Bringing Home the Bacon

I’m Ben Bernardo,  the Business Success Assistant at Gunderson Direct and I have a unique work dynamic – working from home while living on a farm. I could only imagine what my colleagues might think if they observed my daily routine. They all work from home, while I work from farm. So I decided to bring the Gunderson Direct mascot, GundiRoo, along for a visit to share what it’s like.

The day starts at 5:30 every morning thanks to nature’s alarm clock, our young rooster crowing at full volume to let us know it is time to get moving. Unfortunately, there is no snooze button for this alarm clock, so GundiRoo and I get started. Together we tackle the morning routine: coffee, breakfast, get ready for my work day, walk the dog and collect eggs from the chicken coop.  Once we’re done with that we head into my home office that includes a view of the farm.

During my first Zoom of the day, I take a quick glimpse out the window and see one of our goats running around, snacking on the rose bushes. I wonder aloud to GundiRoo “Hmm, how the heck did the goat get out of her pen?”. No response from him, so I make a note to check it out once I’m off this call.

GundiRoo and I successfully herd the goats back into their pen just in time to join our next Zoom. Camera on, mic on, lighting is just right and suddenly someone asks, “Did you guys just hear a rooster?!”. As Zoom so helpfully points out by highlighting my square, my alarm clock is announcing his presence, “yep, that would be my rooster.” Everyone on the call remarks on how that’s not something you hear every day, except for me it is.  Roosters, chickens, goats and pigs and all the sounds that come along with them, making up the background noise for my work from home life.

I truly love my work environment, the property, the farm animals, unusual noises and all. I love the balance of working from home and the unpredictable happenings outside my office.  I get to share these experiences with GundiRoo during his farm visit and with the rest of my team, by sharing baby animal updates on Slack and discussing farm updates on our check-ins.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy going into the office and interacting with my colleagues, but I think GundiRoo might prefer it at the farm. I definitely wouldn’t trade my unique work environment, loud rooster, mischievous goats and all, so I’m thrilled to have GundiRoo join me on my work from farm adventures.