[brianshaler]

I used to work in software sales in a call center. I hated my job and the highlight of my week was the Monday burrito special down the street at a place where the employees shouted "Welcome to Moe's!" whenever customers entered. When thinks ultimately fell apart at that job, I went to Moe's and somehow managed to get a job despite a lack of food service experience. I lasted a while—months, I think—but eventually got fired.

I don't know that there's a moral to that, but I guess I tend to look at the urge to bail and go to unskilled (or really, differently-skilled) labor less as a virtuous thing and more a sign that some in-place re-evaluation is needed with mental health in mind.

I still occasionally say "I should become a farmer" but take it more as a sign that there's something I probably need to address within my current situation and/or I need to get back on the wagon of going on morning walks.

[raffraffraff]

Oof, never become a farmer. Farming is generally something you (reluctantly?) inherit along with the farm. It's insanely expensive to buy your way in. Even if you inherit the land, the cost of buying and upkeep of machinery is extremely expensive. Everything you invest after that point (in livestock, seed, fuel, time) is a risk. Bad luck or bad weather can ruin a crop. The hours are long. The stress is monumental - suddenly you really care about the weather. And unlike some small tech startups you absolutely have to employ people, but the people who end up working as farm labourers "fall" into it because they can't do anything else (kinda like the building trade). Not that you'll be complaining when you have to pay their wages. No you'll complain when the umpteenth stupid costly mistake is made.

Unless you're thinking about larping as a farm labourer, runaway.

[daemin]

I think when tech people think of becoming a farmer they're thinking of doing something small like this https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/gourmet-farmer and maybe something like Clarkson's Farm (Series on Amazon Prime) rather than going to build and manage a modern industrial farm.

In some ways this idea of becoming a farmer can be thought of as rich people cosplaying at being a farmer rather than actually running a for-profit farm. For some this might work out and be an actual career that they are good at, but for others it might just be a hobby.

Though both the TV shows I mentioned show how much hard work there is in actually running a farm and producing food.

[sandworm101]

Hence the term "hobby farm". It is a retirement dream: buy some land, hire some locals to do the lifting, and spend a few months each year pretending to be a farmer ... but one not fettered by financial concerns. Such people toy with various farm-related schemes but invariably settle in to a low-work pace with a few farm animals as pets, a back acre strewn with the various implements they bought and discarded after a season or two. Clarkson seems pretty open about this. I'm not sure whether he means to be entertaining, to show the absurdity of the process, or whether he actually enjoys it.

[lostlogin]

> Clarkson seems pretty open about this. I'm not sure whether he means to be entertaining, to show the absurdity of the process

He has made a career out of his behaviour. He seems to have mellowed now, and hasn’t punched anyone in the face lately.

His views on climate change, race, homosexuality and probably anything else you can name were aimed at being funny or offensive, depending on your perspective.

[tempfile]

Worth noting that Clarkson's farm would have been a catastrophic failure but for the money pumped into it by the TV show.

[daemin]

I think it's made clear in the show that just running the farm by itself would not be profitable, and if lucky would break even. Other farmers in the area are in far worse situations financially as they do not have a TV show as a sponsor.

Granted he did go and try things which seemed nice but were ultimately unprofitable - big tractor, sheep farming, etc.

[tempfile]

Yeah, it's a good show. I just mean that regarding the original point (tech workers fantasising about farms are deluding themselves) the counter "they are thinking of something like Clarkson's farm" still conforms with them deluding themselves.

[gopher_space]

> somehow managed to get a job despite a lack of food service experience. I lasted a while—months, I think—but eventually got fired.

Bit of a tangent; I switch between knowledge work and labor a bit, and the biggest mistake I see people make is not altering their caloric intake or sleep schedule.

[bulletninja]

Could you elaborate on that? Altering caloric intake and sleep schedule as a reaction to what? And how would you change between the two regimes? Increase/decrease how much? etc.

[mathgeek]

Not GP, but being on your feet all day will lead to needing more calories and sleep for proper recovery.

[jorvi]

I can't speak to sleep, but you are wrong about the calories.

Kurzgesagt has a really interesting video on it: https://youtu.be/lPrjP4A_X4s

The caloric part quite blew my mind. I know its not the most scientific source but digging deeper in it it does seem to match up.

[_heimdall]

This is one in a long list of reasons why I continue to view calories as a useless measure. I don't really give a damn about how much water I can heat up by burning my food, that's not how my digestion system works. It was a reasonable enough analog when we had a very rudimentary understanding both of what's really in food and how digestion and the metabolic process works, but its horribly outdated today.

