We are having some doubts about country life. :(- UPDATE

[punk-a-doodle]

If you can be sure it is the overwhelmingmess of land and location, then I would move (maybe to an easier to maintain five or ten acres). I'm not sure how you have the property set up, but perhaps cutting down the work by having just a few acres set up for homesteading and the rest left more wild for you all to run around on would be more doable. You can cut down on trips to town if you set it up to produce all of your food. Income can come from smaller ventures that bring in more money per square foot. You may have contracts or other obstacles keeping you from doing that though.

All of the problems you have listed (mud, unusable water, roads under flooding, long drive, electricty going out) with the exception of no county road maintenance are issues I have experienced living in cities, so a move may not bring relief from a bombardment of issues. That is why I say make sure a change of location will make you happier before selling. If you find it is more life that is getting to you right now, then either on your own or with the help of family and/or a professional, it is time to start identifying the reasons why you are overwhelmed/unhappy, and to write out manageable steps to take to solve these issues.

Good luck in whatever direction you choose!

 

[furbabymum]

If you can be sure it is the overwhelmingmess of land and location, then I would move (maybe to an easier to maintain five or ten acres). I'm not sure how you have the property set up, but perhaps cutting down the work by having just a few acres set up for homesteading and the rest left more wild for you all to run around on would be more doable. You can cut down on trips to town if you set it up to produce all of your food. Income can come from smaller ventures that bring in more money per square foot. You may have contracts or other obstacles keeping you from doing that though.

All of the problems you have listed (mud, unusable water, roads under flooding, long drive, electricty going out) with the exception of no county road maintenance are issues I have experienced living in cities, so a move may not bring relief from a bombardment of issues. That is why I say make sure a change of location will make you happier before selling. If you find it is more life that is getting to you right now, then either on your own or with the help of family and/or a professional, it is time to start identifying the reasons why you are overwhelmed/unhappy, and to write out manageable steps to take to solve these issues.

Good luck in whatever direction you choose!

I think the land and location are both a plus and a minus. We are very secluded. The view out our windows on one side is wheat fields and the other cows. There are only 4 properties on our road and only 3 of them have houses. That is incredibly awesome and awful. If the roads were not in such a state of awfulness then we would not be so upset I think. The roads are bad, very bad. We are wrecking our vehicles just driving them. Torn bumpers and cracked bodies, the works. It's bad. We don't have the money to fix it either. Seems like we pour money in and it gets nowhere. If we could fix the road everything would feel a lot better I think.

Also just stressed because in the last 4 years I've either been pregnant or caring for a baby. Our daughter is 10 months and super needy so I never seem to accomplish anything. It's stressful!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Burns is fairly remote, road maintenance in Wyoming sucks, and we have had a horrible winter. All strikes against you right now, this has been a long winter. It started early in October and hasn't let up since.
That wind last night was insane! tomorrow is going to be yucky also, but not much snow at least. It will be a muddy day.

Unfortunately, our snowy months are coming. March and April can be really snowy, that is when I miss the most work - WYDOT closes the interstate and I am stuck. Dh got stuck in town last winter, boy was he ******! Funny thing is, I work for WYDOT - I was saying today, when my employer closes the road and makes me stay home, they should pay me regular wages instead of making me take vacation.

On the good side, I think it will be a beautiful spring, the wild flowers are going to be insane with all this moisture.

Good news is that I think the frost is starting to come out of the ground. We are getting pretty mush around here. My English setter was dirty black when I got home this afternoon. Good thing he likes to take a bath. I tell him to get in the tub, and he runs to the bathroom, hops in and stands there waiting for me to wash him off.

Good luck and stay strong! Spring will be here soon!

 

[furbabymum]

Burns is fairly remote, road maintenance in Wyoming sucks, and we have had a horrible winter. All strikes against you right now, this has been a long winter. It started early in October and hasn't let up since.
That wind last night was insane! tomorrow is going to be yucky also, but not much snow at least. It will be a muddy day.

Unfortunately, our snowy months are coming. March and April can be really snowy, that is when I miss the most work - WYDOT closes the interstate and I am stuck. Dh got stuck in town last winter, boy was he ******! Funny thing is, I work for WYDOT - I was saying today, when my employer closes the road and makes me stay home, they should pay me regular wages instead of making me take vacation.

