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A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

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Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#351

Post by bornonline1 »

underbluewaters wrote: post #191
evjim wrote: post #87

I spent two years living on a small permaculture farm. The place took on wwoofers and so I got to meet a ton of young people who wanted to farm. But most couldn't afford their own land, so instead they roamed around and worked nearly for free for wwoof farm owners. It's a cool program, but unfortunate land is out of reach

Every successful small farm is built on unpaid labor from what I've seen. Many are making it work and providing some value to these workers, but I shake my head seeing young college graduates working as laborers. All to get experience in a field that has so few good opportunities.

I did it and its not so bad. Experience is really valuable and the no-money-involved relationship is just so more meaningful. But a place where you feel as a part of the family. Those are the best

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#352

Post by planteen »

oliv__ wrote: post #196
planteen wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by quality? Fruits and vegetables in the US tend to have much higher visual quality than elsewhere.

How is this even a question?

Can you show me a quality metric where American fruits or vegetables are consistently different compared to other countries? These are commodities, after all, so there is little differentiation. Is it visually, callorically, or nutritionally different somehow? I immediate went to visually, because one does notice this in the US compared to Latin America.

Everyone is jumping on me about tomatoes, but Europe has the same bland greenhouse tomatoes in my experience.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#353

Post by Broken_Hippo »

munin wrote: post #317
unabridged wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would imagine rural high school would be a hellscape of a different sort.

It's great if you're white and a boy, and straight.

I came to say something similar. I can even expand this - it isn't so bad being a straight white girl either. The main thing is that you need to be a pretty average person. Most small towns this basically says you are white, straight, fairly traditionally minded and christian.

Being an outcast in a high school with a population of less than 400 isn't easy because most folks know everyone else.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#354

Post by Broken_Hippo »

wyager wrote: post #44
planteen wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by quality? Fruits and vegetables in the US tend to have much higher visual quality than elsewhere.

You are absolutely right, but that visual quality comes at a huge cost in other areas. For example, I find tomatoes in the US disgusting (and don’t tell me “oh, you need to try fresh/cherry/whatever tomatoes”, I have). They look good but taste horrible. They’ve been bred for looks and weight, not flavor. In many places outside the US, the tomato breeds there are bred for flavor, not looks. They’re uglier, but they ha…

To be fair, the gross tomoato issue isn't just the US. I am from Indiana, where summer tomatoes from farmer markets (or a backyard) were wonderful. Grocery store tomatoes were foamy, tasteless things.

I'm in Norway now. Same issue, only I've never found yummy summer tomatoes.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#355

Post by Pica_soO »

userbinator wrote: post #307
JPKab wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in a rural community where farming was basically the only industry. It's easy to talk about how awesome it is when you basically are selling insanely overpriced boutique goods (organic, free-range, etc) to yuppies who are willing to pay triple for their calories. Once enough people do this, the prices fall and you're just another farmer, scraping by. I grew up working on farms. It's not romantic to me in an…

I grew up working on farms. It's not romantic to me in any way. Being outside is nice, but there's a reason the kids doing this grew up in suburbs and cities: they have no idea what agriculture really involves when you have to achieve economies of scale to make it remotely profitable. I suspect it's a "the grass is always greener in the neighbour's lawn... or in this case pasture" effect.

Beeing outside for long stretches might sound healthy, but at the end of day gives you skin-cancer. Source of Information: Scar over my eye, where the doctor cut out the summers harvest of pesticide resistant weeds in uv-rays.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#356

Post by bucko »

I'm from Arkansas. While I was growing up my fad was a pilot full time and my mom managed restaurant staff. My dad also got into wildlife management and was able to double his income by organizing a hunting club on some fallow land we had inherited from his grandmother.

About 10 years agoo they got into small-scale organiv ranching as well. There's a steep learning curve, and you have to work every day, but they are enjoying it because a) exercise is good for you and b) they work 3-4 hours per fay c) outside in a beautiful pasture lined by many square miles of swampland and hardwood forest.

I grew up catching frogs, climbing trees, and swimming in mudholes with no adult supervision. Today I have a five year old son and live in a global megacity. It's sooo hellishly restrictive for a child to grow up in an urban environment. He suffers not only emotionally,but developmentally as well. He asks us regularly to move to a place with more nature.

