How would you evaluate....?

[animalfarm]

DH and I have a farm of 150 acres. It will easily support another family. We are considering trying to find another family to live here and share the work, and help make it as self sufficient as possible. We would only require them to pay their personal expenses for any thing not grown on the farm and 50% of taxes and utilities plus personal transportation if they are not going our way. We have all the livestock and equipment in place. We want a long term commitment.

How would you all evaluate someone you didn't know well, to determine their work ethics (shiftless people need not apply)? For us, experience is not essential but they would need a work ethic, 20 brain cells to rub together and a willingness to do anything necessary to produce all food groups and not be locked into a rigid mindset of some kind. Conversations around here can get pretty intense and nothing is sacred; my DH loves a good argument. How would you trouble shoot potential problems with the arrangement if it were your place?

This is basically a brainstorming exercise so all pros and cons are welcome. If it were your place, what would you like to see in someone sharing your piece of the pie? Could you see yourself/family moving to someone else's farm and making yourself an integral part of it as something other then an employee even if it is not a money making operation? No we are not a cult; we just have the ability to share with someone who is deserving of something they might not be able to attain on their own and can help with some of the work as we get older so I don't have to move to town.

 

[k15n1]

I like the idea, but I'd arrange it like a limited liability partnership, which has provisions for buying in, selling out, etc. Make it like a business contract, even if you're friendly with the other family.

 

[savingdogs]

Try em out first. Make a short-term contract first and if things go well, try them for a longer term. But before you do the short term contract, try them out for a week, or even a day. You know a lot more about someone after you have worked with them for a day.

 

[Marianne]

Wow! I applaud your thinking. Finding the right people will be tough. So they would live in your home, or would they have their own living quarters elsewhere on the property?

As DH and I get closer to retirement, I have thought about renting out the entire upstairs to someone for the same reasons. The last time we shared living quarters with someone we liked, we ended up NOT liking him. (Everything deleted here - it still just irritates me beyond words! LOL) Anyway, that was enough for DH to say 'never again'.

Maybe something else to consider would be to let someone doing the full time RV life 'camp' at your place during the busier months? Emptying the black water tank would be a hassle...there'd be things to figure out, but it could be do-able - with the right people (again). Maybe let them camp there for just a bit of $$ in exchange for XXX and YYY. ?? Just throwing out ideas here.

Our oldest son travels extensively overseas, but would like to have a place of his own when he's back in the states for a few months at a time. He also wants someone around to keep an eye on the place when he's gone, too. Not one to just sit around, someone like that would be a good candidate. Guys (and gals!) that have that lifestyle just need a small place, would be around to help out sometimes and pay a bit of rent to you when they're gone.

 

[TanksHill]

 

[Avalon1984]

The 20 brain cells is the hard part. We were looking for farm hands for our horse farm and blew through 4 in 1 year. All we asked was that they show up on time, do the job well, call in if needed and let me know if they didnt get something done. We even bought them small Christmas gifts and paid them well. We finally gave up since we didnt need the aggravation. People just dont want to work hard anymore. Oh, and God knows, if the weather is bad they REALLY dont want to work.

 

[Marianne]

It's too bad we can't have regional communes of people that are here on the SS forum. I bet there's not a lazy one in the bunch.

 

[dragonlaurel]

The 20 brain cells is the hard part. We were looking for farm hands for our horse farm and blew through 4 in 1 year. All we asked was that they show up on time, do the job well, call in if needed and let me know if they didnt get something done. We even bought them small Christmas gifts and paid them well. We finally gave up since we didnt need the aggravation. People just dont want to work hard anymore. Oh, and God knows, if the weather is bad they REALLY dont want to work.

Sounds like you needed Denim Deb for the horse farm.

 

[Denim Deb]

The 20 brain cells is the hard part. We were looking for farm hands for our horse farm and blew through 4 in 1 year. All we asked was that they show up on time, do the job well, call in if needed and let me know if they didnt get something done. We even bought them small Christmas gifts and paid them well. We finally gave up since we didnt need the aggravation. People just dont want to work hard anymore. Oh, and God knows, if the weather is bad they REALLY dont want to work.

Sounds like you needed Denim Deb for the horse farm.

I only have 2 more weeks left, and don't want to work on another one! But, yeah, you needed someone like me. I show up on time, do the job well, call if needed, let you know if something doesn't get done and work hard-no matter what the weather. In the 2.5 years that I've worked there, I only missed one day, and that was for my SIL's funeral. I'd also do things w/out being told if I saw that it had to be done, even if I wasn't told to, but I would let you know it was done.

 

[Wannabefree]

I think clearly drawn out expectations, and a heads up on lack of tolerance on not meeting expectations should scare enough of the lazy ones off. I know a few people that would likely be a good fit, but I know a WHOLE LOT more that wouldn't last one day Good luck finding someone. I think it is a good idea, and great that you are in a position to offer it