What do you do for work?

I know that some folks homestead full time while others have separate employment from their permaculture aspirations.

It has got me wondering... what does everyone do for work? Non-traditional work situations and unemployed/self employed/students/SAHM/SAHD welcome!

I'm curious to see if we find any themes that pop up.

I'll lead the way.

In my professional life, I work in industrial safety. I help make sure that everyone comes and leaves work with all of their fingers and toes.

I write software in support of an electronics manufacturing enterprise. I don't write the code that goes on our product, I write the code that's used in the manufacturing process. (And reporting to finance, etc.)

I would love to stop that and do something more land-based but I can't figure out how to pay the bills that way.

I own and run a tiny rural store, remote by UK standards. I used to work for an automotive company as an engineer, but we bought the shop when we moved to our land as a way of paying the bills. We stock everything from avocados to candles via icecream and pasta!

My primary vocation is IT. I am the IT Manager (and every other IT title you can think of, because I am the only one in the IT department) for a company with 6 locations. I get to keep them running smoothly, so they can do their jobs well.

My side-gig is drying local organic culinary herbs. Hoping this part will get big enough I can cut my hours or potentially switch to something that is much more fun and closer to the land.

I work at a High School library.
On the weekends (and summer break) I drive railroad crews to and from their trains.

I am a volunteer ...

I volunteer my time here on the permies forum ...

Erika House wrote:I work at a High School library.

I *really* like librarians... particularly ones I can convince to buy cool non-fiction books about plants, permaculture, sustainability, etc.

Your identified location suggests that book like, "Greening the Desert," might be the one to try in your setting?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29864923-greening-the-desert

There are also books about harvesting rainwater or other parts of permaculture that might be supportive of your ecosystem.

Thomas Elpel's book about identifying plants is a great starter book:
https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/botany-in-a-day-the-patterns-method-of-plant-identification/9781892784353.html

Sorry... couldn't resist...

Dogsbody.

Some days buildings maintenance/electrical. Some days admin, bookings, bit of finance. When we’re low on staff, emails and phones. A little bit of AV most weeks.

In a couple of months I’ll drop some of the maintenance and add a day in hr, I’m hoping to build some systems and procedures.

A/V and IT background.

For the last few years I have been mostly volunteering and taking on the occasionally money making opportunities that could relate to permaculture in some way, such as with leading workshops, acting as an english teacher where the lessons always included terminology used in natural farming, and other work that involves physical labor.  I did spend a lot of time and effort on growing food and creating permaculture type designs for our own gardens, but that rarely brought any substantial amount of $$.  

After seeing the remote work dream gig posted here on permies, I started focusing my time on the computer more, but that wasn't really leading me into anything that was bringing the immediate results that I needed, so now Im back to physical labor.  It is mostly mowing lawns, trimming and shaping living fences, and sometimes other land or home maintenance tasks.  Im beginning to build a reputation within my community, and now Im not able to keep up with the demand, even though im charging much more for my time than is the norm.  

I cant say that I enjoy it, but I am outside most of the time being active with my body and able to occasionally inject permaculture intel into what I am doing.  

jackass of many several trades, here.

i’m the ‘warehouse manager’/shipping/delivery guy for my wife and her sister’s art business (shameless slip-in of advertising here: https://abacuscorvus.com/ ).

and am part owner of a group with 8 acres of orchard under long-term lease (just starting to come into production, so hopefully will start shifting to producing some revenue instead of just taking it!)

and am part owner of a nut processing facility (which needs just a few more pieces of infrastructure in place to also become profitable)

and we have a small family farm which focuses mostly on woody and root crops: tea, blueberries, pears, pawpaws, walnuts, yacon, groundnut, sunchokes, squash…i did say mostly.

Critical care RN, step-down ICU.
If you fall off a roof, or ride your motorcycle drunk, I am the guy you'll see when you wake up.

I had no idea that there is a "Greening the Desert" book! I must buy it asap.
I work as an academic teacher in the arts department, which sounds like a dream job, but I lost my mojo, so it's not anymore.
I also do some freelance jobs, and currently I'm trying to finish some personal projects... one of which could become a source of passive income in the future, so I should get myself to work!

