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  • From: <somersfarm AT dishmail.net>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] vacation weekend question
  • Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 09:23:41 -0400

Would love to have some time off the farm, but it is nearly impossible.  We have a dairy business as well as a garden/farmstand business. Who do you find qualified to milk and care for cows, multiple greenhouses, gardens, tend to the farm stand and make last min. decisions about a lot of different issues that arise during just one day’s work?   Our girls are away at college, (1 works with us in the summer)  There is no time for a vacation and to train someone to do all aspects of our job for even a day or two is really very unrealistic.  On the flip side, we love what we do…because otherwise we would go crazy with the work we have to do each day.  This year has been particularly difficult.  We lost two high tunnels this winter (all within 5 min. of each other) , we have had endless rain, but thankfully we are blessed with no flooding where we are!  Incredibly blessed!!!  

My husbands dad, a life time dairy farmer always said that the definition of “Vacation” is “Doing something different” .  Not really today’s definition. 

I feel in all honesty that my husband and I made the decision for this lifestyle.  We are not in a position to have a vacation.  Others perhaps can and it is advisable to do so…perhaps not in the middle of the summer when there is so much going on.  It is good to get away and rest! 

We were part of a Farm Viability Program and this was one of the big issues that came up?  Who can do our work in the case of severe injury or illness?  Not just who can fill in for a vacation.  It is a topic that does demand some thought and a plan. 

 

Kathy Somers

Somers Family Farm

Barnet, VT  05821

visit us on www.facebook.com/somersfamilyfarmstand

 


From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of KAKerby AT aol.com
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 1:48 AM
To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [Market-farming] vacation weekend question

 

Here we are on the eve of Memorial Day weekend (and a big thank you to all you veterans out there!), and I have a question for the group.  How many of you are willing, able, and maybe actually insist upon, taking vacation time during the year?  Maybe not Memorial Day Monday, July 4th or or a trip to Disneyland per se.  But the topic has come up a few times amongst local growers here, in terms of whether "real farmers" ever take time off.  I've known members of both camps ("heck yes we demand our vacation" versus "heck no farmers don't get time off").  I'm not firmly in either camp so far.  I do enjoy some downtime once in awhile.  But that downtime may simply be a few hours spent with a good book rather than a dedicated "vacation" spent traveling to some distant place.  I've even seen this topic linked to such far reaching subjects as bringing new farmers into the profession after experiencing non-farming employment benefits, protecting existing farmers from burnout (ie, quality of life issues), the values of getting off the home place and getting to conferences and symposiums to share new ideas, etc.  Those desirables are compared to the burdens of finding qualified personnel to care for livestock, greenhouses and field crops during our absence, and how to handle family emergencies that take us away from the farm for more than a few hours.  I've already had far too much experience with that last topic and I still haven't resolved that issue yet.  I'd be curious what the members of this group think about time off and/or time away from the farm, planned or otherwise.  Comments?

Kathryn Kerby

frogchorusfarm.com

Snohomish, WA

Ruminations - essays on the farming life at frogchorusfarm.com/weblog.html




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