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Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

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Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#211
This is probably too extreme of a life change for most people to implement, but there are ways to gain some of the benefits without an entire lifestyle upheaval.

Recently I've begun camping on business trips instead of using my hotel budget. I'll fly in with a tent, sleeping bag, laptop, and cooler bag, rent a car, and set up camp in whichever campground is closest to the city. Most of these places are meant for local families, and are equipped with water, power (for trailers), and showers.

In the morning I drive into the city for business, then head back out to the campsite to hike, sit and think, and code. I haven't taken a smartphone with me, so those after-city hours are devoid of the usual notification hail.

It's done wonders for my focus, motivation, and sense of purpose. Waking up to sunlight, birds chirping, and the scent of pine is an invigorating start to a day, and those twilight hours are great for going over designs and pre-planning coding time.

A lot of that low-level building buzz of dissatisfaction vanishes after a few days of this. I think we need nature. We need freshness and quiet and the white noise of wind, birds, and streams.

I would love a community/place where this was always possible, but for now, travel-business-camping has worked wonders. (And the look on my colleague's faces when I tell them about my "hotel"... priceless.)

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hippy commune / kibbutz concept It's been tried over-and-over-and-over for centuries and there's a ton of research. If it's not based on a religion, it fails, is the long and short of it. Only works with religious people.

It is interesting to speculate why is it that religious groups fare better in this kind of arrangements. I think it has to do with 2 things: The ability to shame individuals into compliance without resorting to violence, and the ability to shut off free-loaders. That's the problem with intentional communities. Everybody (claim to) have the best intentions, until push comes to shove and you have to actually put your s…

They do a good job avoiding freeloaders in the first place with rules like, for examples, You have to be circumcised and we meet daily for prayers. Gaming the welfare system is one thing, but surgery and dozens of hours a week of time would be a bit much for a mooch.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understood that about America. I've been lost in the suburbs in Michigan once, driving along for ages with just house after house after house, and thinking, "where's the local shop?" Surely it's got to be worth someone setting up a local shop every couple of miles?

It's usually heavily frowned upon to setup a local shop in Michigan like that, and sometimes illegal. Retail creates undesirable traffic and crime (at least, that's their common assumption). The suburbs fight hard to keep that as far away from residential areas as possible. Sometimes they push this to the logical extreme conclusion -- zoning commercial spaces almost exclusively at the edge of their limits. Here's exa…

It's not for everyone (including me), but there is a certain serenity to a nice suburb with no traffic, small streets, kempt housing, kids wandering around, and faces you recognize. Corporate retail is the antithesis of that vision. A small gas station or tiny corner store is pushing it.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#214
post #28

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and this post definitely gives me some motivation. I'm a programmer who loves to code and build stuff, learning new programming languages and frameworks, discussing about architecture, etc. I love shipping new features and making customers happy. BUT inside of me a desire has been growing to go back to the roots, to live a life closer to the nature. I feel the need to spend…

I'm actually working on something like this, although minus the hippie aspect. The biggest hurdle (at least here in California) is zoning. Every county in California restricts ag-zoned land to (at most) two dwelling units, where "dwelling unit" is typically defined by having a kitchen. There are some ways to work around this, especially if you're willing to go the "tinyhouses on wheels" route, but you get into grey z…

Curious, which part of CA?

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#215

I grew up on a farm. Not surprised to see this decision in the slightest. Farming is tough -- physically, financially, and in the end emotionally. But it is still a very rewarding life. I can remember sitting on my grandfather's lap, riding on his John Deere two-cylinder (it was called a Johnny Popper.) Pre-school? I went to pre-farming. I was probably 3 years old the first time I rode a tractor. By the time I was 8,…

I have the [un]fortunate opportunity to know exactly how hard baling hay really is.

I am not always certain the vitality and character gained is necessarily worth the emotional drain. However I am sure there are mainy farms/ranches that get by without the _nepotent_ servitude that comes with it. :)

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#216
This brings up a utopian dream i've been having.

Imagine an self-sufficient community of designers, coders, families and everyone in between working on socially-positive startups and putting in some nominal personal time into the community farm. A 'commune' of the future.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#217
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many Americans don't see the value in a local shop because local shops tend to be more expensive and offer fewer choices. It's easier to consolidate your errands and hit a big grocery store and a big box store.

That conflicts with a different cultural "fact" I have about US citizens. They love convenience (for example, "convenience stores") and willingly pay extra for it.

In the suburbs convenience matters with things people buy regularly. You see this manifested as large convenience stores with gas bars and large drug stores that also sell sandwiches and ice cream. Small independent convenience stores tend to lose out to larger ones that have larger gas bars, cheaper gas and more options inside.

What's interesting is this trend seems to be reversing a little bit in clusters. Younger people are migrating back to the cities, and more developers in the suburbs are building apartment complexes with shops and restaurants mixed together, giving it the feel of living above a really nice mini mall. :)

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#218
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many Americans don't see the value in a local shop because local shops tend to be more expensive and offer fewer choices. It's easier to consolidate your errands and hit a big grocery store and a big box store.

That conflicts with a different cultural "fact" I have about US citizens. They love convenience (for example, "convenience stores") and willingly pay extra for it.

Yes, but...

The ultimate convenience store is attached to a gas station and has a drive-up window so you don't need to get out of your car.

While the ones with drive through windows are rare, I'd be hard pressed to think of a convenience store within a 30 mile radius that was not also a gas station. As far as I can recall, I only see c-stores that don't sell gas inside cities.

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#219
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats a problem with messed up North American culture. Kids should be able to go outside by themselves in cities. They do exactly that all over the world. In places much more dangerous then normal city in US. I commuted to school at age of 9, having to switch streetcars and walk for 15 mins. Total time of about 40 mins one way. Often I would walk back through the city instead, this would take about 2 hours of wonderi…

> Thats a problem with messed up North American culture. Kids should be able to go outside by themselves in cities. They do exactly that all over the world They did exactly that in the US too, up until the eighties -- and at a time when cities had crime rates even higher than today. There is this nice article from the Austin Chronicle about it (pdf): http://michaelventura.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/This-Is...

yeah I was talking about present, it is really weird why this change happened

Re: Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer

#220
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That conflicts with a different cultural "fact" I have about US citizens. They love convenience (for example, "convenience stores") and willingly pay extra for it.

Its a class thing. Middle levels have the money to burn and often prioritize time over money. Plus complaining about paying $3 for an apple at the gas station quickie mart is a rare and cheap conspicuous consumption opportunity for them. I only have about 2 hours "off" unallocated tonight and I'm not going to spend 1/4 of my time off today saving $2 on the cost of an apple by going out of my way to shop at the food s…

> For poor people its a poor people budgeting thing. ...

I couldn't help but read the rest of this paragraph in Cartman's voice.

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