Timothy Norton wrote:I know that some folks homestead full time while others have separate employment from their permaculture aspirations.

It has got me wondering... what does everyone do for work? Non-traditional work situations and unemployed/self employed/students/SAHM/SAHD welcome!

I'm curious to see if we find any themes that pop up.

Hey Tim, I wonder if a follow up question after this is exhausted would be; Is your goal to quit your day job and focus full time on the homestead or do you always picture yourself working a job?

I have been in the elevator trade for 14 years and have worked myself into a remote consulting role and have 4 part time jobs for this. I see myself scaling back to 1 or 2 jobs in my mid to late forties but I enjoy the work and helping the guys out so I never plan to exit completely.

I really enjoy being with my wife and 6 kids everyday, all day. I enjoy the homestead and animals and garden and I also enjoy my work. I guess I try not to compartmentalize and let them all ebb and flow into one another.

Great question/post.

So many interesting things people do! Thanks for starting this up. Always nice to have resources!

I work in the wellness and world in many capacities. Right now that’s mostly in youth and young adult mentoring.

My main career over a lot of time (and now part time) has been self care and stress management/trauma release through personal awareness, bodywork, and movement therapies. I write and facilitate classes for youth in forestry, communication/boundaries, and self advocacy. Sometimes this is remote, sometimes in person with small groups and home school cooperatives, sometimes I write online courses for non profits or small organizations. Most recently an online course on sheep for a small farm. When the spirit calls for it, I consult on therapeutic and meditation gardens and problem trees.

I teach English (as a second language) to engineering students in southern Mexico.

I do a few things.  I sing professionally at Renaissance faires, fantasy festivals and other things within a 3 hour radius.  Do I wish I could take that further afield?  Yes.  Is that likely?  No.  I also teach a weekly class as a mental health peer support specialist and hopefully soon I'll have a support group to facilitate as well, something I've done in the past and want to resume.

I'm also starting my vintage business, I've had spaces/booths at antique malls and done consignment, but now its time to really see what is possible with a home business in my living room.  We're having our "soft opening" starting next week, to make sure this is a viable direction to go in.  In addition to vintage we also hope to have art and things from friends for sale in the shop, but I haven't figured out the best way to run that side of it yet, considering a few models.  Would I want to sell some plants?  Well yeah lets be real of course I would, and hopefully that will work its way into the situation once I'm feeling more confident.

I run a furniture factory that builds solid pine furniture.  I handle everything from hiring to product design and ordering materials.  We have just under 80 total employees. It's hot factory work,  but I have all of the sawdust and pine off cuts you could dream of and normally make at least 100 gallons of biochar a week (this is one pickup load of pine off cuts).  I hope to build more kilns and start to sell/ barter my biochar locally.

Josh Hoffman wrote:Is your goal to quit your day job and focus full time on the homestead or do you always picture yourself working a job?

I do the homesteading thing on my own, so I'd like to still have a "day job" to connect with people. Doesn't necessarily have to be the same job I currently have, especially if I relocate. And my freelance/personal projects could become a larger part of my income in the future.

I have often said I have only worked for 18 months in my life.  All the other times I found enjoyment in my employment.. Presently, I am retired.  I have flirted with the idea of more income, but I am afraid it would become work. For the  30 years prior to retirement I had three jobs I held at the same time. Two were part time and one full time.   I was fortunate in that I could set my hours with all three.  I was CEO of a center that provided mental health services, job seeking training, substance abuse counseling, and services for people with developmental disabilities.   I taught at the undergraduate and graduate level, and I was an accreditation surveyor for an international organization.  After I retired as a CEO I held a part time job as an RN while keeping the other two part time jobs. It was probably about 2022 that I went into full retirement.

Flora Eerschay wrote:I do the homesteading thing on my own, so I'd like to still have a "day job" to connect with people.  

This is a great observation and one I had not considered.

I had two previous careers, each a decade long--one in the film industry as an editor/VFX artist, and one in tech as a human factors/UX researcher. A year ago I became an electrician and I'm loving it very much. I am also a part-time home inspector. I do not expect I will change careers again before "retirement". After I'm "retired" I could envision myself doing something like building tiny homes or writing novels...we'll see.

