Is Rural Living a Hobby?

[arizona98tj]

Dad had 560 acres and we raised cattle and hogs and had enough horses, chickens, a milk cow, etc. to fill up the pens that didn't have hogs and cows in them. As a kid, I walked soybean rows with a hoe, taking out milkweed, thistles, mustard, etc. Picked corn in the fall and shelled it in the spring. We baled several thousand bales of hay for winter feed. We planted enough oats so we could harvest it and hammer-mill it into feed for the pigs and bale the straw for winter bedding for all the animals. Dad also worked a 40 hour/week job in town as a janitor. I really didn't want to be a farmer when I grew up.

I retired from a 30 year job at a nuclear power plant when I hit 60. The Mrs. and I moved back to where I grew up as a kid and we built a new house and garage on 80 acres of that same farm. We don't try to make a living off of it. I have 20 acres of hayfield that a neighbor leases. The rest is woods and pasture which I let another neighbor run his cattle in during the summer. He's a young guy so he gets to do that for free.

I built a chicken coop because we like to eat chicken. For 8 weeks in the spring, we raise chickens and then butcher them. We shoot a deer or two each fall which takes care of the rest of our meat needs. I keep a couple of food plots going for the deer. I cut firewood for the woodstove. My garden is big enough to make hooking up the rotary tiller behind my tractor worth the effort. Last summer I built a 12x40' loafing shed to hold the other things I hook up to the tractor.

The way I see it, everything I do now is a hobby because I enjoy it and it helps pass the time.

 

[rontaki]

it already is. all of calif is moving to north idaho. there building like nobody's business. and they all want mcmansions. i am getting real sick of it. they have ruined my small town of the past 28 years.

Hah! We recently escaped the SF Bay Area to this rural area. To the mild chagrin of a neighbor who has been here a long time, we made a change to the property. We had a streetlight that was in our backyard on the property line removed so the stars could come out at night. Howzzat for city folk mucking the place up⁈

 

[California]

all of calif is moving to north idaho. there building like nobody's business. and they all want mcmansions.

You can have them. The people building out-of-place McMansions there, are the same people we were happy to see depart. Sorry bout that.

 

[Frankenkubota]

One thing I noticed the other day when we were in Stillwater, OK was that even in the city you could still see the stars quite well. Just on the outskirts of town, we could see the milky way. Haven't been able to see the milky way here for decades due to light pollution. Even 5 miles out of town it can get difficult. We can see the lights of Chicago and that's about 100 miles away.

good line from a James McMurtry song....

momma used to curl her hair

back before the central air

we'd sit outside and watch the stars at nite

she'd tell me to make a wish

i'd wish we both could fly

i don't think she's seen the sky

since we got the satellite dish

 

[Oaktree]

I am 1/2 a mile down a dirt road...so anyone at my door is criminal trespassing and destroying property as they broke through my gate. My German Shepherd is 85 lbs and has full run of our place... We don't get many visitors, and we love it.

Not trying to be critical, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that attitude. Now I can be as much of a hermit as anyone, but not quite sure I understand being actively hostile to visitors.
Seems to be a somewhat common theme on this board.

 

[zzvyb6]

Not trying to be critical, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that attitude. Now I can be as much of a hermit as anyone, but not quite sure I understand being actively hostile to visitors.
Seems to be a somewhat common theme on this board.

That's because 'visitors' have become bothersome, uninvited, beggars, 'inspectors', trespassers, utilities trying to claim easements, 'borrowers', and wanderers. They hear things and call the cops, they can't fix anything and dump their old crap at the end of the road. They want sidewalks on a dirt road, they want a school bus to pick their dumb-azz children when they live 300' away, they want sewers, they buy foreign made everything while the plant up the highway makes products, employs residents and pays most of the taxes, they don't buy products made by their own company, selfish, greedy, unfriendly and cowards. Complain loudly at sports games, males wear dresses, and only own left handed pliers for a tool. Easy to insult, bully on FacePlant, and refuse to take a "go away directive". But, I have my neighbors trained. When their Mercedes is stuck in the snow, it'll be there a while.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

With increasing population and the availability of communications, the hollowing out of the rural population seems to have reversed. Rural schools are still faced with declining enrollment because of the low birth rate, but rural housing has made a real comeback. I remember in the '50s, every little 20 acre parcel had a shacky old house on it. Then adjoining farms bought the acreage, demolished the buildings, and consolidated it into a larger farm. The process went on for decades, as the rural population headed for the city lights.

Those of us left in rural areas are fortunate that people prefer city life. Otherwise they would be at our house, ruining everything like they ruin cities. Unfortunately, our rural utopia seems to be threatened, because cities are unable to manage their growth and transportation problems. People are tired of spending a third of their day stuck in a traffic jam. So much for urban convenience. I think we can all expect new neighbors to show up. Welcome to the suburbs.

 

[sea2summit]

Has anyone used this book to transition from Hobby to Income Producing Land? And did it work?
View attachment 718457

Well since there’s a horned goat on the cover I have some likely safe assumptions about the potential advice and it’s profitability.

*owns more than 15 goats.

 

[Jchonline]

Not trying to be critical, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that attitude. Now I can be as much of a hermit as anyone, but not quite sure I understand being actively hostile to visitors.
Seems to be a somewhat common theme on this board.

You dont live on property where you have trespassers every week, and they leave trash do you? We are a mile from a campground and it gets old.

Now as far as neighbors, we know them all and a they are welcome on our place anytime. Hiking, walking, anything. I do help neighbors all the time with tractor work so I dont want to give the impression we are totally cut off. I was referring to those folk that think its fine to walk across land where No Trespassing signs are posted everywhere and throw out their trash. No bueno.

 

[oosik]

Got to thinking. I've lived on this 80 acres for 40 years now. One year - back about 18 years ago - this property DID make money. I had it selectively logged. Made money for the mill, the logger and me.

Otherwise - I retired here 40 years ago. Never with the idea of making money off this land.