Farming

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Anyone ever work on a farm for the season? I visited a guy's little farm in his yard kinda deal, and I had a bit of a "wow, this is what I wanna do" kind of epiphany. I mean, seems like it'd be ideal, you get to be outside, get a little exercise and stuff, and then also, not too many people. I don't know, as a kid, my father had me do all kinds of gardening and farm work, and I'm generally good at diagnosing machinery with what's going wrong with it. Overall, it seems like it might be a good job for me. That, and in general, I grew up in a bit more rural of a place as a kid, so it sorta feels "natural" if that makes any sense.

So, what's anyone else's opinions on this? Anyone ever work on a farm? What was it like?

Never worked on a farm, but my family had gardens at several places we lived. The first one I remember was at the first house I lived in, before I was 5. At the next house we had gardens several times. We were there many years. My father also planted several fruit trees, but nothing much ever came from them. I had a flower garden of my own, with a few veggies at one place, but we moved before the summer was over, so I didn't get much out of the garden. We were only at that house one year. The next place was a town house apartment. I didn't bother gardening there. The following place one of my brother's and I had a garden with a number of different veggies. The slugs killed most of the sunflower stalks, and the squirrels lopped off the heads on most of the rest of them, and carried them to a tree stump nearby. It made a great table for them.

Farming with machinery is very expensive and intensive, and takes a lot of land. I would suggest instead a market garden, that can be handled without a tractor. Do raised bed gardening, and use a tiller to start the beds. I would also like to suggest you read up on it. Start with "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. He also wrote a sequel that covers more about making money with your garden, but I can't remember the name of it at the moment. I own both, but the books are currently at my parents summer home, and they are currently at their winter home. Mel Bartholomew had a gardening program on PBS for a number of years, some years ago. He is probably dead now, but he wrote in the same easy manner that he spoke on TV.

The nice things about a home based market garden are that they don't need as much land, so they are cheaper; they don't need expensive farm equipment, so that makes it cheaper; and the size is more manageable for smaller numbers of people--even for one person. Also, you get plenty of fresh air and exercise, and most of your dealings with people are when it comes time to sell your produce. On the other hand you could just grow enough for yourself and not do any selling, but then you would need an income from some other source.

Do look into this. The local library will have lots of books on gardening, as this is a popular subject, but one where it is still possible to make some money, even with a lot of others doing it, too.

My first real job was on a farm, so was my second. Aspects of the work were good: outdoors, not a lot of people, repetitive in a good way, a little variety in a good way. I have fine motor delays, however. They really showed up in some types of work, like vegetable picking and machinery. Also, I have bug issues and they could really get to me when trying to pick something like beans, which hide under leaves.

However, I excelled in animal handling, care and feeding. I quickly knew when a horse, cow, sheep, pig, or dog was having an "off day". Sometimes this meant they were ill, other times they were getting ready to give birth. I was slower with cleaning out stalls than other people, but I worked out an arrangement to get paid by the day rather than the hour so that my speed wasn't an issue. Once all my tasks were done, I was done. If I wanted to spend the night babysitting a sick or breeding animal, I could. Sometimes it was really needed and I got paid for that. Other times it was my gut telling me that X needed extra help and if I couldn't justify it by morning, then it was on my own dime. Totally fair.

These were my, personal limitations and where I excelled. Sounds like you may have a knack for machinery like I had a knack for animals. Something is ALWAYS breaking on a farm and someone who is handy can be a real help. You might as well try working on one for a season - what's the worst that happens?

I worked on a farm for a guy that went to our church.
It was a lot of hard work.
There was hay to be made when the sun shined and corn that needed plowed / planted / sprayed / harvested / hauled / put into a corn crib.
Oats - that needed to be plowed, planted, sprayed, picked, hauled, put into a crib, turned every couple of days until it dried.
Cows that needed to be fed and milked twice a day, some farmers milks 3 times a day.
There was always fences that needed mended.
Barns that needed painted.
The house and sheds that needed constant maintenance.

Then the price of milk fell and the farmer couldn't afford to feed and milk the cows and the sprays gave him a disease - Parkinson disease and the natural gas company came along and drilled a couple of wells on his property and then all he had to do was put in a little corn, mow and bail hay and sell his produce to the Amish.

The bottom line was - there was always someone coming along telling the farmer that they could do your job better then you could and that they would do it for less money or for a time for free to take the job away from you.
I had the same experience working for a Nascar team in Mooresville NC...