I put retirement in quotes because I don't see myself ever not doing something productive with my time.

That said, I don't have any aspirations to homestead...I do enjoy making/fixing my own Things and growing my own food (actually my wife does almost all the growing of edible plant matter around here), but most of my Things and food are purchased, and I'm okay with that. I expect that when I'm in my 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. bending down all day over the ground in the sun will be an even less appealing prospect to me than it is now.

Ned Harr wrote:That said, I don't have any aspirations to homestead...I expect that when I'm in my 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. bending down all day over the ground in the sun will be an even less appealing prospect to me than it is now.

It could be that bending down now, conditions you for bending down in your 60s, 70s, 80s and makes it a non issue. Food for thought if that is the only thing keeping you back from it.

My husband and I are teachers! We work at a school 15 min away.

I have been an electronic assemblist, worked at a casino and a dude ranch, worked as a tech. writer (software), edited SF anthologies, ran a used bookstore, worked in new/used bookstores, worked for a sales newspaper, sold books, sold antiques, and recently? I "retired."

"Retired" means I do any/all of these, or bits of them... for free most of the time.

Taylor Poulin wrote:My husband and I are teachers! We work at a school 15 min away.

Welcome to Permies, Taylor!

Josh Hoffman wrote:It could be that bending down now, conditions you for bending down in your 60s, 70s, 80s and makes it a non issue. Food for thought if that is the only thing keeping you back from it.

That isn't the only thing, just the most practical/immediate thing that came to mind when I was writing my comment.

BTW, "use it or lose it" has a corollary, which I heard uttered by a 65 year-old retired carpenter as he grunted in pain after walking up some steps: "it's not the years, it's the miles".

I hope to avoid that kind of decline, but I know some decline is inevitable. Every year since I turned about 38 my body announces new little aches and pains, and my 1-rep-max for every weightlifting exercise I do in the gym seems to be decreasing, despite my staying active and eating healthy. (Hey at least I still look good! )

But anyway, the bigger part of my reasoning for not having ambitions to homestead is this: various activities under the "homesteading" umbrella provide me with satisfaction, savings, or both, but there are many others that provide me with neither, and in those cases I'm fine with buying stuff.

What a wonderfully diverse bunch!  I'm an ER physician and mom to 4 kids.  I would happily spend my time growing food and taking care of my ducks and kids, but I have too many bills currently.  Hoping to simplify life a bit in the future.

Emirene Backues wrote:What a wonderfully diverse bunch!  I'm an ER physician and mom to 4 kids.  I would happily spend my time growing food and taking care of my ducks and kids, but I have too many bills currently.  Hoping to simplify life a bit in the future.

Welcome to Permies Emirene.  Unfortunately you are not alone with time constraints and bills.  We have other fabulous physicians here, so you are in good compamy.
I have needed to look at my balance carefully have set small tasks (which doesn't always work) to work towards my eventual goal.  Can I suggest that you get a copy of the building a better world book https://greenlivingbook.com/
and do small tasks which involve the children.  Looking forward to seeing your journey unfold.  We are all here to help.  Again welcome

I do sysadmin work and provide some boutique hosting services for community organisations and nonprofits. Up until several months ago I was developing an IoT solution for a manufacturer of precision dosing pumps (that's now on hold as the tough economic conditions forced the business to scale back its aspirations). I've pared down my client base over the last few years and just have one major one to support. They're an online news outfit with a legacy codebase that's mostly undocumented and parts of it date back to the last century.

I've also got a small but tenacious biochar business, selling out of a local heritage tree nursery as well as direct at the farm gate. The biggest load I've shipped to date was 600 litres to a turf installation specialist in the Waikato. I also produce quantities for research projects according to the source materials they specify. The big thing I'm putting all my spare time and energy into is consulting to develop commecial projects and we're close to hitting the go button on a large continuous plant at a sawmill, with an input of about 30,000 tons annually and biochar output of around 8,000 tons. So far that's all happened on my own dime and the idea is to make it back on market development and commissions.

What an interesting thread!

I'm a spiritual mentor, meaning I help clair-sensory people to better understand, use and enhance their unique gifts.
I also do remote energy healing and energy clearing work.

Shameless self-promotion: you'll find more about the mentoring here and about the healing here .

