Anyone move from the city to a ranch/farm? - day dreaming here...

Luckily we are human and can adapt !! Nothing has to be permanent. Most people become too attached to their stuff.

Reference high speed Internet,yes that can be an issue. Fortunately we all have more options than ever before with advent of decent satellite, as well as wireless 4G/LTE - almost everyevents options ...and even more areas can be serviced at relatively reasonable cost now than ever before. . I'm sure I could cover my Internet fees with just the savings in city parking fees alone.




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OK a couple of questions for those that are enjoying the said lifestyle- when I think about living in a rural area I wonder how safe/secure I'd feel when the response time for a 911 call is 20+ mins? Will I always wonder when the sun goes down some no good felons might find an easy target? What about the wild life i.e bears, mountain lions etc prowling for an easy meal at night? A few times that I've stayed on a ranch or a cottage (for vacation) I've seen bear tracks on the property.

I guess the answer is not very much different than living in a big city i.e. alarm systems, cameras, dogs, warning signs, firearms etc
 
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dvalley said:
OK a couple of questions for those that are enjoying the said lifestyle- when I think about living in a rural area I wonder how safe/secure I'd feel when the response time for a 911 call is 20+ mins? Will I always wonder when the sun goes down some no good felons might find an easy target? What about the wild life i.e bears, mountain lions etc prowling for an easy meal at night? A few times that I've stayed on a ranch or a cottage (for vacation) I've seen bear tracks on the property.

I guess the answer is not very much different than living in a big city i.e. alarm systems, cameras, dogs, warning signs, firearms etc
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On the crime question, just watch the local newspaper and if every so often they report a breakin you know its rare because in a big city you don't find the local papers covering breakins. Also in a town of 30k I do observe that the police come rapidily in numbers for an accident whereas in the big city it takes a while for them to show up. Now if your in the far western parts of the county it (40 mi from county seat) it can take a while for first responders to show up. Or if you were to go the next county west your in an area that would have been defined as frontier in the old days with not much more than 2 people per square mile.
 
dvalley said:
OK a couple of questions for those that are enjoying the said lifestyle- when I think about living in a rural area I wonder how safe/secure I'd feel when the response time for a 911 call is 20+ mins? Will I always wonder when the sun goes down some no good felons might find an easy target? What about the wild life i.e bears, mountain lions etc prowling for an easy meal at night? A few times that I've stayed on a ranch or a cottage (for vacation) I've seen bear tracks on the property.

I guess the answer is not very much different than living in a big city i.e. alarm systems, cameras, dogs, warning signs, firearms etc
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Dogs work great for bears and probably for mountain lions. We have both up here, but I don't have a dog. Main thing is to keep garbage, coffee, chocolate, etc. in containers that are sealed tight or at least far away from your home in the case of garbage. Most bear break-ins up here involve chocolate and/or coffee left out. I don't think there has ever been a problem when anyone was around. I have a loud air horn on a can of compressed air that should be effective with a bear if necessary. Almost everyone up here has a gun, so anyone up to no good is taking a considerable risk.

On 911 up here, it is just not an option. I know of two people who have died because there was no quick response to emergencies. One was my DW, the other was the husband of a woman now in her 70s who still lives alone up here from April through October. If you are a mountain person, I guess you could say living in such a special place is more important than total safety.
 
Hermit said:
Dogs work great for bears and probably for mountain lions. We have both up here, but I don't have a dog. Main thing is to keep garbage, coffee, chocolate, etc. in containers that are sealed tight or at least far away from your home in the case of garbage. Most bear break-ins up here involve chocolate and/or coffee left out. I don't think there has ever been a problem when anyone was around. I have a loud air horn on a can of compressed air that should be effective with a bear if necessary. Almost everyone up here has a gun, so anyone up to no good is taking a considerable risk.

On 911 up here, it is just not an option. I know of two people who have died because there was no quick response to emergencies. One was my DW, the other was the husband of a woman now in her 70s who still lives alone up here from April through October. If you are a mountain person, I guess you could say living in such a special place is more important than total safety.
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As hinted it depends on how rural you want to be. Close to a town of 20k I see foxes, lots and lots of deer, porcupines, etc. Rumor has it than an mountain lion is seen more from the evidence of dead deer. Further are we talking about the west or east. Another consideration is how long is the power line to your place from the substation? If long a backup generator might be in order perhaps powered by a propane tank.
 
Instead of going all out in the boondocks, one often finds that out some 5 to 10 miles from the suburb of a metropolitan area, the land is less expensive and the homes have a rural look to it. That may be a good compromise.

I could have bought something like that instead of the 2 homes I have now; one in the suburb and the other one in the high country. The city home does not have enough land for me to experiment with solar energy (I want the panels on the ground), and the boondock home is far from any shopping. I have lived in the city all my life, and I would miss a run to Costco or Trader Joe's. And the boondock home is not good if you need medical care in old age. The nearest town is 40 miles away, and I doubt that they have a full complement of specialists.

So, I would not live full-time in my boondock home as I originally entertained the idea of.
 
NW-Bound said:
Instead of going all out in the boondocks, one often finds that out some 5 to 10 miles from the suburb of a metropolitan area, the land is less expensive and the homes have a rural look to it. That may be a good compromise.

