Is Rural Living a Hobby?

   / Is Rural Living a Hobby? #121  
Freud said a man needs 2 things, mark twain said essentially the same thing

love and work

he was referring to males, not **** sapiens in general.

i've always said, it takes passion to have a real hobby.

how many women you know have a real hobby?

once in a while........my mom was a golf addict
Mom lived to run and came to the sport at a late age of 50 but still running marathons at 75...
 
   / Is Rural Living a Hobby? #122  
MossRoad, you are a very lucky person. In the normal distribution of things, I have had terrible luck with neighbors. At best, I would say we are indifferent to three of them. Friendly, but not on close terms. The other five, all hate each-other even though none of our houses are close enough to each other to be a factor - though my direct neighbor is a fanatic about leaf blowing his driveway, and runs his insanely loud leaf blower for 6 hours every day in the fall, as he is doing right now, messing up a perfect fall day with this annoying back ground noise. And we have learned to never get involved with their squabbles or enjoin in some sort of alliance with any particular one.
I started out with the fantasy that rural neighbors, of course, would have a cohesive shared, "live and let live," attitude. This for us, didn't turn out to be the case. There is no sense of a shared community and everyone is out to maximize their own self interest. One neighbor, invites all his friends up the hill to spend two weekend days of target practice. Another has made what I have to call an ad-hock country club. In the summer there are 25 cars a day up and down the road of teenagers to use his Olympic sized pool that he has to run water trucks up, cause our wells are not very good. Another started a pot farm with seven perpetually stoned, budders, employees that are always getting stuck in the ditches, blocking the road and also runs propane, and port-a-pot trucks once a week. And another is a slum lord, with two rentals, and every few year, I get the police at my place, the driveways ARE confusing and the police are lost, at 2 Am, to serve an arrest warrant for some one I don't know. And they have guns at the ready, even though they are at the wrong place at 2 Am. A gate is in order. I still love living here, yet the honeymoon is over.
Just curious, what state are you in?

I move around often in my career (my oldest has lived in eight houses and she's not in college yet) and there is a big difference in "rural" folks. Even within a state there's a difference, last place we lived was the other coast of GA and some folks where good some not. On this side I've yet to meet a bad neighbor aside from one meth house even though some of the neighbors have been here so long they have historical issues and don't get along I get along with them. If I was going to recommend a place based I've lived solely on the people, west central GA seems to be it. Runner up would be western Missouri/eastern Kansas.
 
   / Is Rural Living a Hobby? #123  
Good thread, but I'm saddened to read that my lifestyle seems to mean I have a "hobby farm". To me a "hobby farm" had always meant something like a 5 acre plot with a couple of animals.
I think rural or city living are lifestyles. You might be born into one, but in America given some gumption you can usually switch.
 
   / Is Rural Living a Hobby? #124  
MossRoad, you are a very lucky person. In the normal distribution of things, I have had terrible luck with neighbors. At best, I would say we are indifferent to three of them. Friendly, but not on close terms. The other five, all hate each-other even though none of our houses are close enough to each other to be a factor - though my direct neighbor is a fanatic about leaf blowing his driveway, and runs his insanely loud leaf blower for 6 hours every day in the fall, as he is doing right now, messing up a perfect fall day with this annoying back ground noise. And we have learned to never get involved with their squabbles or enjoin in some sort of alliance with any particular one.
I started out with the fantasy that rural neighbors, of course, would have a cohesive shared, "live and let live," attitude. This for us, didn't turn out to be the case. There is no sense of a shared community and everyone is out to maximize their own self interest. One neighbor, invites all his friends up the hill to spend two weekend days of target practice. Another has made what I have to call an ad-hock country club. In the summer there are 25 cars a day up and down the road of teenagers to use his Olympic sized pool that he has to run water trucks up, cause our wells are not very good. Another started a pot farm with seven perpetually stoned, budders, employees that are always getting stuck in the ditches, blocking the road and also runs propane, and port-a-pot trucks once a week. And another is a slum lord, with two rentals, and every few year, I get the police at my place, the driveways ARE confusing and the police are lost, at 2 Am, to serve an arrest warrant for some one I don't know. And they have guns at the ready, even though they are at the wrong place at 2 Am. A gate is in order. I still love living here, yet the honeymoon is over.