I spent about 45 years as a nurse with specialties in operating theatre nursing and mental health nursing.  I had a concurrent job in the Australian Army as a nursing officer. Since retirement, I have been involved with a couple of community organisations as the secretary.  I devote time to permies and improving our 25 acres using permaculture methods.  When I first read Molison's Permaculture Manual, I didn't get it,  but through Permies.com, I now get it and am somewhat comfortable moving forward with more sustainable living. A 13 year old me joined the school conservation society and I have has some interest for over 50 years.

I'm a professional translator and editor. I'm certified to provide official translations for legal applications, so I do a lot of immigration and study abroad documentation, but my background is in science and I also translate/edit research and developments (from the national labs, for example).
This year has been really rough with turbulence affecting all the "baskets" that hold the eggs - immigration, international study, international research funding, and the wood industry, which was what really paid the bills but now is basically shut down due to tariff fears. When things are rough I focus on the urban farm to maintain my sanity, and try to remember it's not the end of the world and that I got here by change- and chance. Not so long ago I didn't even speak this language (I translated Japanese, specializing in chemistry and automotiva paint, kilns, ceramics, a weird niche, then after I had my kids I taught high school languages). I may be moving more into editing, which is great.
I am 52, and always catch myself thinking about "the next thing"-- while my peers are talking about retirement. I see myself working for the rest of my life, and I only sincerely hope that I have the health to do it.

76 yrs. old. Nine children, youngest is 1 yr. old. Built and run one of the largest museums in Ohio (1820 to 1900). Milk cows, beef cattle, chickens, pigs, run a large home school/Farm School, teach heritage skills classes, large gardens and orchards, take in lots of wwoof'ers and IC'ers and sometimes homeless. Heat with wood, cut it all myself. I add 3 or 4 buildings a year to the museum (by myself). Take care of my brothers farm next door, and a friend's place (who's in a care facility) a couple miles away. I'd do more stuff, but I'm slowing down a bit.

And now I actually find myself applying for a job…because it looks like fun.  It is teaching job seeking and Job keeping skills at a local community college. Yes, it is underpaid, but the hours appear to have some flex to them.   Besides, I find teaching to be the most fun I can legally have.

John F Dean wrote:...   Besides, I find teaching to be the most fun I can legally have.

It also gets you out talking to new people instead of just pigs and geese! This is a good thing!

I see a lot of seniors bagging groceries at the local shops and I suspect a big part is the need to get out of the house and the pay is just a bonus.

Ned Harr wrote:I had two previous careers, each a decade long--one in the film industry as an editor/VFX artist, and one in tech as a human factors/UX researcher. A year ago I became an electrician and I'm loving it very much. I am also a part-time home inspector. I do not expect I will change careers again before "retirement". After I'm "retired" I could envision myself doing something like building tiny homes or writing novels...we'll see.

I put retirement in quotes because I don't see myself ever not doing something productive with my time.

That said, I don't have any aspirations to homestead...I do enjoy making/fixing my own Things and growing my own food (actually my wife does almost all the growing of edible plant matter around here), but most of my Things and food are purchased, and I'm okay with that. I expect that when I'm in my 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. bending down all day over the ground in the sun will be an even less appealing prospect to me than it is now.

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!

Another RN here.

Other things I have done since retiring from nursing:

Wwoofing as volunteer and as host farm.

Fine gardening for others.

Substitute teacher.

I was going to take a job with the library as gardener in residence but they were entrenched in some odd ideas and I decided not to take that on.

I have also had significant income from buying and refurbishing houses and gardens then selling in a rising market.  It doesn’t help with long term homesteading, but it has worked for me.   Find a place that is awkward and nondescript, structure and property.  Live there a few years, do whatever the place needs, feng shui, soil health, building logistics.  Make the place flow, make it fun.  Make it clean and bright.  Add windows or remove them, etc.

So many houses of a certain era were built as speculation houses.  Built by people who weren’t thinking about the experience of being human and living in that building or on that property.

In their defense I can say it was a challenge to build the house, it was a challenge to finish and sell on schedule, plenty of other things to be thinking about.

The principles of permaculture lend themselves well to guiding the recycling and renewal of homes and gardens.