When it comes to growing fruit or anything else, remember the old saying, "If you want it done right, do it yourself. That is true of anything from building a house, constructing a pond or orchard, and everything else you do. First off, let me say thank you to those who have helped us when we need it. I do appreciate people and their time. I’m trying to point out the reality in life that things take time and time is money. Many people marry their helper, and that’s where their extra hands come from. Families and sometimes friends work together on community projects. You might wonder by now why make this post? I’m trying to raise awareness that labor is in short supply and that you are your own best asset. Treat yourself well, and your body needs good fuel and rest to be at our best. Many people are not self starters, and those types are not cut out for their own business. Being an orchardist is a business, though not everyone realizes that right away. My advice is
#1 Finish your jobs
#2 Stay organized
#3 have a rest period
#4 When you are in over your head, hire help
#5 never be negative , stay positive
If you do these things, success can be yours. If you ignore the advice, then being an orchardist may not be for you. Our pool of people to hire from are usually the people who hire out as helpers because they were not cut out as business owners. That is not a cut on those people. Most people truly do work better with others as a team. 98% of people I work with are in that category that cannot perform tasks on their own. I’m the type of person who given a task will get it done regardless of what things come up. I improvise often and do not need things to go well. Hired help are like me you pay them it gets done and you hear no more about it. Hired helpers you have to act as the contractor that delegates tasks and Micro manages things. Now I have got to the part of why I made the post. Are you hiring the right help for your needs? What is your experience? Many stories exist but what is yours? What are your labor struggles?
finding help is hard and very expensive now a days. ive been trying to hire a carpenter for 3 years now. most are booked out over 3 years and there isnt much young blood coming in. the ones that are are charging the prices the older ones are charging, which i think is b.s as they dont have the experience yet but the demand is so high that they are still bieng hired. i can do small projects but because of medical issues i cant do bigger ones. to replace these buildings new today would cost me over $30,000. i asked my son to help me but hes working full time and taking business classes so hes flat out. its frustrating. most people do their own work around here but trying to get help from friends is hard as they dont have time either. i see alot of older folks running into the same problems. some just sell for whatever they can get and move into a apartment, leaving a old farmhouse thats housed generations of their family. very sad.
garage and back shed. garage base has rotted finally and starting to lean so it needs a new base built on to it. lots of moisture in there in the spring. similar work on the back shed. needs new siding and a roof also. me and the boy did the roof on the garage about 8 yrs ago. ive patched them up the best i can. truthfully i should have a new slab poured over the garages older one 1st. its all broken up and heaved from the frost over the years. i dont even want to know what that would cost. its a 2 car garage.weve kept up on the trailer with a new roof, siding and insulated skirting over the last 8 yrs. inside its dated but still serviceable. the wifes like me. if it still works why fix it. i paint everything when it starts to get banged up, about every 5 yrs or so.
i thought about that but mines so bad i dont think it would work. theres places its heaved at least 2in. frost does alot of damage here in wet spots esp..
the kind of help i hire is people with skills i don’t have. plumbing, electric, big building.
I’ve worked for other people and i care about the quality of work i do, but i do not really care about a business/place that belongs to somebody else. it’s not my baby.
nobody will ever, or really should ever, care more about your place or business than you do. after all it isn’t theirs. if they do good work then get paid and go home and forget about you and your place that’s how it ought to be
only cooperatives are different, i get very invested when I’m working at a place i own a bit of. it’s my baby then.
I definately agree with that. I take a great deal of pride in my work. I often care more about something that belongs to someone else. Frequently when driving across the country I like to say 35 years ago I installed the floors in that place and look they still look good. Many Universities , army bases , prisons, national guards, court houses have some of my work in them. There was always a great story or 2 that went with them. I have been hired many times for work in top secret areas. I’m proud of my work I have done and do. I have 3 degrees and take great care in demonstrating my skills at times. Many times I lived out of a motel but would install a marble chip floor for someone several states away wealthy enough to afford one. My boss once hired 2 guys to fill in for me at a job he said he could not afford me on. It was a potato chip factory. The 2 guys screwed it up really bad and I refused to ever go fix that job. I proably should be more like you but there is some satisfaction in knowing things I’ve done will last hundreds of years. Nobody needs to know my name or that I did that work. It is only important that I know to me.
@clarkinks
Lately, in observation of my age and slower work pace, I’ve been considering hiring help for specific tasks. Pruning though is off the table. In my location, the labor pool has been trained in ornamental plants. I suppose I could train someone over a period of many years, but outside interest is very low given the pay scale for farm labor.
it’s the work i did that I’m putting my all into. mismanagement or other troubles of someone else’s place aren’t my concern. it’s their place and if they do things “wrong” i don’t lose sleep about it.
but the part of it that i did with my own hands, that matters to me and i put all I’ve got into it. if you hire and pay me to do framing, it’ll be the best framing i can ever do. if you decide to screw it up somehow and your house falls down because some tech bro sold you termite bots when i was finished, well. I’m not gonna worry about it over dinner
i don’t expect the people i hire to worry about my place once they go home. i just want their best for whatever things they’re doing while they’re doing it for pay
and really hiring people in is so they can earn money. it’s not so they can fall in love with your little business. they’re not looking for more friends or a party. they’re selling time and labor for money.
so you gotta give them enough money and try to pick the people that care about the work their own hands can do.
migrant labor is a whole other subject as in they are notoriously under paid and treated poorly in almost all circumstances so I’m always incredibly surprised at the pride and concern they take in their work. they really do care about the places they go
@Richard have you thought about putting an ad in homestead forums? a lot of people need to make extra money off their homestead and have been at least trying to learn orchard pruning- they might be a little easier to train and less in need of constant work, willing to come in to prune and learn.
Do you actually pay ‘helpers,’ and if you do, how much?
As I cannot get casual staff, especially when I say I have to put the pay through the tax books. They only want cash payments, which I understand. But it makes it look more profitable than it really is.
Anybody got any tips on getting local helpers, maybe more on helping the environment, or maybe just half a day in the fresh air, or maybe just exercise?
