We both believe that when you can, make do with what you have -- a philosophy that's familiar to many a small business owner and almost second nature to any small farmer.Luckily, both Jacob and I are pretty good at it.
I've spent the last five years building a small independent media company and I used to joke that I was good at the whole "start up" thing because I grew up fixing most problems with duct tape and bailing twine on the farm. (In the beginnings of NewWest.Net, my office was in the bathroom of the extra bedroom in my business partner's house.)
This time of year, those make-do skills come in handy. During the summer, we're farmers. During the spring, we're MacGyver farmers.
And, this year will mean even more "making do" than last year because Jacob is now working a full-time job in town and that creates a whole new situation for us. We're going to have to get really good at efficiency. We're already thinking constantly about work-arounds, not only to our sometimes less-than-ideal set up and equipment, but to labor as well.
We're starting early. Here's the first example of us "making do."
One of our big hamstrings, if not the biggest (other than both of us having to work outside jobs for now), is not living on the farm. In the summer, it's a big issue, but in the Spring, it seems bigger because driving 6 miles roundtrip three times a day to check on the dampness of baby seedlings seems ridiculous.
So, we set up a greenhouse in the sunrroom of our house in town. Now, my office is about 10 feet from our onion seedlings and I can monitor every hour if need be, the conditions.
Someday, we'll have the money and time (yeah right?) to create the perfect set up for this budding business. And, by then, we'll be able to articulate exactly what would work better. My only fear is that, and I have personal experience with this, is that if you make do for too long, it becomes habit and engrained the culture of your business or in your family in this case, which is something you don't want to happen. With every McGyver project, you have to remind yourself that this is only temporary, that someday, you'll be able to do it right. Because if you don't, pretty soon, you've got a mess of duct tape and bailing twine you can't unravel. "Making do" becomes your standard operating procedure.
But for now, we're doing just fine by making do.
And, nothing quite matches the feeling you get when you've fixed a big problem with few things laying around and some ingenuity.
Just look at these onions germinate:
Do any of our fellow farmer friends out there have interesting stories of how you've made do with your operations?
You've got greenhouses, but you don't live on the farm. We live on the farm but don't have a greenhouse!
ReplyDeleteWe're starting seeds, though not nearly as many as you, in a spare bedroom right now. I am also hoping to construct some temporary cold frames for use outside in about a month.
Growing up, my family always made enough money farming on less land than most of our neighbors. One of the reasons was that we "made do" with machinery and buildings we could buy without going to the bank for a loan.
I don't have any meaningful experience with farming, but I have made do with so many other parts of my life and can say that the best parts of that process are worth keeping and letting them become part of your life. At the edges of "making do" is resilience and some good feeling of freedom. Build on those. Recycle or throw out the unwanted duct tape.
ReplyDeleteCobbling it all together is exhausting but much better than not making anything happen at all. We're starting seeds under grow lights in the barn cooler and will be waking often on cold nights to be sure they're still in good shape. The barn cooler and sink and all that came to us in the form of an abandoned restaurant storage unit we bought the entire contents of from an ad in the Thrifty Nickel. And, like ours, your off-farm jobs are only a temporary necessity, I'm sure. You guys are doing wonderfully. Don't let it wear you out!
ReplyDelete