HOW RURAL IS RURAL?

[vintovka]

Good neighbors have a lot to do with it.

Too true. I have a wonderful neighbor. Shes in her mid 70's, lives alone with 2 dogs and packs a revolver. There's only one way past her to our place.

 

[Coinneach]

Good neighbors have alot to do with it.

Yep without a doubt, I'm looking at buying a few acres around this place.....

 

[Beadman]

I live in a county of 6500 people in southern Iowa.Built a burm home in 2003 there with out buildings and kennel 19 years ago.Added a log sided top to the burm home in 2014.
Built it in the middle of a 2 mile section or 1280 acres with a half mile driveway.I own 85 acres myself and live on it with Robin.
Woods all around me with all kinds of wildlife a stones throw away.We try to mostly subsistence live here with a garden and deer.Thousands of wildlife pictures but here's a few others.
To live remotely like this though a tractor is essential to own for digging yourself out from snowstorms.
Life is good.

 

[SOLANCO]

I live in a county of 6500 people in southern Iowa.Built a burm home in 2003 there with out buildings and kennel 19 years ago.Added a log sided top to the burm home in 2014.
Built it in the middle of a 2 mile section or 1280 acres with a half mile driveway.I own 85 acres myself and live on it with Robin.
Woods all around me with all kinds of wildlife a stones throw away.We try to mostly subsistence live here with a garden and deer.Thousands of wildlife pictures but here's a few others.
To live remotely like this though a tractor is essential to own for digging yourself out from snowstorms.
Life is good.

It would be a lot easier/quicker if you could replace the bucket with a snowblower.

 

[Beadman]

Not really that throws stones and loses too much driveway gravel.Gravel is close to 500 dollars a truck load now with the high fuel prices.To replenish rock for a few years can take over 4 loads.That's over 70 ton.
Some winters I may have to clean the driveway at least a dozen times, and I skim just above the rock line when moving snow in 5th gear.
It actually is faster with a bucket.I've been rural all my life and moved snow all my life.
We both own 4 wheel drive or AWD vehicles.
Lucky thing is the driveway is on a ridge so it can blow clean sometimes.
Replacing with a snow blower is quite an expense.Mounting it on the back end means you back up all the time crawling along.There ok on pavement and parking lots but not long driveways.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Yep without a doubt, I'm looking at buying a few acres around this place.....

Just make sure you dont get turned into a horney toad.

 

[flashpoint]

I have a pretty unique place. about 10 miles from the grocery store, about 20 miles from the nearest hospital, 3 miles from the gas station, I am no more than 20 miles from a decent size town. I live on 2.6 acres, and own 9 acres across the street. Both of my properties back up against watershed property and state game lands. I can hunt in my backyard and I have a 50 yd. range in my back yard. Out my back door there are over 5,000 acres of woods, and across the street is about 1,000 acres of woods. Watershed property and state game lands can't be built on. I have Black Bear, deer, turkey, squirrels, and rabbits in my back yard. Grouse have been thin lately, and no pheasants. Everybody in my neighborhood target practices. About a mile up the road the creek has native brook trout some that go over 16 inches. I can see the stars at night. This is where I will die.

Don't worry about dying, you are already in heaven.

 

[vintovka]

Living rural is fine as long as you (and you body) can handle the responsibilities. Age and other factors play a big part as time passes. We recently sold our other place as it was too remote and became too hard / too much to handle. Finding the ideal mix of location, services and lifestyle can be challenging but can still be done with carefully planning, good judgement and most importantly good luck.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Beadman, I love the Oliver tractor. Is it an 1850? I had one in the later 70s - early 80s. It was diesel but didn’t have a cab.

 

[TraderVic]

Living rural is fine as long as you (and you body) can handle the responsibilities. Age and other factors play a big part as time passes. We recently sold our other place as it was too remote and became too hard / too much to handle. Finding the ideal mix of location, services and lifestyle can be challenging but can still be done with carefully planning, good judgement and most importantly good luck.

My wife and I circle around to this discussion every now and then......."life after the farm".
I'm still trying to figure out what would be optimum for us, shorter driveway for sure. I have a IH766 with a Schwartz loader to plow my driveway (a 40 length) when the snow, and especially the drifts need to be busted and cleared.
Anyway - not sure how much longer I'll feel like doing this.

 

[vintovka]

The optimum word here is "SNOW".

 

[Beadman]

Beadman, I love the Oliver tractor. Is it an 1850? I had one in the later 70s - early 80s. It was diesel but didn’t have a cab.

