7 Unexpected Ways Hobby Farming Keeps You Healthy

Seven unexpected ways that hobby farming keeps you healthy. Maybe these ideas are not completely revolutionary, but likely they're things you've considered and then undervalued. Let's add up some of these more subtle aspects of your farming lifestyle that keep you healthy.

Farmers eat the best of everything. Certainly because your eggs, meat, fruit, grains and vegetables etc., are easily accessible that there's no reason to not eat the highest quality of naturally ripened foods at their peak nutritional value. But nutrition also stems from how the farmer operates, enabling their products to have the most feed value. You can't be involved in farm management and overlook this enlightenment when you're on the frontlines of caring for the land and animals.

Care in growing your own hay, legumes and grains, (non GMO), following the seasons and animal cycles, fertilizing and nurturing what comes naturally in the animal and plant kingdoms makes the best of truly sustainable farming.

Here's an equation: The truest heritage plant or animal type, plus best organic fertilizers and turned to feed, minus less processing time with no chemicals, add natural maturing time, but speed to the table, equals more nutrition!

Mentally and physically, rural landscapes offer a healthier environment, from the fresh air and clean water tables to the panoramic views.

But some days you're not all that grateful and feeling a bit glum, and you know you must take your little trek out to the barn anyway. And there it is, the answer to your sour mood. Something you can easily take for granted, common fresh air, a vast expanse of sky, and the spectacle of living things.

Could it also be that even the exposure to some good old fashioned manure, dust and a few bugs adds to your immunity?

You get a sense of awakening at the barn encountering the innocence of the animals, the affect of interacting with their sounds and behaviours. Some encounters are very direct and others are just casual observations of their little habits. Bonding with your animal companions and discovering minute details of animal patterns can facilitate a return to mental well being.

You're familiar with the principal that giving doesn't actually take anything away, in fact it actually makes you feel better. It's like having to do a dreaded task like taking out the garbage. You don't necessarily love the thought of doing it, but somewhere deep down you feel so much better when it's accomplished and you've helped yourself or others.

In the same way, being dutiful to the earth, animals and the harvest of our own labour produces a deep satisfaction that I will define as health, purpose and pride. Be flexible and embrace the diversity of farming where you live.

I think it's quite healthy to have a routine, and your commitment to the animals and the harvest demands just that. Though farming can never be completely predictable, there is a rhythm to any given day because of it.

No matter how lazy you feel, or how late you might have stayed up the night before, there's a certain internal clock that you have, a window of time when you actually do need to get up and go feed the animals, get grain in the ground or bale hay.

Chores are a huge allegiance, but that sense of duty and routine keeps you steady and balanced, and how sweet the reward if you are a caretaker of plants and animals. You will never experience boredom or restlessness.

You are probably always looking for an easier and more automated system for convenient chores, but ultimately, the longer I sit in front of a computer each day the more grateful I am for the several times a day that I need to stand up and go outside to do some physical labour.

If you're like me, it doesn't take long for the novelty of formal exercise program to wear off. Thankfully with choring comes a lot of walking, and some lifting. When dedicated to chores you have to do at least some simple forms of bending, stretching, and cardio exercises, like walking to the barn, checking fences and lifting a few pails of water or grain, then catching an animal or two and picking up some hay.

In performing a simple variety of manual chores on a daily basis, morning, noon and night you have followed through on a decent exercise routine.

In the garden, don't lose sight of the miracles of nature. You know, when you haphazardly planted the seeds and they decided to come up anyway? No water for a week and the plants are still standing? Obstacles and imperfections can interfere with our plans and yet God has designed things in such a way that despite our clumsiness and poor efforts there's still a built in buffer.

I'm saying that being spiritual and sensitive to God can quickly turn your thoughts to appreciation. Grow your mind along with your animals and plants. Become more aware of the timing of the fruit and vegetable cycles. Take note and learn to identify more plants and insects reminding yourself that our ancestors would have known about those things and what native plants were used for food.

Notice what the animals need for food, companionship and shelter. Be a hero and give them the best life. Your heart and soul will be content.

Expanding on the theme of the last paragraphs, as a farmer you are always on a tangent of learning with a bent toward self sufficiency. I suspect you're more inclined to make food from scratch? You are not only preserving foods, but also the traditions of canning, harvesting and dehydrating, cultivating yeast and making your own bread.

You know the unseen benefits and satisfaction of using the grain before it's lost minerals and nutrients. Farmers can make it fresher and quicker, with minimal to no processing. I imagine that contributes to a purer and healthier lifestyle.

I also think farmers are healthier because they watch the animals. If you become a better steward of the animals you learn their diets, helping them be healthier and more resistant to disease.

It's a cycle, and it follows suit that if you know how to take care of an animal those same, self care strategies will apply to making a human healthier as well.

In summary, hobby farming is more a way of living than a job, and likely not one that you can retire from. Despite the hard work, long hours and associated difficulties, you must agree that your farming lifestyle has accumulated benefits conducive to being an overall healthier person. Take another step closer to the ground and thank God you were born to be a farmer.

Here are some hobby farm kitchen appliances that I use and recommend.

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