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Every
morning Jay Fox wakes up at 4:30 to tend his 20-acre farm. Cleaning
chicken coops, tilling fields, and hand-weeding three large gardens
can't wait for the sunrise. There's no snooze button and hardly
any sick or vacation days when it comes to working with nature.
"It's all seasonal work. What you do on the farm depends on the
season," said Fox. "You can be doing anything from spreading manure
to weeding a garden to baling hay depending on the time of the year."
Although Fox works long hours practically every day, he gets to
enjoy the many perks of tilling the beautiful Wisconsin countryside
- as opposed to stewing in a cubicle from 9 to 5. "The bay window
in our living room faces west and we get to see some fantastic sunsets,"
he said. "It's a good life, and you get out of it what you put into
it."
Which
means that when you're busy, you're busy. "It's hard work," he continued.
"But not having to answer to anyone has a real allure." And not
only does Fox enjoy autonomy and the prettiest office on Earth,
but at the end of the day, the organic grub on his dinner table
tickles his palate. "I mean, we can go out in the summer and pick
a fresh salad right out of the garden."
Tilling
the soil instead of toiling at the office
It's never too late to trade your laptop for a hoe and become a
farmer. "I
made a conscious choice to become a farmer because I really wanted
a different lifestyle from the daily grind of being a corporate
executive," said Fox, who moved to the Wisconsin countryside with
his wife to take up homesteading more than seven years ago. Homesteading
is farming on a small scale, much different from agribusinesses,
which produce food for mass consumption.
"My
wife works off the farm because she still enjoys the corporate life
and we need her income for now," Fox said. But don't think the wife
gets off easy just for bringing in the bacon - she helps on the
farm after work and on weekends.
While
farming takes a certain amount of skill and a wide array of knowledge,
you don't need to be a 4-H Club alum to till soil and tend herds
on a small scale. "I had no formal education as a farmer," said
Fox. "When I decided to change jobs, I had to rely on mentors -
men who were friends and who had been farming for years - to help
educate me." Don't have any connections to the farm life? Then check
out your local library. "My biggest advice for hobby farming or
homesteading is to really educate yourself on the idea before you
venture into it," said Fox. "A lot of book learning got me through."
Nature
takes its course
"As in any case of being self-employed, you're your own boss and
you set your own hours," said Fox. However, farmers do have to answer
to a bigger cheese than the traditional office worker, as well as
the oldest alarm clock around - nature. "Weather is the single most
quixotic factor in farming and the one thing that makes it either
a joy or a disaster," said Fox.
Not
only do farmers have to take into account the weather and the land's
natural behavior, they also have to protect their farm's encroachment
into other species' habitats. "Last summer a fox came through and
went after my chickens," said Fox, who is apparently not a big fan
of his namesake. "In one day, that blasted thing took five hens
in quick succession." Ultimately, the farm's rooster, a hard fellow
named Smoker, saved the day by chasing off the crafty quadruped.
"That's one valiant rooster and he'll never get the stew pot," said
Fox. "When it's his time, he'll get a burial of honor on the property
for defending his hens."
But
nature cuts Fox and his fellow farmers a break now and then. Although
spring and fall are hectic seasons, Fox usually gets some time to
himself come summer and winter. "Winter is more slack time and summer
isn't quite as busy because everything's in the ground and growing
at the point," said Fox. "Since I like to write, I appreciate the
downtime so that I can practice that hobby."
So,
if you don't mind getting your hands dirty and waking up before
the sun, pull on a pair of work boots…and dream on!
-
Regina M. Robo, News Editor
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