On the good side, I think it will be a beautiful spring, the wild flowers are going to be insane with all this moisture.

Good news is that I think the frost is starting to come out of the ground. We are getting pretty mush around here. My English setter was dirty black when I got home this afternoon. Good thing he likes to take a bath. I tell him to get in the tub, and he runs to the bathroom, hops in and stands there waiting for me to wash him off.

Good luck and stay strong! Spring will be here soon!

Shhhhhh. I'm in denial about more snow. The last snow storm caused this:

We've got a temporary patch on our well but we really can't fix it until this water dies down. So I showered this morning but I think I might actually be dirtier now......

I'll try to stay positive and think about the incredible plant life we'll have this year but it's HARD!

 

[Aacre]

I don't envy those Wyoming winds you get. It sounds like it's been rough. How long is is your road that isn't maintained by the county? Is there a possibility that you could get a hold of your neighbors and come up with an agreement to pitch in to get pit run or something (maybe 2-3" sized gravel so they don't float away with flooding) down on the roads to make it more bearable? I can sympathize somewhat with the road issues. Though, I don't live but 200ish yards from a paved road. Our road is dirt/mud and is supposed to be maintained by the county, but they do very poorly, as there are several potholes/sinkholes and my neighbors drive like @$******, making the roads much worse. Luckily for me, we haven't had much trouble with flooding- nothing compared to the flooding you get!
It seems like the country life sure does come with a lot of dirty floors, etc. I can sweep and mop my floors and it will instantly have little muddy dog prints, footprints. The dust in my house is horrible too. I can dust and it'll look like I've not dusted in weeks. Despite all the things that seem to go wrong, I try to stay positive about everything. It could be worse. I wish that I had 40 acres for the peace and quiet it brings. I only have one acre. My husband and I have toyed with the idea of buying 40 acres that is a little more remote than where we are now and is down a road that is also not maintained. But I think I'd rather deal with flooding and mud issues than to deal with the proximity of my current neighbors who let their children play football in front of my picture window and race down the dirt road with a few beers in them.

I don't have children to worry about but I do have all of my animals. Try hard as I may, I can't always keep my free range chickens on my property 24/7- they fly over fences to get to the other side a lot.
Sometimes it can take years to get a property established- especially 40 acres! But can you imagine the wholesome life you are providing your children? In a world so full of technology, sin, and luxuries right at our fingertips, we tend to take it all for granted. Regular "life" is much simpler, so when you live in town, you get frustrated with small things.. This experience is definitely giving you and your family some qualities and virtues that will make you all stronger!

 

[purplesquirrel]

yeh n ya know, in some places, there is a lot of nutrients in the soil and it's good for complexion

 

[furbabymum]

I don't envy those Wyoming winds you get. It sounds like it's been rough. How long is is your road that isn't maintained by the county? Is there a possibility that you could get a hold of your neighbors and come up with an agreement to pitch in to get pit run or something (maybe 2-3" sized gravel so they don't float away with flooding) down on the roads to make it more bearable? I can sympathize somewhat with the road issues. Though, I don't live but 200ish yards from a paved road. Our road is dirt/mud and is supposed to be maintained by the county, but they do very poorly, as there are several potholes/sinkholes and my neighbors drive like @$******, making the roads much worse. Luckily for me, we haven't had much trouble with flooding- nothing compared to the flooding you get!
It seems like the country life sure does come with a lot of dirty floors, etc. I can sweep and mop my floors and it will instantly have little muddy dog prints, footprints. The dust in my house is horrible too. I can dust and it'll look like I've not dusted in weeks. Despite all the things that seem to go wrong, I try to stay positive about everything. It could be worse. I wish that I had 40 acres for the peace and quiet it brings. I only have one acre. My husband and I have toyed with the idea of buying 40 acres that is a little more remote than where we are now and is down a road that is also not maintained. But I think I'd rather deal with flooding and mud issues than to deal with the proximity of my current neighbors who let their children play football in front of my picture window and race down the dirt road with a few beers in them.

