What do you do for work?

Thekla McDaniels wrote:You don’t have to bend down,  there is crawling the rows, sitting on a stool or seat or kneeler or something.  Raised beds… just do it however it works for you!

I sorta covered this already: https://permies.com/t/287474/work#3242603

Gardening has never been something I'm really into. I enjoy helping my wife with our garden as her manual laborer and compost expert, and I adore my ever-growing collection of houseplants, but my thumb turns rapidly brown beyond that.

Besides, homesteading includes lots of activities--not just growing plants, but also making and fixing your own stuff and being generally self-sufficient. As I said in that comment upthread, I get savings and/or satisfaction from doing some of those activities, but not all of them, and in those cases I'm fine buying instead.

I don't do nearly enough self-sufficiency activities to call myself a "homesteader" and I don't feel any impulse to change my lifestyle so I can describe myself as one.

Anyway, that covers the "aspirations to homestead" part of the topic!

For over twenty-five years, I have been a member of the IUOE International Union of Operating Engineers.
I am now retired!
Working at first as a heavy equipment operator, then a short stint as a crane mechanic.
I have spent the last 23 years holding a national crane operator's license and working on large heavy construction sites around the North West.
Before that, I was many things, from a logging surveyor, to washing dishes at an Italian restaurant at 13 years old for $2 hr cash under the table.

I’m surprised nobody replied “housework” or “foraging” A combo of these is what I do. I also cut firewood and pick up odd jobs. Right now, i have a seasonal kitchen job in a diner. I basically try to live like Thoreau.

How fun to see what everyone does for work!

I own and manage niche dating sites, including GreenSingles.com. It's gratifying work. 25 years.

Hydrology & horticulture design, rainwater catchment systems, drylands/ temperate Edible Plantscapes, rare variety fruit/ nut/ berry collecting/ nursery/ orchards, hardwoods & fire regeneration forest management, site assessment/ precision LIDAR/ individual tree management GIS, most childcare/ kitchen/ domestic duties, all homestead cultivation/ repair/ maintenance/ upgrade works, etc.   Having four decades ago taken vows of poverty + to design interaction with nature, most of my potential + need for earning have been obviated, especially in working & living around subsistence threshold.  I do my best quite well to keep my little family modest in needs, wants, desires, appetites, ambitions, expenses.  

I carry the world on my back.

Sure, I’ll jump in………

Veterinary medicine was my lifetime passion until 9/11.  Veterinary medicine provided an excellent education and experience that I still value today. But 9/11 hit me to my core, so I decided to retire and take up homestead style farming, build our own house, feed ourselves (hubby and I), and escape from the madness of the Eastcoast (Washington DC to New York City corridor).  Farming was what I had always wanted ever since I was a kid. Even tried talking my parents into letting me attend agricultural high school, but alas, that was forbidden. But I never lost my love for growing things or for learning about old style homestead farming.  

Transitioning to our current lifestyle was difficult and challenging. And most difficult of all——we had to lower our expectations and  shed most of our Eastcoast lifestyle.

So now I homestead. It supports us just fine and provides enough extra for us to be comfortable. The farm isn’t fancy. We don’t have lots fancy toys, but we don’t desire them. Nothing is fancy in our lives, but that’s not what our lives are about. Hubby helps out when needed on the homestead, but he keeps himself busy having a private cat sanctuary.

When not otherwise occupied, I volunteer at the local dog & cat spay/neuter clinic each month. And I put about 20 hours a week into volunteering for my community by growing veggies (not on my farm), manning a booth at the town farmers market, teaching home food production, and helping at the local food hub (soup kitchen, food giveaways, etc).

30 year IT person here for a Fortune 500 company specifically teaching DevOps.  

We don't really have a "homestead" only 1/4 acre but we have peach and pear trees that we process and pressure can the juice, jelly, and butter off of.  We have some small garden beds and a 10 x 30 ft green house.  No livestock, possibly quail in the future, just not sure yet.

Very interesting thread, loads of folks in IT and health-related jobs!

I'm currently in my 2nd year of PhD in Anthropology (with scholarship), with a Master in Conservation Biology and a Professional Permaculture Certificate (which so far has yielded nothing). I hope to continue on this path and try to somehow get permaculture into my academic work, but so far, I've met a lot of resistance. Maybe someday I'll be able to create some kind of Permaculture homestead. Fingers crossed!

