anyone move from city to farm?

[steady saver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo +1 Several years after we moved in a quarry opened less than a mile behind us. Thankfully it is on the other side of a ridge, out of sight from our property. But we can hear the equipment running and both hear and feel (!) when they blast.

I hear you! We do think of that. One never knows...

[steady saver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SheitlQueen We moved from city to 7.5 acres of land. I absolutely love it and would not trade it in for anything in the world. Advantages: beautiful scenery, peace and quiet. Less expensive property taxes due to farm and forest deferral. Disadvantages: Up in the hills so winter can be nasty (although now that I am no longer w*rking it doesn't matter) and when I was working, a long commute. A bit of a drive into town, so running errands takes planning. It does take extra time to maintain the property, although I recently got sheep to keep some pastures down and allow my neighbor to graze her horses and donkey on the rest.

Luckily our winters are mild comparatively speaking. How is the sheep venture going? DH would like to try sheep at some point.

[steady saver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Souschef Well, it is not quite a farm, but I do have a small garden. I moved from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County with 2.9 million people and big city politics to a small town in Ventura County. Instead of being in a "concrete canyon" as DW called it, we live in a beautiful valley with lots of agriculture. Our front porch looks out on a 2,000 foot mountain a couple of miles away

Beautiful!!!

[steady saver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FI_RElater [You call 2000 ft a “mountain “?... that’s a hill ; although if I remember, the tallest hills in the UK are only about that high. 10-14 k ===> mountain] moved from city to rural area, it’s only about 11 miles to town and the airport A few grocery stores in town , the Trader Joe is a number of miles farther in the next town Biggest problem is sometimes lack of variety of certain stores or need to special order from them to get what you want. Also have more problems getting tradesmen to get out to you (extra cost and time lost getting there so some don’t want to bid jobs or seriously increase costs) as others have noted, to be efficient you have to have knowledge of what you need and where to go when you head out.... lots of list making otherwise you spend too much time and gas (try to make even trips to the dr or Rx pickup serve multiple purposes) { ... and we do look out our back porch and windows to quite a few *mountains*}

We've definitely encountered the challenge of getting tradesmen to actually show up at times. And while we're pretty good at planning and list making, it is nice in the city to have so much within a 5 min. drive.

[street]

We live in a very small town but have a ranch with a cabin. I would move to the ranch in a heartbeat but I would be going alone. LOL I don't have animals and I don't lease out any of the land for cattle etc.. I do work the land and improve and enjoy the landscape and outdoors very much. When I'm not there I want to be there.

I just never have felt it was my place in life to be where there is so many people.

[Winemaker]

I live in a southwestern PA suburban township in a developement of about 200 homes. I have a small plot of land, grow grapes, two apple trees, about a 20x40 garden. Deer roam the neighborhood, hawks and an occasional eagle soar above me during the day. In the mornings, sometimes I hear a cow or two, and lately there's a pair of woodpeckers that have returned from last year. Most evenings I can sit on my deck in the late afternoon/evening and hear nothing, I've been in noisier Nat'l Parks. Sure beats the farm I wanted and the one DS and BIL live on.

It takes me an hour to cut the grass with a pushmower, two weeks in the fall to trap all the mice who want to move in with me in the winter, and I am at war with groundhogs 9 months out of the year. As long as I spray the garden with Dawn liquid soap, the deer leave me alone too.

[IMATERP]

Yep. Oliver and Lisa Douglas. Google Green Acres.

Not sure I want to live next door to Arnold "the pig" and Mr. Haney, though.

I

[Bamaman]

I like to live out where I can get on my four wheeler with the grandson and ride thru 1/2 mile of wilderness to get to a swimming hole. We could hear water skiers and their Ski Nautiques late afternoons on glassy smooth water. Our rottweilers could run free their whole lives. And there were no homeowner associatiion to fight about the color of my house trim or boat in my 4 acre yard. It Was 2 miles to a Big Star grocery, but the mall was just 5 minutes farther.

I fell for my wife's desires to buy a big house in foreclosure in an exclusive city neighborhood. I now look at my fourwheeler. The grandson rides his bike in the street. And Xena the Rottweiler wakes me up at 4:00am to walk her in the rain. And we don't even know our neighbors because they work all the time to pay for this lifestyle. But Wal-Mart is just a 2 minute drive.

