This last year has been a challenge. On top of the pandemic, my personal life has been terribly hectic. But, there is always a new path forward if you have the courage (audacity? temerity?) to take it. Last week I quit my safe government job, secured an internship on an organic farm in California, turned my Prius into a mobile dwelling space, and started a move across the country. Here’s a bit more about the process:
The gig – There is a program called Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) where you volunteer your time in return for connections and skills. I secured an internship on a small farm near the community of Happy Camp in northern California for the 2021 growing season, March through November. The farm offers skill development in the following areas:
* Soil and bed preparation
* Annual and perennial seed starting (including scarification and stratification techniques)
* Seedling care and nursery techniques
* Waterline maintenance and drip irrigation
* Transplanting techniques
* Mulching
* Weeding – tools to use, techniques, methods, prevention
* Plant care – disease and pest prevention, maintenance and feeding
* Food harvesting, packing, storing, and preserving
* Perennial herb growing, harvesting, drying and processing
* Herbal medicine making skills
* Essential oil/hydrosol distillation
* Greenhouse growing
* Mushroom hunting and growing
* Pruning, thinning, and chainsaw skills
* Firewood gathering and fire building (seasonally dependent)
* Perennial food cultivation
* Orchard maintenance and care
* Plant identification
* Fence building
* Machinery operation basics
* Carpentry
Along with this, the opportunity provides organic food and a preparation space, a secluded tent camping area for the summer, and general utilities like electricity, wifi, laundry. This is less common, but because of both the duration and daily time commitment, this opportunity also pays a minimal weekly stipend.
The goal with this is to develop the skills necessary to start my own farm one day, even if it’s more of a hobby farm than my sole source of income. Also, I believe spending all day doing manual labor in a quiet secluded area, surrounded by nature and creative passionate people, will help my mind settle down a bit. I plan to use my free time to pursue passion projects like classic literature and studying the Russian language. The farm is pretty disconnected and I don’t know how much service I will have so I downloaded some classic movies, lectures, podcasts, and study materials.
The vehicle – I bought a 2012 Gen 3 Prius in 2019. It’s the perfect travel vehicle. To retrofit it for living in ( at least for the drive over and maybe on cold nights), I installed a mattress pad in the back with several pillows and wool blankets. The Prius can also be left on in ‘Ready Mode’ which will burn about one gallon of gas to keep the heat or AC on all night. The simplified packing list is as follows:
* Mattress pad, sheets, blankets, pillows
* Clothes with duffel (rain jacket, windbreaker, underwear, socks, pants, shorts, t-shirts, sweaters, towel)
* Toiletries
* Laptop, phone, kindle, battery pack, cords, earbuds, headphones
* Road bike with maintenance equipment
* General camping/hiking equipment (tent, pad, stove, bowls, first aid kit, sleeping bag, liner, ax, saw, rope)
* Homemade hang board (to stay in climbing shape)
* Books (Six-volume set of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Collected Works of William Shakespeare, Don Quixote, Ulysses, Phenomenology of Spirit, Little Known Works of Mark Twain, 50 Brain Teasers and Riddles, life magazines from 1947), Kindle with everything else.
* Harmonica
* Cooler, week of food, ice
It all fits pretty well. I referenced the following resources when planning out the car.
* Stealth Prius
* Prius Dwellers (reddit.com)
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been thinking about what I want out of this experience. In general, I’m hoping to just peacefully tend some plants during the day and hang out in a hammock and read in the evening. No responsibilities, no commitments, just intellectual repose. Listening to the birds, enjoying the sunshine, staying happy, strong, and healthy. I’ve also put together the following specific goal list for reference over the next 8 months:
No caffeine, alcohol, or drugs. I did this while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and it really cleared my mind. I think a long bout of sobriety can do everyone a bit of good everyt now and then. Minimizing phone usage. I’ll likely keep it in a different place than where I work and sleep so that I don’t constantly check it and waste time on Social Media. Dopamine resets for hardcore drug addicts takes about 90 days and I found that after that much time hiking there was a significant difference in my thoughts and habits relating to my phone/the internet. As I’ll be quite remote, I’m also attempting to not make any significant purchases for the summer. Small enjoyable things like a sandwich or new shorts, certainly reasonable.
I set this tentative daily schedule, dependent upon my free time:
MWF – Read Marx / Hegel / Critical Theory
TT – Old films / fiction / non-fiction / shakespeare
Sat – Read/memorize poetry + writing + Bioshock Infinite (After rereading Ayn Rand)
Sun – Adventure (hiking, bike rides) + writing
Russian – Daily flashcards and finishing the Princeton Russian Course. Mostly listening to Pimsleur speaking and listening lessons during the day.
These are all rough ideas and I’ll probably settle in and focus on a couple specifics mentioned above, but in the end, I’d like to get the following out of the experience:
* Requirements I need to meet to start my own farm
* Timeline for doing so
* Better at Russian and knowledgeable about Marxism
* Having fun, enjoy life, and meeting new people
* Stop thinking about money, cultivating a healthy poverty and simplicity.
I’ll follow up this blog post with a write-up on travel life on the way out and share thoughts on my experience on the farm once I get settled in.
kalvin dot life 