Happy to meet everyone <3

Darya Sevastópolska wrote: I hope to continue on this path and try to somehow get permaculture into my academic work, but so far, I've met a lot of resistance.

I just watched a video about Terra preta, which was researched by Archeologists if not Anthropologists - I admit I'm not sure how those two groups divvy up their areas of expertise. However, looking at how ancient civilizations maintained fertility in some areas and not others seems to support permaculture knowledge. Many permaculture techniques did arise from older, indigenous practices.

Darya Sevastópolska wrote:Very interesting thread, loads of folks in IT and health-related jobs!

I'm currently in my 2nd year of PhD in Anthropology (with scholarship), with a Master in Conservation Biology and a Professional Permaculture Certificate (which so far has yielded nothing). I hope to continue on this path and try to somehow get permaculture into my academic work, but so far, I've met a lot of resistance. Maybe someday I'll be able to create some kind of Permaculture homestead. Fingers crossed!

Happy to meet everyone <3

This book came to mind when I was reading your post. It may be interesting for you to read his journey through academia, if you have not already read it. I cannot relate to that part of the book, in the way you may be able to, as I have been in the trades since high school. Maybe it'll be an inspiration.

https://permies.com/wiki/21322/Straw-Revolution-Masanobu-Fukuoka

Late to the party....

I did roughly 30 years in supply chain/logistics in different industries mostly inventory management.  5 years ago, I was looking for a challenge and fell into industrial maintence fora  'factory food' manufacturer in the midwest.   I sold my project property in Texas and am now looking for the next turn of the wheel...

I have been dreaming of a 'greening the desert' project for several years; but have my eye on a place in Costa Rica that would 'retire me' to raise liverstock in Central America should all the stars align.  

Police officer. Love the flexibility of working evenings so I can have the mornings to work on the property. Also enjoy being able to get out and around the city instead of being cooped up indoors all day.

Eventually when the pension kicks in I hope to spend more time around the property (and hopefully have lots of grandkids by then).

I love hearing what people like about their jobs!

I went into hydrogeology and water resources. After I got into the field, I pivoted more toward data and records management (stuff that no one wants to deal with but needs to happen!) and ended up with a remote job as a data engineer. This job sounded promising at first but I found that they did not have a lot for me to do (which drove me crazy!) and then they decided to have everyone return to the office (after a bunch of us had been approved to move out of state) and I left.

I've been fortunate enough to have a husband that can support both of us especially since we started living below our means back when we had two incomes. I've been able to volunteer my time a lot within our local community and started pursuing SkIP soon after leaving my remote tech job. I actually just got offered a part-time job as a kitchen manager at the local senior center which I will start next week! I am super excited to grow my cooking and kitchen management skills while being useful to my community.

I work at a hotel as an engineer (work on commercial laundry equipment). Before I moved to Hawai’i I worked construction and was a commercial fisherman. I also managed a small tropical fruit farm. I also have a one acre farm that my wife and I are bringing back to production, cleaning years of trash left over from years of squatters.

I'm a geology prof! I'm what you might call mid-career, but I just relocated and started over at a different university. I research the geochemistry of natural systems to better understand how Earth's deep chemical processes really work, but I spend most of my time teaching undergraduates and the occasional graduate student about rocks and minerals. I love teaching and thinking about geologic puzzles, so it's been the perfect career path for me. I think I will do it until I don't want to anymore, which might work out to be around retirement age.

I honestly don't really think of myself as a homesteader, but I love doing things with my hands and figuring out how things work, and I love eating fresh fruits and vegetables, so I suppose I am essentially becoming one! I've gradually worked my way up from my first house, with a tiny yard where I put in my first little keyhole garden of mixed vegetable beds and an alternative wildflower lawn; to a third of an acre with a few fruit trees and vegetable beds and my first hand-built wood frame greenhouse; to the new property. We now have 3 acres of mostly compacted former horse pasture, but about half an acre of it is wooded. We're planting and planning our vineyard, the forest garden orchard, the veggie beds, wildflower meadows, the woodland understory additions, and a windbreak hedge. Putting the solar on the barn, and planning the house renovation so we can work from home and give our menagerie of animals a happy place to live (and add an attached greenhouse for my plants!). Gradually turning this property over to the kind of home that can feed us and keep us happily living with nature.