[folivier]

A few years ago before I retired we sold 180 acres. It had a 4 bedroom/4 bath farm house along with a separate 1500 sq ft house and barn built in 1860. 1/4 mile wide x 1 mile deep, had river frontage and a 10 acre spring fed lake. I loved the place, enjoyed hunting and going there on weekends with the kids when they were younger. Always dreamed of moving there when we retired. Unfortunately things don't always work out like you want them to. My DW didn't want to be so remote, 15 miles to nearest grocery, 45 minutes to nearest good hospital. 2 hours from her mom and our kids. Then a gravel company bought the property on both sides of me. That alone changed the whole dynamics of the place, lots of dust and noise. Fortunately they offered me a good buyout price, over twice what I had paid for the place, so we did good selling it. But I still dream of living out there.

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steady saver Ha, ha, we actually just sold the big tractor! We'd bought it used shortly after we bought the place but it was too big for me to handle, I couldn't use the clutch and I liked shredding pastures way more than DH. So now we have a smaller John Deere and I love that thing. Our goal is to rotationally graze the cattle so we aren't doing much pasture shredding. We have 30 acres ; I'd be happy with 10 but that's what we have and I'm grateful for it. We've tried to find something smaller but it seems it's not meant to be. We'd like to give it 5 years of trying all the things we've dreamed about and either get it out of our system or find that we rather like country life.

I guess if you live long enough, you hear/see just about everything. I'm sure it happens but I don't anyone that has dropped down on tractor size. Many just live with what they have and complain about wanting something bigger. I've upgraded mine "twice" in the past 10 years and I am now pretty happy with what I have.

[Ronstar]

I used to live in a town of 3500 people. Moved to a rural area of 5+acre lots in 1984. Moved one street east in 1994. Lots of grass to mow, trees to trim, snow to plow. Lots of deer, birds, and other wildlife. And a lake in the back yard. And a workshop outbuilding. Closest neighbors about 300’ away but can’t see or hear them for the trees. Only sounds I hear are from wildlife.

[steady saver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Car-Guy I guess if you live long enough, you hear/see just about everything. I'm sure it happens but I don't anyone that has dropped down on tractor size. Many just live with what they have and complain about wanting something bigger. I've upgraded mine "twice" in the past 10 years and I am now pretty happy with what I have.

Ha, well the main problem with the big tractor was that I couldn't physically drive it! I just could barely manage that clutch. Our acreage isn't so big that we really needed it, though DH did initially have a hard time parting with it though he rarely used it. Once he made up his mind, he couldn't wait to get it sold, though it took a while. Took a loss on it and it's the happiest loss I think we've taken in years. Come to think of it, it was my equivalent of the boat money pit. We had no business buying a used tractor from a guy we didn't know when we knew nothing about tractors. Lesson learned.

[steady saver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by folivier A few years ago before I retired we sold 180 acres. It had a 4 bedroom/4 bath farm house along with a separate 1500 sq ft house and barn built in 1860. 1/4 mile wide x 1 mile deep, had river frontage and a 10 acre spring fed lake. I loved the place, enjoyed hunting and going there on weekends with the kids when they were younger. Always dreamed of moving there when we retired. Unfortunately things don't always work out like you want them to. My DW didn't want to be so remote, 15 miles to nearest grocery, 45 minutes to nearest good hospital. 2 hours from her mom and our kids. Then a gravel company bought the property on both sides of me. That alone changed the whole dynamics of the place, lots of dust and noise. Fortunately they offered me a good buyout price, over twice what I had paid for the place, so we did good selling it. But I still dream of living out there.

At least you made money on the deal. And there is always land to be had...maybe you're not done with that dream.

[steady saver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronstar I used to live in a town of 3500 people. Moved to a rural area of 5+acre lots in 1984. Moved one street east in 1994. Lots of grass to mow, trees to trim, snow to plow. Lots of deer, birds, and other wildlife. And a lake in the back yard. And a workshop outbuilding. Closest neighbors about 300’ away but can’t see or hear them for the trees. Only sounds I hear are from wildlife.