I could have bought something like that instead of the 2 homes I have now; one in the suburb and the other one in the high country. The city home does not have enough land for me to experiment with solar energy (I want the panels on the ground), and the boondock home is far from any shopping. I have lived in the city all my life, and I would miss a run to Costco or Trader Joe's. And the boondock home is not good if you need medical care in old age. The nearest town is 40 miles away, and I doubt that they have a full complement of specialists.

So, I would not live full-time in my boondock home as I originally entertained the idea of.
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My guess is that the Boondock home is either in Northern Wi, MN, Maine, or MI or in the west. If you stay east of the IA, NE border north or south you find large cities with about 60 mi and smaller towns every 10-20 miles. (Partly because way back when when ag was important, 10-15 was about the longest distance one could go to town and get back in a day, so there was a railroad station in town. In areas which have significant ag as pointed out towns tend to be closer in.
 
I'm planning to move to a small farm in the near future. Maybe about 1000 acres. I will wander amongst the peasants and tenant farmers, complimenting them on their crops. When I'm not busy with that, I'll probably be sitting on the wrap around porch sipping mint juleps. Ah, the country life for me.
 
We are probably 30 minutes from any 911 response to arrival ... It's the risk one takes living in tranquility .. We are 15 or so minutes by car to the far edge of town, longer to nearest hospital.

Even in mega cities, first response is not as fast as you might think. Often this is just giving you a false sense of security. Places I've lived overseas including many mega cities, I found that hailing a taxi to the hospital was a better shot at getting to the hospital quickly ... than calling an ambulance.... Guess we are somewhat self reliant for now ...

We don't lock our doors. Perhaps a bad habit but if a thief wants to come in they can just break any glass window anyway. Locks are false security ...

We have a very friendly dog. She barks at visitors and noises from animals like raccoons if they get close to the house. .... She may just lick them into submission looking for a jerky treat or pig ear... .

DW and I both do have lifetime concealed carry hand gun permits. A 9mm and a few loaded clips sit in a bedside fast-access gun safe on my side of the bed. She has a 38 special revolver in her gun safe aside her bed.

I was considering a "street sweeper" short butted 12 gauge shotgun that she can handle but have not pulled the trigger on buying one yet. ( I'm so punny) That's gonna be a lot faster than any 911 call in resolving a robbery in progress or a threatening intruder ...be it human or animal in nature.

I try not to overthink this stuff. Life in the city can be just as risky maybe more ...
 
meierlde said:
My guess is that the Boondock home is either in Northern Wi, MN, Maine, or MI or in the west. If you stay east of the IA, NE border north or south you find large cities with about 60 mi and smaller towns every 10-20 miles. (Partly because way back when when ag was important, 10-15 was about the longest distance one could go to town and get back in a day, so there was a railroad station in town. In areas which have significant ag as pointed out towns tend to be closer in.
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My guess is Oregon.
NWB. Tell me more about your solar array.
 
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Both of my homes are in Arizona. The main home is in the outer fringe of Phoenix, while the boondocks home is in the AZ high country at 7,000 ft where many people have their weekend home to escape the summer heat. The drive between the two is only 2-1/2 hour.

Sorry I misled about the solar. I wish to have room for solar at the main home (a standard 1/4-acre lot) where I use 2100 kWh/year. And at the high-country home I could even go off-grid with solar if I use propane for heating. However, I do not use enough electricity up there to justify a solar system even though I have room. Some thieves would also dismantle it and haul it away when I am not there.
 
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Another drawback of living in the boondocks: you are too far from an international airport. My high-country home is not near any commercial airport, and air travel would become more of an ordeal with the hassle of getting to/from the airport.
 
I have a problem with living in a boondocks if one of us, husband and I, is gone. It can be isolating. In our suburb/city-ish neighborhood, it's pretty quiet in the day because everybody has to go to work to pay for the expensive housing.


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Great thread. I wonder what population density defines "boonies". I googled my far suburban Illinois zip code on towncharts.com and found my density to be 131 people per sq mile. Seems low to me, but I don't consider where I live to be"boonies". It would be interesting to see what the population densities are for the farm, ranch and boonies areas posted about here.


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Population density of my city is 4700+ - no wonder I want to get out of here :)
 
Neat site. Population density for my ZIP code is 13 people per square mile. Average Male age 60.2. I'm younger then average. Average female age is 54.6.
 
Yes 911 can be an issue. For many reasons we use 1911 prior to the phone.

Does not work for fire or ambulance, but there's a price for privacy.
 
The population density of my township went from 80 to 120 per square mile between 2000 and 2010, according to census figures. We may have to get out of this teeming anthill soon.
 
3374 for population density for my town, I'm sure the number is higher now.


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According to that site towncharts.com, my main metropolitan home area has a population density of 2600/sq.mi. This is about as high as I can stand.

My boonies home is at 240/sq.mi. This is about right, as the unincorporated town of 3000 is squeezed into a few miles of private land along the highway, which is surrounded by a national forest.

I looked up some other numbers for a feel of how other people live.

Manhattan: 71,434
San Francisco: 17,680
San Diego: 4,125
Los Angeles: 8,241
Long Beach: 9,313
Silver Spring 9,605

That last city in Maryland, just 6 miles from Washington DC, is where my best friend lives. I did not realize it is more crowded than Long Beach, CA, another town I visited often. His neighborhood is nicely wooded, and his backyard is visited by deer quite often. One would not realize the density is so high.
 
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One drawback, if you are a single female with a love of scary books and movies, living on acreage can be spooky at times. Once in a while I will just swear there are clowns and lunatics living out in the woods 😳


Wild Irish Rogue
 
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