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Does anyone live in the "country?"
We have an accepted offer on a great house that we love, but we are getting a lot of chatter from our parents about the location. It's on a 3 acre lot and surrounded by two HUGE farms (a dairy farm and a produce farm) so we have no neighbors.
We have 3 little girls (7,4 & 2) who are used to playing alone together (our current home is a row home in the city, no real yard or kids to play with) and I think our family was hoping we would move to a subdivision so they would have friends to play with.
We are pretty busy during the week with work, homework, sports practice, etc. so we really only have the weekends for fun stuff and I have no problem driving them across town to play with friends.
I'm just curious if anyone else made such a huge change -- city to country -- and how its working out?
We also plan to get a few pets (goats, chickens and a dog or 2) so they will be busy keeping up with the animals as well.
Re: Does anyone live in the "country?"
We went from a small rowhome just a mile from the city line (8 years), to a single family house in a leafy suburb (2 years), to a house on 5 acres in farm country (forever!). I wouldn't change a thing. I love living where I can see the horizon and where it's so dark at night that we can see a ridiculopus amount of stars. I love driving home from the office and watching the temperature reading on my car's thermometer drop 10 degrees in the summer. I love the abundance of grass, trees, and critters. Walking through our "neighborhood" is like walking through a Disney movie. You hear the wind in the trees and the birds singing while bunnies and deer scamper in the feilds and the neighbor's chickens wander over to see what you have growing in the garden. You could not pay me to leave the countryside.
That said, driving 25 minutes each way to DS's school is a real PITA. Not having any sort of pizza delivery can be a bummer on nights when I am not up for cooking or driving (e.g. when I am sick). Having a lot of property to keep up is constant work. We spend at least 20 hours every week on yard work. Having the equipment to do all of that yardwork is also really expensive. A used tractor is $10k, a good chainsaw is $450, a good weedwacker is $300, etc. We've found that professional grade equipment is essential because the consumer grade stuff just wears out so quickly when you are using it so much. And when the fields are fertilized, I wish I could walk around with a clothespin on my nose. Those weeks are just stinky. LOL We also constantly worry about the farms being sold to developers. We made sure to choose a spot with enough of our own beautiful space and enough of our own privacy to assure that, even if the farms were sold and turned into McMansionvilles, our views would be unspoiled. Development would suck, but at least our views from our windows would be intact.
Living near or on a farm is a lifestyle. Pretty much every person I talked to who grew up on a farm type place has fond memories (DH grew up on a large farm in Iowa).
Having been around them a lot I think the two things, which may take some getting used to, will be the smells and the sounds.
You have lots of cows nearby (mooing and cow smells). And even the produce farm will be noisy during planting and harvest seasons. You may get some smells from it too depending on what types of products they use on their crops.
Especially with the produce farm - the large machinery they probably use can be dangerous even to people who operate it daily, so you should instruct your kids how to respect it and be around it.
Another thing to take into consideration is that the farms are these people's occupations and livlihoods. Also teach your children about not playing in the crops nearby or picking the produce.
Lastly, farmers are great people to know!!! Most are friendly, welcoming, helpful people - so don't be shy!
We are slowly finding about the lifestyle change, just small things, like no trash service (we have to drive to the dump ourselves) and the possibility that we may have to use a satellite dish instead of regular cable & internet (still waiting to hear from Comcast about the cost).
We called the school system before we made the offer to be sure the girls would be bussed (door to door service!) and they have full day Kinder, which is a luxury in these parts!
My husband is excited about buying machines, but I'm not so sure we'll need them. The house is large (a little over 3,000 sq ft) and the property has a huge carriage house, an old dairy barn, and a few other "out buildings" that we may or may not tear down, so there isn't a TON of empty space -- 3 acres wasn't as big as I imagined... I think a regular riding mower will do the trick. We also plan to line the property with some kind of trees/shrubs so the girls will have a visual of where our property ends and the farms begin!
