Outdoor jobs for +50 year olds?

Landscaping, lawn mowing, gardening…etc.

Do you have any builing skills?

I’m having a blast doing wilderness instruction.

Only what I have garnered as a general contractor and avid DIYer.

@incendiary_dan What does a wilderness instructor do? I have some ideas but would be interested in hearing.

Depends on the class. For my homeschool classes, where I see the same kids each week and some of them have been coming for years, I teach them how to be self-sufficient in the woods by doing displays and tutorials of various primitive skills and technologies, whereas day courses that schooled kids come for are usually about team-building games and a minimal amount of skills demonstrations (like making a fire for lunch). I’m branching out into adult education, so maybe I’ll let you know how that works out.

The sad irony is that our industrialized society pays good money mainly for jobs where you only work with your brain and your hands. If you want the equivalent of a 2-hour gym workout every day (an admirable goal that should improve your longevity and well-being), that’s what’s called “manual labor” and usually doesn’t pays poorly.

Landscaping (see @SpatzieLover‘s answer) is fairly “physical” & with your building skills you already know how to organize a complex project & solve problems as you go. Exterior painting, siding repair, other maintenance services also get you outside climbing ladders & carrying heavy loads. Maybe work as an installer or maintenance guy for a utility of some kind—it might be appropriately strenuous.

Peruse ads for local technical colleges—look only at vocational courses that interest you & involve some outdoor labor.

I recently hired movers to move from one city to another, and let me tell you, after watching them work, with a job like that, after 8 hours of work, you won’t need to go any gym!
Another fairly physical job would be FedEx or UPS delivery person. Those being large companies, you might even get good benefits, and with Christmas season coming soon, they might be hiring, so you can give them a try.

I’ve been mulling the idea of casting off the yolk of the high tech world and going into the “Transfarming”/Urban sustainability business.

Basically, Transfarming is the transformation of traditional urban landscapes into environmentally friendly and visually appealing high yield produce gardens. I don’t particularry think I could make a go of trying to compete with commercial growers, but rather I think that there are plenty of other like minded “urban druids” out there who would love to learn about, procure the equipment necessary, and perhaps hire a consultant to do their own transfarmations.

Outdoor greeters for WalMart. They work mostly in the garden center.

My pool man is well over 50 years old. He has been taking care of pool most of his life, and all three of his sons are also in the family business.

[mod says] This is our Question of the Day!

I once worked for RPS (Roadway Package Systems) – which I hear has now been purchased by FedEx. It was a semi-outdoor job loading and unloading the packages from the trailers..but the drivers who get to drive the delivery trucks (esp. those who, for example, do FedEx home delivery now) get the best view. The pay isn’t terrible – and as long as you’re a safe driver you’ll be all set. You get to meet smiling people all day long (most people are happy to get a package) and you’ll get time outdoors AND exercise (lots of walking and lifting) in the process.