Check out this link for a description of rural living. This person describes it very accurately. Some things to think about if you are planning to move out of the city.

http://www.prepare4y2k.com/rural.htm

-- Louise (~~~~~@~~~~.~~~), October 19, 1998

Answers

Pretty close to dead on. I could get by cheaper from having done it before - but not much. BTW - forget deer - during the Depression my father made it on rabbits. Deer go quick in times of hunger - they breed too slowly.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 19, 1998.

Realistic but limited view. People will gather in small clan groupings for self support in times of hardship. Its the clan which will survive.

-- R. D..Herring (drherr@erols.com), October 19, 1998.

I spent 8 years out in the boonies. We were out of college, married, a kid on the way and decided to "get back to nature." It was fun for the first year or so, but the winters were a killer trying to keep enough wood cut for the cookstove and fireplace. Canning and freezing food got to be a drag. The neighbors never accepted us. It was a good lesson though and we HAD electricity. Can't imagine what it would be like living without it. Hope I never have to find out.

-- Dave (dave22@concentric.net), October 19, 1998.

Been a while since I saw it done quite so sucinctly!! Though the estimates on dollars look a bit light, and the comments on skills could use a little investigation, there might be a small niche, but it will, I GUARANTEE be boring to a city skilled person!!

CR

-- Chuck a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), October 20, 1998.

Finally went over and read the article. The one point that really made me smile was:

"New people often have a hard time making friends because they do not share this common history. It takes time. "

Boy is that the truth. I was recently at an estate auction (for non-rural people this usually means a farmer has died and his possesions were up for sale) and an "outsider" showed up. Now at an estate auction there is sort of an unspoken rule that you do not bid against relatives of the deceased, it is just bad form. Well the outsider did just this. When it came time that he bid on something that the family member did not want, we made sure he paid through the nose for it. No words were spoken, no hand gestures exchanged, we just acted as one.

While I know an auction is nothing like Y2K, I think it does speak to the fact that a rural community is a lot closer knit than you would think. Outsiders are not taken to kindly, and (this part is speculation) if we think you came here to escape the "horrors" in the city and that the rural folks would come to aid if you needed it, I think you may find yourself badly mistaken. Let's say a farmer X has something both the new boy and I need, we both have the same thing the farmer needs so we get together for a barter. Who do you think he will go to first? The new boy are the guy he has watched grow up?

I am not saying that if you come out to the rural country that we are going to cause you harm, far from it, but I just wouldn't expect it to be a real friendly enviroment. As odd as this may sound, rural people CAN be elitists when it comes to new folks moving in.

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), October 20, 1998.

Ah, thank you for that - I had to smile. We did that too, except my husband and I were newly married (for the second time) so we had five kids between us and boy, was it challenging! Hard, hard work - we were broke which was the drive behind a lot of what we did. But bored? Nope. And while it's true that you have to ease into the "common history" of a rural area where everyone knows where you live if you say, "At XYZ's old house,", most people where we are are glad to welcome newcomers if you make a first move, take over some cookies or a kids magazine for their kids, or just "make friends" in a slow and easy way. Having kids helps - kids are the Great Leveller and the Ultimate Ice Breaker. You won't get to be soul mates any time soon, but they will drag your car out of the ditch the first several times you slide off the road, AMD they will bring their tractor and plow you out to the paved road. At least, that's how it is in Iowa.

-- Melissa (financed@forbin.com), October 20, 1998.

"but they will drag your car out of the ditch the first several times you slide off the road"

Here is another story to make you smile on that subject. (this happened to a friend of mine and I am retelling it as he told it to me)Several years ago we had a HELLACIOUS ice storm, and like an idiot he took a pretty untravelled road home. Well doing a mere 15 mph he hit the ultimate ice patch and headed straight for the ditch on the curve. Well off he went, barely missing the farmers fence. The funny part of it? He landed RIGHT in front of a cow, and as he was on an angle my driver side window was eye level with the cow. Now imagine your 4X4 pick up is at a 45 degree angle, you aren't sure how badly damaged your car is, and to top it off you have pissed off the cow and he has decided to let you know by mooing at you. Well someone called the fire department for some weird reason and so now here you are, angled, pissed off cow mooing at you and to top it off...WITNESSES! He really hates that story:)

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), October 21, 1998.

In reference to the local history of the area, my parents moved into a small town, each before they got married, in about 1949. My dad developed Alzheimers about ten years ago and died about a year and a half ago, he and my mom was just beginning to be accepted as a true part of the community,a couple years before he got sick. This tends to be the way small towns are, and this particular town just happens most of the long time residents are related through one of the more famous (infamous?) horse trading "Associations" of the 1800's. The area doesn't have the same romantic name as the Great Dismal Swamp in VA (Nine Mile Swamp simply doesn't get it, as it were) but the Loomis's are fairly well written up.

CR

Since I had teh gall to go to school at a Catholic High School in the neighboring city, I would have a harder time relocating to mom's house than simply picking a hamlet off the map and moving there!!

C

-- Chuck a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), October 21, 1998.