I would move.
 
   / Is Rural Living a Hobby? #128  
[deletia]

That neighbor and I maintained the easement out to the county road. But he finally moved away, because one summer his view out his front door changed from a beautiful old apple orchard to an absentee owned soulless vineyard with a high fence that claimed half the width of what had been an adequate country lane. Now I'm maintaining the easement alone because I'm the only one around here with a tractor and back blade.

[deletia]

A third neighbor here proudly told me he and Dad built twin apple presses, working together. Dad's unpasteurized apple juice had a powerful medicinal effect :sick: a few minutes after drinking a glass so that's a custom I haven't continued. Still friends with those neighbors. Wife was a school administrator and she knows everything about everybody around here.

Easement. Now half the width it was for 100 years. After the new vineyard was pushed to his legal boundary at the centerline of the lane. The vineyard (on the left) has now been sold to a second absentee owner. Not neighborly at all. I've never seen anyone but rarely laborers in there. Thankfully my place is well beyond this bottleneck.
img-20210322-01rbackbladeinlane-jpg.693292
I bet there's a thread here somewhere about maintaining a shared road or easement. Some years ago, erosion had exposed a 6" boulder on a shared easement. I took a sledgehammer and spent half an hour busting the top off the rock. A neighbor, who lived past me, stopped and asked me why I was bothering with it. I didn't want friends to damage their car if they came to visit. I also had a tractor and blade, so bladed the driveway. That same neighbor asked me to blade the extra 1/4 mile to his house. No, he didn't offer to pay or return favors, he just wanted me to take care of his stuff. The same neighbor wanted to rip along at 40 mph in front of my house, so I bladed a "water bar" across the road. His pickup must have bounced 2' in the air the first time he hit it. After that, he slowed down.

Cider needs to be sanitized because of all the salmonella in the bird poop. Some people pasteurize the cider. I have had good results floating the apples in a bleach sanitizing barrel before feeding them into the grinder.

Edit: I guess I'm a bad neighbor. I had almost forgotten the water bar episode, but more recently I had a neighbor who refused to maintain his fences and was running cows on my property. We're talking an average of 60 head, so he was making money off of my pasture. I contacted him about it three times. The last time he gave me an "open range" runaround (it's not) and refused to do anything. I said, "Fine, you want open range, I'll give you open range," and took down all my gates along the county road. Of course, his herd moved on, and he got to round them up half a mile away. He wanted me to put my gates back up. I told him, "It's not my problem. Fix your fences."

I guess I'm the neighbor from hell.
 
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   / Is Rural Living a Hobby? #130  
Outdoors - farming - woods - rural - these are settings the lead to the belief that "not all things are true." Unlike we hear so much about in populated areas. Farmers have learned that if you can do it right (whatever that is), you MIGHT make it to next year. But there is no question, if you continue to do it wrong, you will loose. I think in many populated areas, you can say it is the right way, but NEVER have to prove it. Politicians rely on never having to be right. That alone draws us to the outdoor areas. Nature does what it does. Survival outdoors is about doing right, not excuses. The sound of the wind in the trees, a soft rain, the whisper of thunder in the distance, and sitting with the family dog on the porch in warmth of the sunlight on a cool crisp day are all the reasons it is a lifestyle. We are drawn to the values which fit our values. All without the neighbors music, the siren of local police, the domestic argument across the street, and trying to figure out why the car we have never seen before is sitting in front of our drive. Peace of mind, confidence of ownership without intrusion, all reasons which lead to comfort and peace are what we call rural -- where you can usually rest at peace on your own porch without everyone being there unless invited.
Maybe that is some of it. I am busy enough with my wife telling what I should do (she is usually right), without everyone else telling me.
 
 
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