**6.30.12** I have found the one whom my soul loves.
I am now 30, but I grew up in a small country-like town. We lived in a neighborhood where it was a 1-1.5 mile drive off the main road through the forest haha. At the age of 23 I moved out and moved to a more local town where I was literally minutes from a gas station, highway, grocery store, and clothes shopping. Looking back my parents home (they still live there, and we visit often- 20-25 minute drive) here are the things I think about it:
Pro's- you know almost everybody, plenty of space between houses that it's very quiet, plenty of yard for kids, pets
Con's- Kinda creepy at night with all the animals lurking (coyotes, deer, bears, turkeys, skunks, racoons, possibly mountain lions), pain to get anywhere (grocery store, work, highways, clothing shopping), not great reception (cells, satelite TV), limited food delivery
My parents have offered us the house when they decide to move, but as much as I would like the nice, quiet neighborhood, I'd rather find a neighborhood in my own town where it's close to everything. I am huuuge on convience and with no plans for kids, this is not the town for me. I think it just depends on what kind of lifestyle you are looking for. If your ok with losing the advantage of convenience (time and money) then i would go for it.
Married My Love on 6/18/2006
BFP#1 10/1/2011. Our perfect little girl, Her heart stopped @ 12w1d. D&E 11/23/11
BFP#2 3/13/12 Weird CP/Possible EP @ 6w0d
BFP#3 5/28/12 CP @ 5w0d
BFP/WTF#4 10/26/12 CP
BFP#5 12/10/12 EDD 8/23/2013
Chasing a Rainbow: The Chart/The Fruit
As a person who works in the agriculture industry and is obsessed with all things rural, I can tell you that (like PPs said) it is a life style. Having a dairy near you means you will hear tractors and equipment as early as 3am or before. Both farms will spread manure on fields twice a year (the dairy may spread more depending on the size and their storage capacity). There will be mud dust and dirt on your road at all times. Everyone knows everyone in a rural town so always be mindful of what you say and do. I do not know where exactly you are but in rural towns around here, you can have a conversation with everyone because people are so friendly.
I only ask a few things..... Do not get animals just because you live somewhere where it's possible. Do your research and learn what it really takes to raise goats/chickens etc. They aren't puppies and kitties.... They are a lot of work and sometimes involve plans for manure management and housing construction. You also will need to be prepared to destroy an animal like a goat if needed (ie shoot it). All things to keep in mind.
Also, please be respectful of the farms. Make sure your kids know to stay away unless you have asked permission to come over. Deal with the smells and noises. Do not call the cops when you hear gun shots (I have heard of plenty of people doing this because they are from the city where that's usually a bad sound). But mostly, please be open minded and enjoy the rural life!
I don't think there is any safer or more enjoyable environment to raise kids in than a relaxed country setting. They will learn from nature in ways that they can't otherwise. There is also no substitute for being raised around animal - you learn so much about compassion and existence (life/death). Don't second guess this decision for another second.
They may not have friends close by but their friends will adore coming to visit. They will also have to rely on each other to play with.
I would buy outside games like cornhole, etc. to keep them occupied and give them plenty of responsibilities in caring for the animals. If given the opportunity to watch tv and play video games being in an isolated setting can be really awful for them.
You can see in my other post that the inspection didn't go so well, but we're hopeful the seller will fix what needs to be fixed... in other news, we heard back from Comcast re: cable/internet to the house and I almost LOL'd when I go the response!
It would cost us $19,000.00 (!!!) to have them run cable from the nearest neighbor who has Comast service on our street, and then we get to pay a cable bill every month
After talking to the seller during inspection we learned that the nearest neighbor with cable is a Comcast executive who is flown to & from work everyday from his house, hahahahaha.
So, satellite it is!
I say 'YES' to all CowgirlK39 says
Our kids are 5th generation on our family farm in IA.
We live 20 miles from the front door of the high school. Our kids are bussed, BUT for all the extra curriculars we sometimes make 2-3- trips to town a day, for the 3 kids we have at home yet.
We raise pigs, also have a show heifer, 3 horses, a bunny, a dog, and varying amounts of farm cats--the neighbor's and ours go back and forth all the time.
We also raise corn and soybeans. I am building up a business of Farmer's Market produce. I do alot of canning (make my own spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, stewed tomatoes, apple juice, apple sauce, and tons of other things).
I am hoping to have road-side stand of produce this year. Mother Nature hasn't been too terribly kind, but things are growing!