This post is cross-posted at TechCrunch.
We need to get more guys who are running tech startups to decide instead to be stay-at-home dads.
What do you think of that? Stupid, right? That’s what it sounds like when anyone suggests that we need to get more women doing startups.
If you are worried that women don’t feel capable [...]

It is the night of the new nanny. She is maybe a nanny or maybe a Spanish teacher. It is unclear. She is a blog reader who told me she could help me.
Lots of people offer to come to the farm and help me get that mythic work-life balance that no one really has. But [...]

I confess that I don’t feel like I’m working to my potential. And it makes me feel sick. I know the signs. It starts with me not being able to cope with my to-do list. It all looks too overwhelming. So I scale things back: I take out everything that has to do with starting [...]

This post is sponsored by the American Cancer Society.
Take a look at Steve Martin's business card. I love it because it brings to light the lack of meaning we often feel during the daily routine of work life.

When I was new to the workforce, I saw two ends of a spectrum. On one end, risking [...]

My homeschool blog is mentioned in the New York Times. It's a small mention, but it's a big deal for me, because lately I've been obsessed with how people learn, and what makes a successful adult. It's appropriate that the Times would link the day I wrote about what my day is like trying to [...]

The farmer is separating his farm from his parents' farm. To say this has been a summer full of drama would be a total understatement. I would say that the drama has gone from his larger family, to our little family, and now, to the economics of the farm.
This is probably where the drama should [...]

During the year after 9/11 I went to counseling for post-traumatic stress. I went to a group that met weekly. The counselors explained that if we told our story over and over again, the story would have less power over us.
So I have been telling my story for ten years. I am lucky to have [...]

The second start-up I did was with a guy who had great data about city governments but didn’t know how to turn it into an Internet company. So I wrote a business plan and got it funded.
It turned out that he also had no idea how to use the Internet. He had a secretary, Laura, [...]

Look at this picture. I love this picture. I am carefree, pulled together, and a little bit like a farmer but not too much.

I keep thinking I want to put this picture online. And then I think, I can’t. I’m too sad. I need a picture of me moping.
This feeling reminds me of  when I [...]

I'm convinced that the biggest impact Generation Z will have on the workplace is in their schooling. They will be lifelong, self-learners, who take more personal responsibility for their ongoing education than any generation in history. I am not talking about graduate school here. I am talking about a more creative, independent way of learning [...]

My garden is full of vegetables that I never would have guessed I could grow. There is so much that I am not sure what to do with it all.
Because the acorn falls close to the tree, my son decided he wanted to sell rhubarb at our local farmers market. To be clear, a farmers [...]

Today is the first hay baling day of the summer. The farmer is used to making huge, round bales, with big, loud machines. This time, though, he did smaller, square bales, and he found a way to include our son. And the dog.

I spend part of each day counseling people who don't know how to [...]

Melissa is back. She stayed with us on the farm a little while over the winter, telling me to shut up, and playing with me in the snow.
I think by now you get the picture that Melissa is one of those people who breaks every rule and lands on her feet. One of the things [...]

Melissa is back from Italy right in time for the Royal Wedding. We stayed up all night, but at 2am, we went over to my neighbor's house, because they have a huge TV.
Melissa fell asleep. My neighbor, Kathy, stayed up with me. And it was so cozy to sit on the sofa in the early [...]

It’s hard to confess to you that I’m happy on the farm. The Farmer and I are getting along well, and all that research about how if parents are in a happy marriage the kids are happier – well, that seems to be true for us.
So I spend my days writing career advice and reading [...]

The farmer tells me that farmers are going to the Capitol to protest on Saturday.
I tell him I think it’s stupid. It’s not like Walker broke a law. People who voted for him should think twice about right-wing fascists next time they go to the polls.
The farmer says fine. He wants to go and he [...]

Breakfast. This morning: Eggs that my son collects each evening. And Froot Loops, the one's that have extra colored sparkle dust, just in case you didn't remember that Froot is not Fruit for legal reasons.
The boys are absorbed in discussion about how to get me to plug in the Wii again. ("We should clean our [...]

I am fascinated with mastery. I will not embark on anything unless I know I can become a master at it. I did not start Ashtanga yoga until I knew I could do it every day for a year.  I did not start swing dancing lessons until I had enough money to take three lessons [...]

You become the people you surrounded yourself with. Once you accept this, it’s much easier to answer tough questions like “Where should I live?” or “What job’s right for me?” or “Who should I marry?” I think the biggest barrier to making decisions based on how we become the people we hang out with is [...]

I have two new goats.

In a nod to Tom Sawyer and his fence, I told my sons the goats are for me only, and I want to take care of them. When my sons thought of 100 names for each goat, I told them that the person who takes care of the goats gets to [...]