beowulf
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2003
- Messages
- 1,186
- Location
- Central California Foothills
- Tractor
- Kubota L3410 HST, J Deere riding mower
Starting with the definition of a hobby as "an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure." (i.e., not to earn a living)
It seems to me that there is farming to earn a living - not a hobby. And hobby farming - perhaps not the sole source of income, or any income, and it may or may not be a hobby. And there is rural living where you maintain a rural property with all that that involves with no intent to or need to earn a living from it. We have 90 acres and there is a whole lot to do with a never ending list of tasks - and some very challenging. But we attend to what we want to and when we want to, and that may qualify as a hobby as defined above as we do it in our liesure time and enjoy doing it and get a lot of satisfaction out of it. And we can afford to be here (35 years and counting) without earning an income from the property - so, for us, it is either a hobby or a life style. Either category works for me.
My many uncles who farmed back in the midwest would never call what they do a hobby - they worked the farms to make a living.
It seems to me that there is farming to earn a living - not a hobby. And hobby farming - perhaps not the sole source of income, or any income, and it may or may not be a hobby. And there is rural living where you maintain a rural property with all that that involves with no intent to or need to earn a living from it. We have 90 acres and there is a whole lot to do with a never ending list of tasks - and some very challenging. But we attend to what we want to and when we want to, and that may qualify as a hobby as defined above as we do it in our liesure time and enjoy doing it and get a lot of satisfaction out of it. And we can afford to be here (35 years and counting) without earning an income from the property - so, for us, it is either a hobby or a life style. Either category works for me.
My many uncles who farmed back in the midwest would never call what they do a hobby - they worked the farms to make a living.