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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] time management for off-farm jobs

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  • From: "Beth Spaugh" <lists AT rhomestead.com>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] time management for off-farm jobs
  • Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2011 17:23:40 -0400

Generally, livestock production is much less labor intensive than vegetable production. Plant to beds to pasture, let the animals graze.

 

Beth Spaugh

Rehoboth Homestead, Peru NY

http://rhomestead.com      facebook/rhomestead

 

"How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." - Wendell Berry

"Without power over our food, any notion of democracy is empty." - Frances Moore Lappe

 

 


From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of KAKerby AT aol.com
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 1:31 PM
To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [Market-farming] time management for off-farm jobs

 

Hey all, our time at market this year has come and gone.  We just didn't earn quite enough per week to stay through the season, and our spring was so late we didn't get enough into the ground to really try to switch over to other marketing options mid-season.  So yours truly is headed back to off-farm work.  (insert sound of heavy sigh here)

 

I was very fortunate in my previous corporate job that I was able to work from home.  So I set things up here with the assumption that I'd be here to make the most of breaks in the weather, deliver unexpected livestock young-uns, and otherwise be immediately available even when I was "on the clock".  Now, however, finances and hiring conditions dictate that I commute at least 45 minutes in each direction.  The money will be nice (that's how we're going to pay for our Farmall C), but I find myself wondering how I'm going to juggle the time management aspect of things.

 

We've sold off the livestock that would be easy to replace later  But we still have a lot of animals here that I have deemed too valuable to offload for what is hopefully a short-term situation.  And of course we have planting bed management to consider, even if things go fallow well into next year.  I'm also fretting about time spent on morning and evening chores, storm response and basics like winter housing that won't require my monitoring for things like frozen water, wind chill, etc.  For those of you in similar positions, or who had similar situations, what did you do that really made the difference?  Any mistakes you made that you'd suggest I avoid?  Any "a-ha" moments that you'd care to share about juggling farm work and off-farm office work?  Thanks in advance......

Kathryn Kerby

frogchorusfarm.com

Snohomish, WA

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




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