Read Last Child in the Woods. It's a good start for helping re-examine modern lifestyles.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#357

Post by why15characters »

Nomentatus wrote: post #334
why15characters wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There's a massive difference in taste You feel that way, but all evidence says otherwise. >and an objective measure that correlates well with this - namely, the thickness of the collagen sheath just underneath the shell Measuring that is objective, but there is no evidence it correlates with taste at all. >(eggs being single cells.) I honestly don't know how to say this nicely. You expect people to take your pseudo-…

Next you'll be saying that all carrots taste the same. Or wheat (my grandfather was an elevator operator - it doesn't at all according to his account, due principally to local soil conditions - different geology.) Science isn't whatever meets your expectations. While the egg isn't functioning as one big working cell, it's not made of cells, it is what became of just one cell. More here if you want the discussion. htt…

>Science isn't whatever meets your expectations.

That's what I am telling you. I didn't say anything about my expectations. You made a claim, I told you to provide evidence.

>While the egg isn't functioning as one big working cell, it's not made of cells, it is what became of just one cell.

No it isn't. The single cell you are thinking of is the ovum. The egg yolk is the equivalent to the placenta in a mammal. It is not something that grows from the ovum. And why would I want to see random people on reddit arguing about it? Facts are facts, regardless of what people say on reddit. An egg yolk is categorically and empirically not a single cell, and not part of or made from the ovum. Do you not see the irony of trying to tell me what science is, then posting random people arguing as "evidence"? I suppose I am supposed to only read the posts repeating the same misconception you have, and ignore the ones pointing out the same facts I gave you?

>As for what healthy eggs looked like, I'm guessing you haven't spent much time on a farm

Maybe you should stick to facts instead of silly and irrelevant assumptions. I am on my farm right now. I have 20 chanteclers sleeping about 30 yards away from where I am sitting right now. I haven't bought an egg in decades. None of this has anything to do with your baseless claims. If you want people to believe your claims, you need to provide evidence, not ad-homs. Once again, your claim is purely objective. If it is true, then you can provide evidence. So do that. Show me the evidence linking membrane thickness to taste or nutrition.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#358

Post by why15characters »

bogomipz wrote: post #278
why15characters wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's easy to talk about how awesome it is when you basically are selling insanely overpriced boutique goods (organic, free-range, etc) to yuppies who are willing to pay triple for their calories. Most of the hipster microgreen crowd aren't even making their money that way, they are making it by scamming other hipsters into trying to do that by acting like anyone can make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year sell…

>"Most of the hipster microgreen crowd aren't even making their money that way, they are making it by scamming other hipsters into trying to do that by acting like anyone can make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year selling $10/pound lettuce to hipster restaurants." Can you elaborate on this? What exactly is the scam? How does the scam work?

The ones that actually sell produce bring people to their "farms" as unpaid interns to do all their labor for free. People do this work for free because they are told it will give them the experience needed to start making 6 figures growing lettuce in someone else's backyard. In reality, the market for overpriced lettuce is already saturated and you can only make six figures doing that if you have an established relationship with restaurants who will buy overpriced lettuce, and you get all your labor for free.

Lots of them don't even do that, they just sell "seminars" and "coaching" and "intensive workshops" to teach people how to grow lettuce.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#359

Post by Nimitz14 »

planteen wrote: post #352
oliv__ wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this even a question?

Can you show me a quality metric where American fruits or vegetables are consistently different compared to other countries? These are commodities, after all, so there is little differentiation. Is it visually, callorically, or nutritionally different somehow? I immediate went to visually, because one does notice this in the US compared to Latin America. Everyone is jumping on me about tomatoes, but Europe has the sa…

> Europe has the same bland greenhouse tomatoes in my experience.

Try any Mediterranean country (France is included in that btw).

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#360

Post by kakarot »

queeerkopf wrote: post #103
kakarot wrote: post #36

I spent some time working and living on a farm run by someone under 35. I'm not sure how much their personality and lack of managerial skills ultimately contributed to their inability to turn a profit, as they certainly had cashflow, but it also occurred to me while I was working there that the kind of farm we had (10 - 20 acre, general organic produce) was a nice thought but without extensive community support (some…

Something similiar already exists if i understood you correctly. Look up 'community supported agriculture' (CSA).

But those are mostly localized and unorganized farms, right?
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