I don't have children to worry about but I do have all of my animals. Try hard as I may, I can't always keep my free range chickens on my property 24/7- they fly over fences to get to the other side a lot.
Sometimes it can take years to get a property established- especially 40 acres! But can you imagine the wholesome life you are providing your children? In a world so full of technology, sin, and luxuries right at our fingertips, we tend to take it all for granted. Regular "life" is much simpler, so when you live in town, you get frustrated with small things.. This experience is definitely giving you and your family some qualities and virtues that will make you all stronger!

So I'll explain this like crap but there is a main road that is county maintained and our road T's off of it. It only goes for the length of the 4 properties and then dead ends. It's called "County road ___" but the county claims they don't own it. No one is claiming ownership actually. We are the 2nd property on the road and our drive is really long. We have a tractor and so does one of our neighbors so we keep it plowed and in the summer when it's dry we scrape it flat. Still, it's so muddy right now it's ludicrous!

This will sound funny now but........while calling our neighbors asking after their wells yesterday we learned that our neighbor, the first property and one without a house, just a barn, is selling. We are looking at buying now. That would give us 80 acres and control of half the road. We will see. He's asking quite a bit for 40 acres, 99k is what he's asking. Even taking into account the barn and hook ups that's a lot of money for just 40 acres in this area. We will see.....

 

[Aacre]

So I'll explain this like crap but there is a main road that is county maintained and our road T's off of it. It only goes for the length of the 4 properties and then dead ends. It's called "County road ___" but the county claims they don't own it. No one is claiming ownership actually. We are the 2nd property on the road and our drive is really long. We have a tractor and so does one of our neighbors so we keep it plowed and in the summer when it's dry we scrape it flat. Still, it's so muddy right now it's ludicrous!

This will sound funny now but........while calling our neighbors asking after their wells yesterday we learned that our neighbor, the first property and one without a house, just a barn, is selling. We are looking at buying now. That would give us 80 acres and control of half the road. We will see. He's asking quite a bit for 40 acres, 99k is what he's asking. Even taking into account the barn and hook ups that's a lot of money for just 40 acres in this area. We will see.....

I forgot about your long driveway. Maybe this summer, since you have access to a tractor, you could build up the driveway with gravel and pit run or something- maybe even some large flat piece of flagstone or something to help keep it less yucky in the winters. If your dirt is anything like mine, things tend to sink because of the mud. :-/ We've laid down gravel paths out to the chicken coop and to our pig pen and it's helped, but we already lost a lot of gravel to the sinking mud holes (I giggle now- until I have to go out and get all muddy)
I'm really wanting 40 acres!! I live in a part of Colorado that is more desert like than pasture land, but the chico bushes and rabbit brush are plentiful at least! I want it more and more every day. Maybe I'm crazy..

But to me, I love the wholesome feeling that a big plot of land gives me. Nothing beats it!

 

[furbabymum]

I forgot about your long driveway. Maybe this summer, since you have access to a tractor, you could build up the driveway with gravel and pit run or something- maybe even some large flat piece of flagstone or something to help keep it less yucky in the winters. If your dirt is anything like mine, things tend to sink because of the mud. :-/ We've laid down gravel paths out to the chicken coop and to our pig pen and it's helped, but we already lost a lot of gravel to the sinking mud holes (I giggle now- until I have to go out and get all muddy)
I'm really wanting 40 acres!! I live in a part of Colorado that is more desert like than pasture land, but the chico bushes and rabbit brush are plentiful at least! I want it more and more every day. Maybe I'm crazy..

But to me, I love the wholesome feeling that a big plot of land gives me. Nothing beats it!

Our land was active farm land before they parceled it off and it's got that good ol' farm soil aka everything sinks like a rock in it. It's awful! My husband thinks what we need to do is dig up the driveway and lay a base and build from there. Putting gravel in it will do just what yours does, sink. Someday, eventually, or maybe we'll just move. lol

Hey hey the property next to us is open. LOL 40 acres!

 

[Aacre]

Our land was active farm land before they parceled it off and it's got that good ol' farm soil aka everything sinks like a rock in it. It's awful! My husband thinks what we need to do is dig up the driveway and lay a base and build from there. Putting gravel in it will do just what yours does, sink. Someday, eventually, or maybe we'll just move. lol

Hey hey the property next to us is open. LOL 40 acres!

That would be fun to be neighbors with another chicken lover!!