Luckily my uncle and aunt had a large farm, where my mother used to send me and my sister for a couple of weeks, every summer - at least for me that pretty much killed any romantic idea of what farm life is like.
In fact, I'm also very grateful that I got to try a wide range of shitty manual labor job as a student. So many people would kill for a cushy office job.
EDIT: Might I also add, I think some engineers - especially those that have reached FIRE, enjoy the idea of LARPing a homestead / farming life. If you have enough money to not feel the stress, you can have a smaller farm.
The harsh reality is that operating a small farm can be brutal. You're at the very bottom of the food-chain, as far as the agricultural business goes.
My dad built houses. Sometimes, like another poster here, I think about how his work will be around for decades if not centuries (they were nice houses). I think about how I might feel if I had kept his business going, maybe worked to expand it. Then I think about being 16, leaving the house at six to go pour concrete piers and being exhausted and caked in mud and cement by lunchtime. And how it felt a lot less exciting on the first Friday than it did on the first Monday.
Similar story here. My grandparents had a farm and had cows (dairy). Even by the time I was around, they had mostly wound down operations and had semi-retired.
They still had some dairy cows though.. and I still remember (over 30 years later!) the almost physical wall of smell that assaulted you going into that barn when it was all closed up because it was -20ºF outside. Nothing romantic about that!
None of my family worked on a farm. But, literally one time I went to visit a friend whose family farmed. We all spent some time digging up some kind of root vegetable. It was fun because it was with friends but also, it would absolutely suck to do for a living, haha.
What gets me about the homesteading fantasy: it’s, like, so incredibly easy to disabuse oneself of the notion that digging up tubers is a good time.
>In fact, I'm also very grateful that I got to try a wide range of shitty manual labor job as a student. So many people would kill for a cushy office job.
Working a couple warehouse jobs when in college provided me with some valuable perspective.
In fact, I'm also very grateful that I got to try a wide range of shitty manual labor job as a student. So many people would kill for a cushy office job.
EDIT: Might I also add, I think some engineers - especially those that have reached FIRE, enjoy the idea of LARPing a homestead / farming life. If you have enough money to not feel the stress, you can have a smaller farm.
The harsh reality is that operating a small farm can be brutal. You're at the very bottom of the food-chain, as far as the agricultural business goes.