The short answer is -- yes, I just spent 10 years (yes, 10 years!) in graduate school, and now I'm farming. We couldn't be happier with our decision. One of the things we find to be the hardest about this decision is explaining it to other people, and for me, feeling like I have to justify our choice.
The short of it is this -- we wanted a slower paced life, a simpler life, a life where we could provide for ourselves as opposed to going to work all day to make money to pay people to do the things we couldn't do for ourselves because we were at work. We fully recognize that we are totally fortunate to be able to let go of our full time jobs in order to make this life for ourselves. We are working towards being able to make enough income from our farm to stop relying on savings.
Our goal for the first year was to get some infrastructure in place -- build a chicken coop, make a garden, get some beehives, install a greenhouse, etc. We've gotten a lot accomplished this year, but we still have so many basic infrastructure things on our horizon -- finishing the greenhouse (that is an entire blog post itself -- maybe more than one), building a root cellar, establishing a business plan (this is a biggie -- we have no business experience)….the list goes on.
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| Gratuitous picture of Oliver being adorable. |
As far as using our degrees, missing research, etc. -- I really don't feel like my time in graduate school was for not. There are a lot of basic biological principles that we apply to our lives here daily. Having Anna's vet degree comes in handy at least once a day. She's acutely aware of things that I wouldn't even notice -- a puffy eye on a chicken, the way an animal's gait changes when they're in pain, etc. We have some pretty big plans to expand our animals here in the next couple years (stand by for more info), and I know that her skills will be invaluable when that time comes. And as far as research is concerned -- there are, indeed, agricultural journals, and I have a couple friends who have published in them regarding some experimental techniques, etc. We aren't looking to do that in the near future, but I'm certain it will be something we do in time. Additionally, all the time we both spent in school instilled a great desire to always be learning. While I believe that one can always be learning no matter what your profession, I feel this is especially true in what we've decided to do. Neither of us grew up farming -- Anna has always had a garden, but so much of this is new to us. The learning curve is steep…and sometimes unforgiving. The amount we've learned in the past year is mind boggling, and I know we have more to learn yet…and always.
Going back to the why of it all -- I really love living more in tune with nature and the seasons. It just seems the more natural way to be. In the summer, we're full of energy and life -- things are growing, the days are long and warm, and we are just more energized. In the winter, things have settled -- the growing has stopped (or at least slowed), the days are short, dark, and cold, and we find ourselves wanting more sleep and less chaos. You can easily see these trends in nature -- both plants and animals are more active in the summer and spend a lot of that time preparing for winter when things are slower and less abundant. Obviously, not all plants/animals fit into this mold, but you get the idea (the biologist in me required that caveat).
This aspect of our decision was a big one for me. I truly believe that this cyclical pattern to life is essential instead of the go-go-go to which we've all become so accustomed. Clearly, you don't have to change your entire life to do this, but for us, it was the right thing. We wanted a life that was more centered on living. Ironically, or maybe not, it is just this thing that has been the hardest for me lately. I have become totally unable to happily have a slower winter. It's like I have ants in my pants. We have quite the winter projects list, and yet, I feel like I'm not doing anything….and it is driving me CRAZY!
This is something I've really been working on since moving up here -- learning how to chill out. I blame my 10 years of graduate school for this one. Even after we've spent the day doing a ton of stuff around here, I often have the feeling that I didn't do any 'work' that day. It is hard for me to grasp that what we used to do on the weekends is now what we do all the time….and on a grander scale.
One of the things that a lot of people who ask us the 'why' question think is that we're not doing anything with ourselves, that we've basically stopped working just because we haven't followed the traditional paths after graduate school. I find, for me, that even I'm struggling with the valuation of the work that we're doing here, so I have to understand when other people think we've lost it. In my heart, I know we're doing a lot of work, and we're doing good work. I'm still working on getting my mind to agree, and that's ok.
So, in short (or not so short), this is why we do what we do. And with that….
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| …and gratuitous Olive to break up the long flow of text with her cuteness. |
Going back to the why of it all -- I really love living more in tune with nature and the seasons. It just seems the more natural way to be. In the summer, we're full of energy and life -- things are growing, the days are long and warm, and we are just more energized. In the winter, things have settled -- the growing has stopped (or at least slowed), the days are short, dark, and cold, and we find ourselves wanting more sleep and less chaos. You can easily see these trends in nature -- both plants and animals are more active in the summer and spend a lot of that time preparing for winter when things are slower and less abundant. Obviously, not all plants/animals fit into this mold, but you get the idea (the biologist in me required that caveat).
This aspect of our decision was a big one for me. I truly believe that this cyclical pattern to life is essential instead of the go-go-go to which we've all become so accustomed. Clearly, you don't have to change your entire life to do this, but for us, it was the right thing. We wanted a life that was more centered on living. Ironically, or maybe not, it is just this thing that has been the hardest for me lately. I have become totally unable to happily have a slower winter. It's like I have ants in my pants. We have quite the winter projects list, and yet, I feel like I'm not doing anything….and it is driving me CRAZY!
This is something I've really been working on since moving up here -- learning how to chill out. I blame my 10 years of graduate school for this one. Even after we've spent the day doing a ton of stuff around here, I often have the feeling that I didn't do any 'work' that day. It is hard for me to grasp that what we used to do on the weekends is now what we do all the time….and on a grander scale.
One of the things that a lot of people who ask us the 'why' question think is that we're not doing anything with ourselves, that we've basically stopped working just because we haven't followed the traditional paths after graduate school. I find, for me, that even I'm struggling with the valuation of the work that we're doing here, so I have to understand when other people think we've lost it. In my heart, I know we're doing a lot of work, and we're doing good work. I'm still working on getting my mind to agree, and that's ok.
So, in short (or not so short), this is why we do what we do. And with that….
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| …gratuitous Baxter, looking adorable as always. |
I read the first half of this post the day you posted it and then got sidetracked. I finally am catching up on things and came to your blog first to catch up. This post is fabulous. Everything you said makes sense to me. You know we recently moved to some land in the country, but your farm and what you do there is on a completely different level than how we live. I still work at the university in town and my life depends on the semester cycles rather than the natural one. I would love to be able to live the way you have chosen to live, but that's just not possible for us right now. Keep on updating us. Your blog is my favorite of all the ones I read and I love knowing what you're up to way up north. (And the pup pictures were a fantastic addition to this post, too!)
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