Exactly one week ago I sold my company, lock stock and barrel. I grew up in this business and have known it all my life. Since 1993 I’ve worked full-time in the business and since 2003 I’ve run the company. You could say that it’s an ingrained way of life.
The idea of leaving all that behind and going into farming full-time was pretty scary. Actually it still is. Can I feed my family (duh, even if we fail we grow food), can I pay the bills, will I enjoy the work, will I get bored? One week in, I have some preliminary results.
This week I’ve talked to a few people who’ve just assumed that I am now independently wealthy and readily adapting to being a lazy layabout. I am quite independent although unfortunately not the financial kind. I also am not laying about. My days are starting early and ending late. In fact my average day has been from 5am to 7pm each day. That’s not awake to asleep, that’s can to can’t. Yesterday ended with standing outside with a water hose and spraying the pig mud off of my clothes so they were clean enough to wash with the laundry. Not exactly R&R.
I have managed to make breakfast for my family every day since the sale. This may sound a little silly, but making breakfast for them is a big deal to me. First, I love breakfast. I’m a morning person and having that start to the day is great. For years I didn’t eat breakfast because there was no time. Then for years I argued with the Mrs. because as a non-morning person whatever would get your belly off your backbone in the quickest way possible was enough for her. It was wholesome and healthy, but not a hot just made breakfast sometimes and that didn’t cut it with me which I would unhelpfully point out. So now I make a point to come back to the house every morning and make a from scratch breakfast. I get to see my family for an hour and wish them good morning before we all go about our day. There have been a couple of mornings where I had to run out without cleaning the kitchen but at least I was there to make breakfast.
However, the best and most significant part of this past week, and the reason for my post, has been something that is noticeable here on the blog. You’ve probably noticed that the frequency of posts has slowed down a bit, especially for a farmer who is suddenly full-time. You’d think I’d have daily posts, hourly posts, based on the frequency I posted while working two full-time jobs.
Instead, I’ve been sleeping. I don’t mean taking afternoon naps in the easy chair, I mean 7-8 hours a night of actual sleep. As a business owner, I’d become accustomed to 4 or so hours of sleep per night. Sometimes less than an hour a night was the norm for days at a time, sometimes there was no sleep at all. The result of all that extra time was that I’d post here on the blog trying to be productive. This week I have averaged at least 6 or so hours of sleep per night, with the last three nights getting 8 hours. Honestly I thought I’d live the rest of my life and never sleep an 8 hour night again. I assumed it was part of getting older. Turned out it was part of being stressed. Farming and de-stressing has me sleeping like I did when I was a kid. Whatever else may come, sleeping like a normal person has been a welcome change, one I look to continue with.
I’m going to work on getting a few more posts up though. Just because I’m snoozing doesn’t mean I can slack on what is now my day job!
