of his arm from his elbow to his armpit. One day off for ER one for recovery.

What a trooper. They don't make people like they used to.

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two days off sounds bad but when you’re working for yourself and don’t have to answer some prick manager, suffer on a commute, sit hunched unnaturally at a desk, it could be much better.

I'll take my 5+ weeks off per year (with strict 40 hour maximum weeks and strong work life balance) and you can have your self-employed 2 days per 30 years = 0.06 days off per year. That's 32 minutes of personal time off per year.

When you’re working for yourself, every hour goes towards your personal equity, and you’re the boss. It hits different.

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#159

Every time this topic comes up I say the same thing. If you've never worked on a farm and have some kind of romantic idea about it then you shouldn't do this. Farming is hard work. Modern farmers have college degrees, millions in equipment, and a vast amount of knowledge and experience you do not have. If you're thinking of doing this and do not have experience go work on a farm for a year before you buy in.

I see this kind of comment every time someone decides to take a different path. Pessimistic sounds smart I guess. Well, you are wrong. I have done it myself, started a farm on a whim a couple years back, and did just fine! And no I don't know what hard work you're talking about, I'm much healthier than I was sitting at a desk all day long.

Where in the world are you?

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You need to be a welder, plumber, vet, horticulturist, builder, metrologist I love this about farmers. They are the polymaths of our age and folks dont get it. Farming YouTube is a trip because there's more tech in a tractor than in some startups. > and if you're doing properly, crooked accountant as well. Yea, most people dont get what a "future" is, and why corn and lumber have them (but not onions... thats a les…

> Yea, most people dont get what a "future" is, and why corn and lumber have them (but not onions... thats a lesson too)... The farm has the support of a lot of high finance and hedging exists not just as an instrument but has a purpose. Not many farmers I know (in an ag community) understand what a future is either, or would even know how to trade them. That's the domain of hedge funds, not farmers. (And, if they tr…

Futures may be famous as hedge fund vehicles today, but they were invented by farmers, for farmers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futures_contract#Origin

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