Sounds lovely. Except for the snow

[steady saver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman I like to live out where I can get on my four wheeler with the grandson and ride thru 1/2 mile of wilderness to get to a swimming hole. We could hear water skiers and their Ski Nautiques late afternoons on glassy smooth water. Our rottweilers could run free their whole lives. And there were no homeowner associatiion to fight about the color of my house trim or boat in my 4 acre yard. It Was 2 miles to a Big Star grocery, but the mall was just 5 minutes farther. I fell for my wife's desires to buy a big house in foreclosure in an exclusive city neighborhood. I now look at my fourwheeler. The grandson rides his bike in the street. And Xena the Rottweiler wakes me up at 4:00am to walk her in the rain. And we don't even know our neighbors because they work all the time to pay for this lifestyle. But Wal-Mart is just a 2 minute drive.

Sounds like there's a little plot of land somewhere out there just waiting for you, your dog, and your fourwheeler

[karen1972]

For your cons, you can always make your home a getaway for others. I grew up on a farm, didn't enjoy the endless work. I do however enjoy going home, spending time there, they have a woods, with trails and a pond for fishing. We go three wheeling and play paint ball.

My neighbor moved to the country, has a gorgeous flower and food garden, cute chicken coop and several llamas. Their downstairs is pretty much a bed & breakfast for all their friends and family with a constant rotation of people visiting because its a neat little place for people to come out, have lunch, and enjoy a Saturday and if they have too much wine, well they can crash downstairs.

Farms are as much work as you want them to be. They can be gorgeous and peaceful but isolating (which is either a plus or minus).

[steady saver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karen1972 For your cons, you can always make your home a getaway for others. I grew up on a farm, didn't enjoy the endless work. I do however enjoy going home, spending time there, they have a woods, with trails and a pond for fishing. We go three wheeling and play paint ball. My neighbor moved to the country, has a gorgeous flower and food garden, cute chicken coop and several llamas. Their downstairs is pretty much a bed & breakfast for all their friends and family with a constant rotation of people visiting because its a neat little place for people to come out, have lunch, and enjoy a Saturday and if they have too much wine, well they can crash downstairs. Farms are as much work as you want them to be. They can be gorgeous and peaceful but isolating (which is either a plus or minus).

That is SO true! You hit the nail on the head Karen. That's what we've been plotting and planning. We figure that if we were attracted to it as a refuge then others might be true. Even our sons would like it a lot, I think, if it was all fixed up. Right now they just remember weeekends of double digging garden beds, watering trees out in the middle of the pasture by the bucketfuls, etc. It wasn't all work, of course, but the work that we did was something DH and I took great pleasure and pride in. Sons, not so much.

There is a second smaller house on the property (about 1200 sq ft) that is currently pretty much gutted (new metal roof, outside paint, etc) that we are in the midst of planning a major redo on. For family/friends, for a B&B...or maybe for us. We love that house so much and are considering moving into that one and using the "main" house (a neat old house that has had some weird additions) for the aforementioned guests. When I think of this part of it, I really get excited. Both DH and I do. We love our privacy but we love fixing up things and we love hospitality. Right now it's frustrating b/c it doesn't at all reflect what we'd like it to look like. Being there so infrequently doesn't give us much time to do much more than keep the fences repaired, the pastures mowed, the problems fixed...

Thank you for that very significant reminder of one of our biggest dreams about the farm.

[pjigar]

I have not officially moved to "country" but we have a 17 acres place about 15 minutes from nearest walmart near a metroplex. We picked the size and distance after listening to several debates on these topics. Not too big, not too far. So far, I have been building a home on the property and like several mentioned, getting tradesmen to show up reliably has been a challenge and end up paying more. I am a handyman so I can build the house myself if I wanted to but time is the precious commodity at this point in my life. But I am so peaceful and happy everytime I visit the place. I am mostly working and sometimes shooting when I am out there but beats the city living everytime. We plan to move there full time in few years while we are still young.

[catluvr]

I'm new to the forum but wanted to share my experience with buying and moving to a farm. We bought a farm about 15 years ago after our last child graduated from high school. The place we bought was approx. 150 acres with a 50 year old home and several outbuildings. We bought this place thinking it would be our final home in our retirement years (I retired in 2014). The number of buildings, fences, gates, waterlines, etc. have overwhelmed us and it gets harder to keep up each year. I wouldn't want to move back to a city environment but what we have has not been much of a joy in recent years. If I had it to do over again I would buy something without so much infrastructure to maintain. Just my two cents worth.

[Bir48die]

Came very close to buying a winery within an hour of Portland. Not only would have isolated us but I'd be busy every weekend. Woke up from that dream. Glad it never happened