Give me a taste of what I'm missing

[TwistedSerpent]

Stemming from the pros and cons of country living thread -

I'm a country girl deep at heart however been stuck in cities my whole life, there is just something totally comforting, familier, and home-like about it to me even without actually living it, which I'm sure many can relate to. I grew up in a very old and small wooded town on the Mississippi in Minnesota, a few miles down from St. Paul. Neighbors were close but most yards were so heavily wooded privacy was pretty high, with large areas of untouched woods within walking distance. I loved the area, the trees and nature all around. Last March I moved out on my own to an apartment in East St. Paul. I worked three jobs often in the same day to be able to support myself. The time off I had I spent with the dogs deep in state parks, or on long walks downtown which is quite mentally stimulating to me. The last few months of living there I was working from 4pm to 8am nearly every day and it was killing me, was just getting to be too much. So my wonderful boyfriend said come stay with me for awhile. In Feb. I packed up and moved myself, my dogs, my clothes, about 50 snakes (I breed them) and two pet spiders 1,000 miles west to Montana. Beautiful country, totally different from home though but I really enjoy it. I am finding though city life here is worse then when I was in St. Paul. He shares the same wants as me as far as where we want to live, and were working on buying a house out of town on some land. My dream of country life is so close to turning real its making me really impatient, but I'm just eating up everyones stories here and its satisfying me a bit.

So as an extension of the country life thread, I would love to know the little details of daily life, the things that make county living its best to everyone. I'm so excited to actually be able to see stars again, and to start gardening and keep chickens and other birds as well as horses. Until then though I much be content by dreaming still.

 

[debilorrah]

Well, we are in a rural area of southern California, with the grocery store 5 minutes away, yet no visible neighbors, so it really can't get better than that. We do have to drive 30 miles to get to a decent restaurant, but well worth it.

Mornings, Ken goes to feed that animals and hook the horses hooves. I sleep. Evenings, he goes out to feed the animals and I collect eggs when I come home - he was fired from that job because he kept collecting eggs from under a broody. We both work full time so our "farm" time is cut short during the week. Weekends we spend more time outside with the chickens and the horses. I love chasing the ducks through the mud too.

Every day at around 1 pm, we have a "Egg Song-Off" with about 10 different hens that lay at the same time and holler like you wouldn't believe! It is a source of great amusement for us. We also find that watching rural TV programs is more relaxing as well as educational compare to some of the crap on TV these days!

ETA: We have stars galore here and the view of the mountains behind us is incredible. We are at a high enough elevation to get snow in the winter, just not tons of it.

 

[herfrds]

Where are you at?
I'm north of Great Falls.

I would say get used to dirt roads and not getting plowed out right of way in the winter.
Our local store is 17 miles away, but if I want very certain things it another 40 miles.

Just because your a distance from your neighbors be ready for any problems that might come up.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

Nice! Would love to hear that with the hens. The place we're looking at has mountains in view too, which makes up for the lack of trees. I used to work out in the country at a dog rescue, so very used to unplowed dirt roads not to mention snow in general comming from Minnesota.

I'm in Great Falls right now actually

 

[herfrds]

So which direction are you going?
Belt? Black Eagle? Fairfield? Sand Coulee? Ulm?


I know towards Belt the land prices are sky high.
Ulm is a pretty nice place. Know some people in the Sand Coulee area.

Pretty heated deal over chickens in Great Falls right now, good idea to get out of the city before things get worse.

Which mountains? Highwoods or the Rocky Mountain front?

I know I'm curious. I can see the Highwoods and Bears Paw from our place.

 

[rhodewarrior]

Quote:
What part of So Cal are you in? We are in Lakeside, about 25 mins east of San Diego. We have neighbors who have goats and cows! There is a house across the street from the elementary school that even has emus! We love the quiet and the ability to be able to do our own thing without "busy body" neighbors!

 

[TwistedSerpent]

The place we're looking at is in Ulm, so far its been the best place with the most land in the best area within our budget, just waiting for the load paperwork to get through right now. No idea what the mountains we see are out there.

The few places we looked at in belt had very little land and seemed really run down. Moving out of Great Falls was one of the priorities. Dont have chickens right now, but we've had to deal with their animal laws here more then we want to with our reptile and invert pets (last we heard it was illegal to keep frogs). My boyfriend was deployed for a year last year, all of his animals ended up being taken by animal control due to the neglect the person he had watching them. They actually tried to push for animal cruelty charges against him because he kept things in plastic containers, which is the number one and easiest way to keep most reptiles and inverts happly, while in the meantime several animals dying under their care under how they say is the appropriate way to keep them. Took them months before they finally dropped the charges and gave him his animals back, just total nonsense.

 

[Backyard_Chicken_rancher]

AHHHHH yes the country life where should I start at.............

Well I was raised a city boy I grew up fighting cussing and kicking my way through the city life then I moved out on my own I headed for the country (my Grandmother lived in the country all her life so I had a taste) once there I realized it was to quite for me but I quickly got used to it then as time went on I always found myself heading back to the city for one reason or another.
As I became older the Country life called to me like a mother to a child so I had family In Texas and decide to go for a vist (now mind you I thought Texas was going to be all ghost towns and cactus) I hit Dallas /Fort worth and was shocked at how this was a city I thought my Vist was going to be short lived, I ended up so far out into the country I had no idea that the night could be so black and the stars be so bright and white I felt as if I could reach up into the night sky and pluck one right from the sky itself....
Well needless to say that was well over 14 years ago and here I still live now I bought a home in the country with the wife and we Love Love Love it. I start the day off by doing chores. then it's off to vist and check on the chickens then onto the dogs which btw have not been chained up since we moved here (they love that) the nearest Neighbor is my SIL and she lives down the road about a mile or so, I work from sun up till sun down keeping this place running smoothly and I tell you what as sure as I sit here today I wouldn't have it any other way I guess the best way I can sum up country living is....If you enjoy the feeling you get from knowing you have all the freedom you could ever want (no city laws) as well as knowing that it is yours and the feeling you get when you earned by working with your own two hands and the sweat of your brow, not giving two craps about what other peopel think when you go shopping and you got manure on your boots with the mud caked jeans and oil wiped hand print on your but the dirt coverd shirt smelling like sweat from working in the field Then I would say your ready for the country lifestyle however if you think you should get on your Sunday best and put your face on just to go to Wal-Mart then I say stay in the city cause you will hate the country lifestyle...........


Now what I like about it is knowing that I grew what I eat in my garden and what my chickens have been eating so I know that there is no chemicals or anything of that nature in their bodies which will be passed to me.
I like the feeling of knowing that I did what ever it is that needs done with my own two hands I enjoy looking like I put in a hard days work cause I know I did, I don't care what others think of the way I am dressed or how I smell cause I know I have been in the heat busting my as......Butt while they were in their A/Ced office typeing away on a keyboard while my hands were in the dirt digging, I enjoy the peace and quiet of the country I liek hereing the crickets chirp at night without hearing the sounds of traffic.
Most of all I love the view of sitting outside at night looking up at the stars and taking that deep breath of fresh "Country " air (y'all know what I mean if you live in the country) and sharing it all with my wonderful wife.

I hope this helps your dreams justa little bit belive you me there is nothing like living the country lifestyle till you have done it it's not just a place to live, it's a way of life and a feeling no one could ever replace or take away from you.