Part of my organic farming experience this year is to track just how hard family farmers work at their everyday jobs. It is fairly common when I tell people that I want to be a farmer that they respond with, “You know, farming is really hard work.” This I know, and know very well by this point. Riding my bicycle across the United States was a cake walk compared to my summer so far on the farm.
To give my physical efforts some tangible measurement, I have been wearing the Nike+ FuelBand every day and every night. I only take it off to charge it every couple of days. The Nike+ FuelBand measures my activity when I make my coffee in the morning, when I am weeding, seeding, and even when I am picking my nose (it’s a gross habit). I want to collect the data over time to compare my numbers with other athletes from around the world, as well as use it to quantify just how hard farmers work to bring you your food.
The Nike Fuelband contains an accelerometer that tracks my motion. It basically works as a super-charged pedometer. The more I move, the more NikeFuel I earn. Nike figured out an algorithm based on my height, weight, and motion over time to create NikeFuel. Basing it on my hard days versus my easy days, I would say it is fairly accurate.
The only place it falls short is that it cannot tell how “heavy” I am working. For instance, we recently got some of our beef back from the butcher. Fifteen cows worth of beef to be exact. The FuelBand did a great job of tracking how fast I was running between the truck and the cooler to get the beef in the freezer before it thawed. What it could not take into account is that each box weighed an average of 45-55 pounds. I am sure Nike probably has some products that will connect with a heart rate monitor to better measure that, but for now, the FuelBand does not. I think if it could measure how heavy things are in addition to how fast I have to move with them, there isn’t a person on the planet who can compete with a farmer. Think about it. Fifty pound sacks of chicken and pig feed, rocks, pulling weeds, harvest buckets full of vegetables, boxes of beef… The list of heavy lifting goes on.
To give you an idea of some of the things I am doing with my FuelBand on, check this out:
Every morning it is part of my farm chores to bring Viola, our milking cow out to fresh pasture. We keep all of our cows out on fresh grass 24 hours a day, except Viola. We keep Viola and her calf in the bottom of the barn at night. We are getting them more used to human contact so that we can milk Viola a little later in the season. She can be a bit ornery at times, and I burn some NikeFuel just bringing her out and back again at night.
Harvesting is a big part of my job, especially when we have a 200 member CSA and a farmers’ market. The FuelBand is there every step of the way keeping tract of every bunch of turnips, every head of lettuce, and every summer squash.
Weeding! Because Devon Point Farm follows the organic principles, we do not spray any herbicides to kill weeds. That means we rip the little demons out of the ground by hand. Not all weeds are created equal either. Some weeding is quite enjoyable as the weeds come out nice and easy (usually after rain). Other times you nearly burst a blood vessel trying to get all the roots out of the ground. I will take hours of weeding over spraying chemicals on my food any day of the week. We weeded for thousands of years before the AG chemical revolution of the post WWII era. If you think about the side effects of weeding vs chemicals, I will take strong arms over neurological disorders or sterility any day of the week.
We use drip irrigation on the farm. The lines of tape are cut in a certain way that allows water to slowly drip onto the vegetable beds. This is way more effective than sprinklers, and saves a ton of water. We get water where we want it, when we want it. Since we have expanded our fields to keep up with the demand of our CSA, we have had to add irrigation as well. I have personally run several miles of drip tape by myself, and many more miles of it as part of a team. Looks like lite stuff, but it comes in heavy rolls, there are bigger pipes to get the water to the bed, not to mention valves and fittings that have to be punched in. I earned serious NikeFuel running all over the farm installing, maintaining, and fixing irrigation lines. It is a good thing too, because we are currently in a drought.
This is our new irrigation pump this year. When Patty (my farmer) was getting ready to install it, I spoke up and expressed interest in the project. I plan on having a farm of my own some day, and I want to know the ins and outs of drip irrigation. Fast forward two months and I have probably logged over 200 miles of running to check lines, repair leaks, and check pressure gauges. My FuelBand lets me know how many miles I have gone that day. It is usually over 10 miles per day. (Side note: Check out my dirty hands! Also, you can definitely tell I have a sweet Nike FuelBand wrist tan going on. Classy.)
How am I doing in the numbers?
As of 7/24/2012 (my brothers’ Birthday) I have earned 662,806 NikeFuel.
I have been using the FuelBand for 116 days.
My average NikeFuel per day is 5,714
My Nike+ profile also shows me how I compare to the rest of the Nike community.
I am blowing away the rest of the Nike+ Community in most Fuel in the last 7 days. I wish I could see how I rank in total NikeFuel, but those numbers are not available to me.
My average NikeFuel is more than double other peoples. You also have to take into consideration that the FuelBand cannot measure weight lifted, so my numbers should probably be higher. I am not doing bad considering the demographic for this piece of equipment is probably made up of athletes and fitness-minded people.
Those images were taken from my Nike+ Profile.
You may or may not be asking yourself, “Hey this guy is selling this whole Nike FuelBand thing pretty hard. What is his affiliation with Nike?” The answer is honestly, none. Starting this project I had no affiliation with Nike at all. I did try to write to them to see if they were interested, but they did not bite. It was not until recently that I heard anything from them at all.
Just a couple of days ago I got an e-mail letting me know that Nike loved my project and supported farmers. They offered to send me another FuelBand, because I am sure they thought mine was getting a lot of wear on the farm. I accepted and they are sending it in the mail.
Why am I sharing this?
I want to be honest and upfront about everything on FoodCyclist.com.
I want you to have the details so you know where I am coming from with this project. My first passion and motivation is farming, and helping to get farmers a fair shake. I have irrefutable proof that farming is one of the hardest occupations you can choose, and my FuelBand is helping to support that. The fact that Nike took notice is just a bonus on the side. That being said, I would be happy to work with them more on this. It is a good product, I stand by it 100%, and I would not say it on here if I did not think that.
My Nike FuelBand Ice came in the mail. It appears to be the same thing as the original FuelBand, but with a clear covering. Considering how many people I explain the FuelBand to, I like that you can see the guts of the device. Now I have to get on top of pictures of me wearing the new Nike FuelBand Ice around the farm.
What is the end result of me tracking a farmers’ efforts with my Nike FuelBand?
I have a couple of motivations when it comes to my Nike+ FuelBand Farmer Experiment.
- Quantify the physical efforts of the hardest profession on the planet.
- Use that data to help give family farmers’ the credit they deserve.
- Satisfy my competitive nature by completely dominating other athletes.
My thanks to Nike for taking notice of my project, and for supporting it. And always, my thanks to all the other family farmers, athletes, and average Joe’s, that stay active, and earn their NikeFuel.
How do you earn your Fuel? Leave a comment below.
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Nike+ FuelBand Farm Experiment Idea
Nike+ FuelBand Ice Family Farmer Experiment
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