The last time I bought corn off the guy, his wife did not allow me out into the field to pick my own - because she said I sue everyone - that was how I got my money.

The wife was a gold digger, the farmer never married until after his mom died and the woman was her nurse and saw they had money and latched ahold of him. She already had grandchildren and talked him into giving the farm to her children and grand children - so you need to remember - people who steals things usually ends up being suspect of anyone that isn't on the take like they are.
They have a scheme - a way figured out to bail them out - such as marrying someone who is rich.

I got ran over - hit from behind while driving my vehicle by a 18 wheeler. Broke my back - I would rather have my health then $99,000.00 for a lifetime of pain and suffering. And I was only 35 years old when the accident happened and I was at WORK / Working when the accident took place.

One thing I would say is BEWARE of farmers.
These people makes their money one penny at a time, hence they have to be real tight in order to save enough money to keep from starving to death and even when they have a good year - you never know when they might call it quits and you end up having no skills - other then farming, and no source of income - since they do not pay any unemployment insurance.

Its a real sucky job.
The cows pees and poops on you and you end up coming home smelling like turds and you never make enough money to support yourself the way you could - even if you had a job that paid $2.00 more a hour with benefits..

I worked on a dairy (farmers hours 5am-6pm x 7 days per week) in 1984, for room+board+$10 per week. Did it for seven months. Didn't analyze it from an AS perspective. Don't remember liking it. But have worked picking fruit and vegetables on farms since then. It's ok. A good way to avoid crowds.

There's an AS young lady on my street who works local dairy farms quite successfully. It seems to be her special interest.

If you enjoy it, it will be ideal. With world food insecurity issues arising and fuel shortages on the horizon (resulting in a need for more bent backs), it could be a good industry to get in early so you can build some expertise, thus increasing your employment value.

I worked on farms when I was young: about seven years mainly in pig production but also field work, dairy cows, egg production and various seasonal work in Denmark. I am female. This is my view:

A farm integrates everything in one place - it is the whole world while you're there. You are always at home and always at work in the same time (if you live on the farm). This means that you get to be extremely familiar with everything and never really have to leave home. You can also become very familiar with the people around you, and the social environment is stable - always the same people, always the same structure.

Farm work also integrates many different work types, so it is very varied. Duties include administrative work and indexing, computers, driving and maintaining machines, care for and handling of animals, horticulture, construction, architecture, engineering and so on. The work demands use of all your senses and mental and physical capabilities - analytical thought, vision, smell, hearing, taste, muscle strength, agility, speed, planning, empathy, investigative skills, improvisation, e.t.c. - the list goes on and on. That can make it satisfying compared to many 9-5 city jobs.

The work is routine based but varied and unpredictable. You'll end up in situations which you have to solve all by yourself in a hurry, and there is no instruction manual; it can even be a matter of life or death. Animals are unpredictable. The weather is unpredictable. Seasons can be unpredictable. Pests can be inevitable. Machines break down at inconvenient times e.t.c. Every day is full of surprises and sometimes severe scares.

My biggest problems were boredom (lack of career vision & progress), cultural/social misfit and health problems (stomach problem + asthma... don't have either anymore). These problems in combination, plus some ethical dilemmas, eventually convinced me that I didn't have a future in farming despite the aspects I like.

Would like to add that countryside culture & social norms often are very traditional and focused on sameness / kinship. That can be a hard nut to crack when you are a person who deviates from the norm and who (most important) don't easily connect with people. At least that was my experience as a girl in a traditionally male occupation. Although I also received great goodwill in some places, for the same reasons.

As a guy (I presume you are a guy) it will probably be easier for you to fit in - guys aren't expected to be a socially competent and outgoing as women, it is OK for guys to be a bit awkward.

Of course, for seasonal work above concerns don't matter. Farm work can be hard and it is easy to make mistakes when you are not used to it. However, it is a great experience and you learn a lot. I would just go for it - In fact, I would love to have a seasonal farm job even now.

I am currently buying 5 arces to start a subsistence farm on, and can't wait to be working for myself. I would suggest avoiding large farms, for the most part they are monoculture, and monotonous.



Do you have any land of your own to start cultivating? Even just a roof top can be profitable. Beekeeping requires almost no space and is really fascinating, as well very profitable, on top of that it requires little work since the bees do most everything themselves. Square foot gardening is also a great way to make some cash and not have a boss.