Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 309 posts

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

#191

Post by leetrout »

squarepizza wrote: post #180
semireg wrote: post #163

20 years ago I read a few Wendell Berry essays on agriculture and it changed my life. I immediately believed two things: 1) if it wasn’t for computers I’d be an agrarian and 2) I finally had a better idea of conservatism in the sense that nature selects for conservative agrarians. These ideas challenged my ideas of “turning it off and on again” and overall system design. I needed to prove to myself that I was more th…

> is the grass greener on the other side of the fence? Was it?

Not OP but:

The grass is greener where you water it.

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

#192

Post by debacle »

gempir wrote: post #150
spiderfarmer wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people are heavily influenced by Youtubers and other influencers who conveniently leave out the earnings they get from their Youtube views, all while selling a romantic, self sufficient dream of living in harmony with nature. In that regard Jeremy Clarkson paints a much more realistic picture, even though that show is very over the top and mostly scripted. I grew up on a farm and was on track to take it over…

I really like Goldshaw Farm[1]. He does yearly breakdowns how is farm performed and the reality is he could not live at all if that was his only income stream. And I think his scale is most realistic what a developer could achieve when he quit and just wanted to try to farm. YouTube pays his bills mostly, not the farm. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD4VW0lLYjE

Goldshaw is very informative, but I think he is a bit more of a hobby farmer than a real homesteader. If you have a sophisticated system (and are willing to work hard), you can bring in substantial amounts of money on small acreage.

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

#193

Post by zer00eyz »

mawaldne wrote: post #156
zer00eyz wrote: post #17

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…

Can you recommend some good farming youtubes?

Mike Mitchell is great. He's very Canadian but pleasant. And they have an operation on a massive scale (family business).

Barn Talk is... something. IF you're liberal it might offend you at some points, but there is a ton of gold in there. They also have a channel about their day to day farming.

Welker Farms, Millennial Farmer, Cole the Corn Star and Larson farms are all "interesting"... They are all very different.

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

#194

Post by fullstop »

sneak wrote: post #119

Counterpoint: I have been programming for 27 years and I am constantly trying to find more ways to spend time indoors, or to make the indoors time more indoorsy: blackout windows, sub-basements, HVAC upgrades (currently lusting after a central whole-house humidifier). Not everyone thinks “touch grass” is the answer. I want to live in the second subbasement 24/7, or in space.

> lusting after a central whole-house humidifier

These are not terribly expensive, although installation can be tricky if you're not handy. The humidifier, for me, is a godsend in the winter months. I had a cabinet style one before and I'd have to refill the water tanks daily, which was a pain. It put ~5 gallons of water into the air each day.

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

#195

Post by seneca »

connorgutman wrote: post #151
driverdan wrote: post #33

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.

Your degree has nothing at all to do with your comment, and doesn't justify its rude tone.

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

#196

Post by cryptonector »

driverdan wrote: post #33

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.

Homesteading is more like hobby farming, and for some it's a retirement plan.

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

#197

Post by PuissantSheep »

driverdan wrote: post #33

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.

What you describe is how corporate farming is done in the United States. There are millions of people in Mexico, for example, who are farming, and they do not have college degrees or millions in equipment. They also work sunup to sundown, every day, with no vacations. "Right to repair" and John Deere are alien concepts to many of them.

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

#198

Post by debacle »

chrsw wrote: post #120
andoando wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all this tech youd imagine it should have become easier to self sustain.

Maybe. But when I think "tech" the first thing that comes to mind isn't "sustainability". The first things that come to my mind are "cost, maintenance, consumption and waste".

Traditional farming has an obscene amount of waste.

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

#199

Post by AndrewKemendo »

driverdan wrote: post #33

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’ve done both and I’d prefer farming

I was a staff architect at a public company and started a trash cooperative this year

I 1000% prefer making my neighbors better off than some idiot CEO and all the assholes on the board and investors

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

#200

Post by KaiserPro »

gunapologist99 wrote: post #45
zer00eyz wrote: post #17

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…

> Not many farmers I know (in an ag community) understand what a future is either

I can see that, but they do know about how pricing might be fixed. Obviously subsidies make a huge difference, so some crops might have a fixed price (ie things that are used to grow biofuels) vs stuff that has a free market vs single large buyer.

Post reply on HN