I can say having recently gone from coding at a desk 8 hours a day to working full-time on a farm with no heavy equipment, your food intake absolutely should increase. As long as I'm staying busy I can eat basically whatever I want and not feel sick or gain weight. That's not to imply that I don't still need to eat the right kinds of food as well, but volume and calorie count has no noticeable effect on me like it did when I had a sedentary job.

[gopher_space]

> I can say having recently gone from coding at a desk 8 hours a day to working full-time on a farm with no heavy equipment, your food intake absolutely should increase.

Yeah I think people are missing the transition phase of this equation.

[aaronbrethorst]

Herman Pontzer, an anthropology professor, talks quite a bit about a study he did on the calorie needs of people who are highly active on this podcast: https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-podcast/examining-energy-evoluti...

Spoiler alert: you burn basically the same number of calories per day sitting on your butt as you do being quite physically active.

[nh2]

No, that's wrong.

Somebody else burns the same number of calories being active as you do sitting.

The article does not compare the the same individuals performing sitting vs. being active.

It says that members of hunter-gatherer tribes such as the Hadza on average consume as much energy per day as US-Americans sitting on their butt at home. It says the Hadza's bodies have adapted to perform a more exhausting task with less energy expenditure than US-Americans need.

But the same person (being a Hazda or US-American) will still need more energy being active than being inactive.

(Source: Read from "here's what we know so far" in the article.)

This is similar to finding that from N calories, an obese person may only run 1km while a professional marathon runner will run 5km.

Edit:

The Kurzgesagt video refers to the same Hazda people, and states that if you start working out after being sedentary for a while, you burn a lot more calories, until your body eventually adapts: https://youtu.be/lPrjP4A_X4s?feature=shared&t=212

[Alupis]

> Herman Pontzer, an anthropology professor

> you burn basically the same number of calories per day sitting on your butt as you do being quite physically active

Can you provide more evidence for this, because it sounds entirely bogus. Perhaps you mean one's base metabolic rate? If you are physically active, you will consume more calories than sitting all day - because, you know, you are exerting yourself.

Also, an anthropology professor is not a credible source on diet, exercise, fitness and health.

[lostlogin]

> you burn basically the same number of calories per day sitting on your butt as you do being quite physically active.

I think I’m missing your point. How do you explain weight loss from exercising?

[tomalbrc]

What kind of reference is a "Kurzgesagt" video please? Not only has the this channel been in more controversies than needed, they seem to also spread missinformation

[jorvi]

Someone already linked the actual research in this post thread a few hours before you responded, which you willfully ignored just to.. try to score some cheap contrarian points?

I'm not going to engage with that, go troll somewhere else. Bye :)

[mkatx]

As I understood, kurzgesagt is produced by scientific consensus from a large number of scientists.

As a big fan, I'd be interested in hearing more about the controversy and misinformation.

[magpi3]

This happened to me, and I actually did it. I burned out of an IT job and joined an intentional community where I worked with people with disabilities on a farm. There was also a vegetable garden and a craft shop. I lived there for two years. It was an Americorps position, and I made $150 a month (although housing and food from the organic farm were all free). Probably the most formative two years of my life, although afterward it was definitely hard to explain to employers why I decided to take an Americorps position in my 30s. I never went back to work in IT, although I still read about programming/the IT world almost every day.

[Cthulhu_]

Farming is a pretty big thing though, if you want to get into that it might be better off buying property and slowly turning it into a smallholding. Or work at a farm as a farmhand.

Anyway, not parent commenter specifically, but if you're in a situation where you have loads of money but don't know what to do with yourself, volunteer work is always an option, and there's loads of things you could do, be it formal volunteer work (e.g. homeless shelters, retirement homes) or informal (set up IT classes at your local library, go around your neighbourhood and pick up trash, pick up a conversation with a random lonely stranger)

[euroderf]

Maybe you needed to work with your hands for a while.

[sethammons]

My farmer near-equivalent is, "I hear janitorial work can be rewarding." No, I do enjoy software work, but sometimes I do just want to turn my mind off or not deal with all the politics

[ericmcer]

Customer service jobs are great because you feel useful and you never wake up stressed wondering if you will be able to do your work well that day.

I did 5 years at Trader Joe’s, would easily do it for 30 if they paid 150k lol.