ratter
Silver Member
Man, all these stories of bad neighbors are bringing me down! I wonder if it might take the edge off a bit if we share some good neighbor stories, even if that good neighbor is you.
We just moved our here about five months ago - 52 acres, with basically one immediate neighbor on each side. On one side is a horse ranch. The guy who runs it stopped by shortly after we moved in to introduce himself and welcome us. In the other direction is a young family, not farmers, just folks like us who prefer the country, I guess. Nice kids, nice dogs. No ATV's, no funny business.
To the north of us is a fella who is quite well-to-do. He owns his own large excavation company. The day we moved in, he stopped by to introduce himself and to let us know that if we ever needed any earth moved, to just give him a call.
And finally, to the south is a 3rd generation dairy farmer, with three sons (4th gen.) who help him out every day. It's only been a few months and I can't count the number of times he's helped us out already. Whether it's pulling over on his way to doing some real work when he's sees me scratching my head at my little hobby tractor, or just to shoot the breeze for a while. When he's cutting hay on his hill (we each live at the foot of the same large hill that we split up the middle), he makes a few passes down our hill to clear our road.
Knowing that I've only got a little 40" bush hog, he uses his 10' rotary cutter to clear the edges of my fields along the road when he does his. Doesn't have to ask, and doesn't fish for thank yous, even though I offer them profusely every chance I get. Get this, he even went around and pounded in the survey stakes on my property so that he wouldn't accidentally knock any out when he's cutting.
Oh, and we're invited to the wedding of one of the sons in October. Normally I'd rather do just about anything than go to a wedding, but you can bet we'll be at this one.
There's not a whole heck of a lot that I've been able to do in return just yet, but I try. He knows that any hay on my property that he needs, he is welcome to, and he has taken some. Another neighbor passed away recently, so he was helping the widow tend their livestock. I was able to offer some fenceposts that he needed to help keep the animals where they were supposed to be. Oh, and he stores some equipment in my barn.
Now, the first week we moved in, we did have some ATV'ers going up the aforementioned road up the hill. As they came back down the hill, I walked out and told them, in friendly but very clear terms, that they couldn't ride there anymore. They were good kids, I think - looked scared s***less, as good kids would be in that scenario. And they haven't been back since. And nobody has come back to exact any juvenile revenge on myself or my property.
So there's some good neighbors. Now, granted, we haven't lived here through a hunting season yet. Hopefully I won't have to come back with any bad neighbor stories once the snow starts falling!
-Mike
We just moved our here about five months ago - 52 acres, with basically one immediate neighbor on each side. On one side is a horse ranch. The guy who runs it stopped by shortly after we moved in to introduce himself and welcome us. In the other direction is a young family, not farmers, just folks like us who prefer the country, I guess. Nice kids, nice dogs. No ATV's, no funny business.
To the north of us is a fella who is quite well-to-do. He owns his own large excavation company. The day we moved in, he stopped by to introduce himself and to let us know that if we ever needed any earth moved, to just give him a call.
And finally, to the south is a 3rd generation dairy farmer, with three sons (4th gen.) who help him out every day. It's only been a few months and I can't count the number of times he's helped us out already. Whether it's pulling over on his way to doing some real work when he's sees me scratching my head at my little hobby tractor, or just to shoot the breeze for a while. When he's cutting hay on his hill (we each live at the foot of the same large hill that we split up the middle), he makes a few passes down our hill to clear our road.
Knowing that I've only got a little 40" bush hog, he uses his 10' rotary cutter to clear the edges of my fields along the road when he does his. Doesn't have to ask, and doesn't fish for thank yous, even though I offer them profusely every chance I get. Get this, he even went around and pounded in the survey stakes on my property so that he wouldn't accidentally knock any out when he's cutting.
Oh, and we're invited to the wedding of one of the sons in October. Normally I'd rather do just about anything than go to a wedding, but you can bet we'll be at this one.
There's not a whole heck of a lot that I've been able to do in return just yet, but I try. He knows that any hay on my property that he needs, he is welcome to, and he has taken some. Another neighbor passed away recently, so he was helping the widow tend their livestock. I was able to offer some fenceposts that he needed to help keep the animals where they were supposed to be. Oh, and he stores some equipment in my barn.
Now, the first week we moved in, we did have some ATV'ers going up the aforementioned road up the hill. As they came back down the hill, I walked out and told them, in friendly but very clear terms, that they couldn't ride there anymore. They were good kids, I think - looked scared s***less, as good kids would be in that scenario. And they haven't been back since. And nobody has come back to exact any juvenile revenge on myself or my property.
So there's some good neighbors. Now, granted, we haven't lived here through a hunting season yet. Hopefully I won't have to come back with any bad neighbor stories once the snow starts falling!
-Mike