Podcast #245 – Can Subsistence Farmers Ever Vacation?


We’re back now from a one-week stay at our family’s cabin on Lake Martin. The good news is that the lake was quiet and beautiful immediately following the big 4th of July weekend, after nearly everyone had returned home. The bad news is that we don’t feel rested at all; we’re even a little relieved to be ending our “vacation” so we can get back to a simpler routine.


vacation with poultryThe lake place is about 30 minutes away from the farm, so we visited the farm daily to check on the vegetables, the fruit, the chickens, and the dog. In today’s program we wrestle together with the the things we might have done differently so that we would truly be able to rest while on vacation:

  • Wait until winter (but that still leaves the livestock)
  • Ask somebody else to check on things while we’re gone (but can we ever truly trust someone else?)
  • Have a “staycation” (a non-starter; neither of us is able to spend time at the farm without working)
  • Not vacation while in rehearsal for a play (this makes sense; we can do this one)
  • Convert to monoculture (this would enable vacations but would starve our souls – not gonna happen)
  • Get big enough to have staff (we hope this doesn’t happen, because it’s the hands-on work we love, not supervising others)
  • Go far enough away so returning during vacation is impossible (this would help but only after we figure out some way to care for things in our absence)

Listen – 15:17

The Longleaf Breeze Perennial Farm Calendar

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