Is Rural Living a Hobby?

[JasperFrank]

How one designs their rural property is key. We can't predict the future, but there are things one can do. For instance, it was a hard learned lesson that we should have set the house much further back from the easement road. When I got the property in '94, there were very few other persons on this road. So, maybe, 6 cars a day going past the drive way. And some days, no cars at all. I never imagined more than this. Yet now, there are well over 40 cars a day on a gravel road.... lots of dust, and each year it just gets more traffic and more dust. The prevailing winds were once mitigated by a mature forest, that I had an understanding with the owner, that he was doing select cut, and that this was his business plan to pass down to his sons. That didn't work out as, when he passed away, one of the sons did a clear cut and changed that all up, then divided the property up into lots. I did not think this was even possible, given Oregon's F2 forestry and land use laws. Land Use Laws mean nothing. And if your view is spectacular, which ours was, understand the trees you own and the ones you do not. We have no view now as my, lower on the hill, new, neighbor, from California, doesn't what to cut any trees: And that is their right, even after I offered to pay for their trees at market value to improve the value of our property. I had an agreement with the older owner, One of the few people up the hill I liked, since we built our houses at the same time, and shared tools. The understanding was that I would hold off on cutting trees down, cause his wife, that had cancer, loved walking in that area, very near to their pet cemetery. Me cutting, would have messed this up. He died very soon after she did, ending our verbal agreement about cutting and creating a view again for us. The kids, just sold that property off, to the new Californians. So verbal agreements mean nothing. This is rural living.

 

[Have tractor did travel]

We were closing out of our 2nd career, operating RV parks. First career was self employed, in city, wholesale distribution. I didn't feel a calling for the 150 acres, but wanted the challenge of rehabilitating a 100 year old dairy farm.
What I've learned:
1. I love the absence of man-made noise
2. There is endless "work". I'm fine to address it when I get to it. I'm 77 and am able for 6 hour days, 7 days a week. And growing. While it's "work", I enjoy doing it - clearing fence lines, restoring windows, refinishing floors, etc. I also enjoy an afternoon nap, almost every day.
3. We've made more friends here,, and know more people's names, than at any other neighborhood in which we have lived. We feel as if we've 'found' our home, in many senses. We see other people when we want, and when we don't, we love our farm, our farm house, and our privacy.
4 I go to town once a week. I buy necessities, hate the traffic, and find some weekly treat for the wife and me. Sometime fish and chips, sometime breakfast buffet, sometime a chocolate shake. A reward to compensate for the trip to town.

Life was a lot of hard work. I kept my nose to the grind stone, and am enjoying the rewards. I feel we are over compensated for past labors - don't deserve all we have, given how others, both in this country and outside the country, live. But I'll take it.

 

[JasperFrank]

Now that I've retired, I very much want too see if I can make our 14.5 acre wood lot into a "working wood lot." I didn't have a plan, when I bought the property. I just didn't want to be near any other neighbors or deal with city taxes and city government anymore after living in town for 14 years. First thing I did was thin the wooded area, and plant a thousand red cedar seedlings. I have to say it was fun over the next 30 or so years to see these cedars become real trees. This was a "Cut and Run" property, which are very common in my area, cause during the last major tree cut, in the early seventies, it was common for the owners to cut all the trees, not bothering to re-seed, and then stop paying any prop tax, and let the County take title to the land. Sounds crazy now, but that is what they did. These became what were called "Surplus Land Assets." In the '90's these were, compared to today, very inexpensive to buy and mostly 20 to 40 acre sites, yet they did come with some land use rules. Biggest one being that the land was designated for tree production, which I had to justify - which was okay, after re-planting the cedars. Those are going to take another 30 years be worth anything harvesting. In the mean time, how does any one make money off a small wood lot? Tried mushroom picking. That didn't work. Tried select cutting some of the larger maple trees. That didn't work. Attempted selling small units of chip bark. Didn't work, and now I'm thinking of supplying mature ferns, to garden centers, which after a year of trying, doesn't seem to be working also. In a sense, I feel like I'm being forced in to a Hobby Tree Farm as there isn't some other thing this place can produce of a sustainable commercial value. My next attempt will be bee keeping, though I hate bees.

 

[Jstpssng]

7 minute commute to work.
3 minutes to grocery stores.
Dozens of restaurants close by.
Fire protection, ambulance, police just minutes away.
Entertainment, culture.
There's lots of pluses if you look for them.

Those aren't pluses which mean anything to me. Perhaps the ambulance when I get older...

 

[ultrarunner]

Sounds like quite a few are rural to have distance from neighbors and not be subject to city jurisdiction... with not many looking for significant rural income.

 

[jjp8182]

Sounds like quite a few are rural to have distance from neighbors and not be subject to city jurisdiction... with not many looking for significant rural income.

Some offsetting of expenses though .... and a wider selection of vegetables (to include specific varieties) than can be found in grocery stores.

Have yet to see/find whole cayenne peppers being sold around here...... also hard to find much in the way of specialty sausages/brats (haven't gotten into making my own meat products just yet).

It may not be the most cost effective source of food in terms of $ per unit weight, but it raises the question: "what's the monetary value of flavor?"

A lot of the good cooking I get credited for is largely due to the quality/flavor of the ingredients I generally use ....and having had points of my life where my caloric intake was between approaching 4000 to 6000 calories a day to replace what was being used I've eaten quite a bit of foods - prepared in a lot of different ways (with lots of nutritious calories since empty calories don't really help muscles rebuild/repair).

BTW those experiences also taught me at that level of caloric intake eating becomes less of a pleasure and more of a chore. So now that I no longer need to consume quite that much having hearty meals that I can enjoy eating is (for me) worth a premium.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Sounds like quite a few are rural to have distance from neighbors and not be subject to city jurisdiction... with not many looking for significant rural income.

While it may be possible to make money off of as little as 20 acres of high value farm land with water rights, subsistence farming is mostly exercise. The benefits of home grown food and recreation are about as much as you can expect. If you have trees, biosolar can take care of your heating bill.

 

[riptides]

How does a farmer make a million dollars?

He starts with two million.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Those aren't pluses which mean anything to me. Perhaps the ambulance when I get older...

Lol, me neither. When they built a grocery store within 3 miles of my last house, I moved 20 minutes further away. That intersection didn’t even have a traffic light, now there’s hundreds of more houses and lights everywhere. Traffic is terrible there.

 

[JasperFrank]

Larry you are entirely right about the easement road underlying issue. A huge point of contention with the neighbors. We have an easement that is specific that the road be maintained as it was when we bought the property. The uphill neighbors have always pushed for road improvement and some sort of Road Association, attached to our deeds for road maintenance. The road is good up to my place, cause I spent a lot money to do that. It was just a logging road prior to having houses up this hill. They are all new people. I'm the hold out and the bad guy, cause I will not agree to this road maintenance agreement. The lower part has now been paved, cause a neighbor is selling off lots. This is going to get destroyed the first bad winter we have here if peple use chain or studs. No way am I paying for that to be repaired. I was happy with the gravel road and maintained to the standard it was on the easement. And in snow, I would have preferred a gravel road anyway. These are easy and cheap to repair.