Yes it was my fathers.Bought it off him in the early 1980's.I farmed with it for 30 years.

Farmed a quarter section with it.It's a 1966 model.A diesel with about a 100 horse power perkins in it.Wide front end for row cropping corn and beans.It has a white unheated cab on it. It has about 4600 hours on it.
It has served me well.Although I've stuck some money into it maintaining it too.
When moving here I had a front end loader put on it turning it into an acreage tractor as I'm retired now.With chains on the back tires it can move the deepest snow banks here.Bush hog,grade the driveway,and occasionally pull people out from being stuck with it.
There's a quarter mile dead end road connected to my half mile driveway.My property is connected to large tracts of woods that a deer outfitter has clients from southern states come up to hunt.Sometimes they don't know how to drive in the snow.

 

[Beadman]

Oh I usually have a 6' mounted back blade on the back end with a 3' extension on it to grade the snow easier with my bucket down too to back the snow off the lane a good 3'.To account for drifting.

 

[mushka]

I live where I live now because I lived for 31 years with snow, freezing rain, and cold weather for months at a time. Got tired of it. The heat is uncomfortable sometimes but the cold hurts me. If I go to a cold place now it's for a four or five day hunting trip.

 

[Timberland One]

Even though we all wish we lived in the "wilds" where game was plentiful, with lots of land, lots of freedom, beautiful views, pristine trout streams, and no-one to tell us what to do; unfortunately not all of us are that lucky. I see some on here have no trouble seeing deer, bears, elk, coyotes, mountain lions, upland game birds, mink and otter right out their window. Being I live on a1/4 acre lot in a New Jersey subdivision and have to drive to find a place to hunt, with little game and lots of No Hunting Signs, I was wondering how you would describe the area in which you fortunately or unfortunately live? Flashpoint!

We have 5 acres at 1,000' in a valley on the west slope of the Cascades just north of the Umpqua Divide. House (2,500 sqft, electric and woodstove heat), shop, outbuildings, orchard, garden, timber and views. Game abounds; coastal blacktail, whitetail (not legal to hunt, new introduction), bear, 'coon, beaver, bobcat, cougar, coyote, quail, turkey, squirrels. Lots of eagles, hawks, osprey, vultures, thrush, jays, hummingbirds, blue birds, tree swallows, wrens, sparrows, finches, flickers and downy woodpeckers. Yeah, we spend a ton of money on bird seed. Peace and quiet, 25 miles to the nearest town, 3 roads in, gravel stretches on every one. Our neighbors are cattle, sheep and horse ranchers, hay farmers, tree farmers and loggers. Close community, no ********, mutual support and security and everybody is a HAM operator and everybody owns firearms. Very polite, helpful dependable. No traffic lights, no stop signs and nobody spewing bumping "music" out the car windows. We escaped Santa Rosa California 7 years ago and we have never looked back.

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

A fat shot better than where you migrated from I'll bet

Man, you betcha!

 

[TraderVic]

Beadman,
A classic tractor that old, used for farming and only 4600 hours is unheard of.
My 1975 IH766 (German diesel) has around 10,000 hours on it now. Think it had around 6200 or so when I bought it in 2001.

 

[embrr2]

I’ve got 4.5 acres with a small pond in sky. Been here about 4 years. Lots of small game and deer. I’ve been running the deer off with grandkids daisy. They ate one of my pumpkins and the old lady’s roses. Ponds real low and clear. Got a picture other day of bunch of bass.
I’ve got a archery only and late ML WMA about 5 miles away.
Small town 5 miles away. City is 40 to 60 miles away. I’ve got 300 yards of gravel driveway, and constantly dirty truck.

 

[Beadman]

Kansas Jake....I used it only on a quarter section of ground,or 164 acres more or less.
Paid my father rent just like a stranger would.Over a $250,000 dollars through those years.
Had some internationals too.An M farmall and an H farmall.A 300 case tractor too for baling hay.They did a lot of work for me too.
The Oliver was used for the heavier work like disking,chisleing,row cultivating,and picking corn.Hauling loads to town of soybeans too.Biggest gravity wagon [3 of them] held 250 bushel.
I've thought about completely restoring the Oly some day.

 

[Coinneach]

Just make sure you dont get turned into a horney toad.

A classic movie, my son couldnt stop singing " Im a man of constant sorrow" when he was a boy, it drove his older sister Nuts !