Flying Farmer
1 April 2008
Before becoming a Kona coffee farmer I made a living as a computer
programmer. That means I spent all day, every day, sitting behind a
computer. I tried to stay in shape but it was difficult.
My goal was an hour of exercise every day. I'd either jog a couple
miles in the mornings or go to the gym to lift weights. On the good
days I'd jog and go to the gym but most weeks I'd miss a day or two.
Even on a good day the total amount of actual exercise would only be about
two hours. That may seem like a lot until you compare it to the
total number of hours spent not exercising. I'd spend eight to ten
hours sitting behind a computer at work, a couple hours sitting in traffic
during the commute, then another hour or so watching TV or playing computer
games at night. I'd get a little more exercise on the weekend but for
the most part my life was spent sitting in a chair.
Now that I'm a farmer that has all changed. I still get plenty of time
behind a computer but that's relatively small compared to the amount of
time I spend on my feet. There are a few farm tasks, such as
spreading fertilizer,
mulching branches or
planting trees that definitely qualify
as high energy exercise but most days aren't that tough. It's all the
time I spend just doing stuff that makes a difference. It seems like
I'm always walking somewhere while carrying something heavy. Lifting,
pulling, pushing, carrying, dragging... even on light days I always
need a shower by the end of the day.
I'm certainly in better shape now than I ever was as a computer programmer.
It's ironic how the more you exercise the more energy you have while the
lazier you are the more you want to just sit around. Farm work is hard
but it sure is nice to have extra strength and plenty of energy.
Sometimes I feel more powerful than a locomotive, faster than a speeding
bullet and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Now that
spring is here, I feel even more energetic. Just the other day I was
practicing jumping off the barn roof and landing in a bucket of water.
The umbrella usually slowed down my fall just enough that the landing didn't
hurt too bad.
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I don't recommend trying this at home. Only accomplished coffee
farmers can pull off stunts like this and even accomplished coffee farmers
can only manage this on April Fool's Day.
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