When they say the goal of many a software engineer is to become a farmer, it’s quietly implied that you have to first make bank as a software engineer and then farm as a hobby while at least semi-retired rather than depending on it for survival.
I know people who are doing this and are happy. Half time spent farming, half time CEOing a software startup (not a silicon valley hustle culture 996 one though), and you get to take meetings in your own personal forest.
I’m actually on my first year of sort of doing this. I wouldn’t say I made bank, but I make enough that I could buy a house with an acre and an adjacent partially wooded lot with another acre that I’ll hopefully be able to split between crops and some livestock in the next few years. For now I’m starting small with 1/8th of an acre and just growing the same stuff we always grew in the garden but on a bigger scale plus a few rows of corn and a patch of sunflowers.
My company doesn’t care when I do my work so I can spend half the day in the field no problem and clock a couple hours at night, as long as I get something done no one bothers me.
It’s been extra cool because the house is an original farmhouse from the early 1900s with an original barn, water lines and even power running out there too so being able to fix everything up myself and bring the land back to it’s original glory has really brought something much needed back into my soul.
I will say thought it is fucking expensive even after buying the land.
Do you have any foresty bits on your acre? That’s honestly peak luxury in some ways. Person I mentioned in the previous comment has a forested knoll with a great view, but enough tree cover that you can avoid the sun.
Fixing things up on your own truly is magical. I do it with cars more than my home (because the former is often cheaper and quicker and I buy cheap-ass formerly-luxury beaters usually), but this summer I have some plans for my house as well.
When they say the goal of many a software engineer is to become a farmer, it’s quietly implied that you have to first make bank as a software engineer and then farm as a hobby while at least semi-retired rather than depending on it for survival.
I know people who are doing this and are happy. Half time spent farming, half time CEOing a software startup (not a silicon valley hustle culture 996 one though), and you get to take meetings in your own personal forest.
I’m actually on my first year of sort of doing this. I wouldn’t say I made bank, but I make enough that I could buy a house with an acre and an adjacent partially wooded lot with another acre that I’ll hopefully be able to split between crops and some livestock in the next few years. For now I’m starting small with 1/8th of an acre and just growing the same stuff we always grew in the garden but on a bigger scale plus a few rows of corn and a patch of sunflowers.
My company doesn’t care when I do my work so I can spend half the day in the field no problem and clock a couple hours at night, as long as I get something done no one bothers me.
It’s been extra cool because the house is an original farmhouse from the early 1900s with an original barn, water lines and even power running out there too so being able to fix everything up myself and bring the land back to it’s original glory has really brought something much needed back into my soul.
I will say thought it is fucking expensive even after buying the land.
Do you have any foresty bits on your acre? That’s honestly peak luxury in some ways. Person I mentioned in the previous comment has a forested knoll with a great view, but enough tree cover that you can avoid the sun.
Fixing things up on your own truly is magical. I do it with cars more than my home (because the former is often cheaper and quicker and I buy cheap-ass formerly-luxury beaters usually), but this summer I have some plans for my house as well.