As SHTF preppers, most of our readers have either considered moving out to the rural country or are already there. It’s clear that being out of highly populated metropolitan areas in the event of a man made or natural disaster would be ideal, especially if we’re talking about worst-case scenarios like economic collapse, hyperinflation, or World War III.
While the dream of goin’ country may seem like paradise, you better think twice, maybe thrice, before you decide to pull the trigger.
Deborah Lagarde at Something Happening Here provides some important considerations that you should make before you up and move the entire family out to the boonies. We’ve excerpted some of her points below, but we highly recommend reading the article in full.
Number One, know for sure that if you plan on leaving your job because of “the rat race” or because you have made up your mind that being stifled in an office environment is not what you bargained for, and move into a completely rural or remote area, that you had better be prepared for a sharp drop in income.
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Number Two, if you have kids, prepare to homeschool or “unschool” them, because otherwise you will be spending probably two hours a day either picking them up from public school or dropping them off.
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Number Three, prepare for what could be your “worst nightmares” if all you have ever known is city life: calloused hands, filthy fingernails, the smell of cattle/horse/dog/cat/goat droppings, the smell of skunks…
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Number Five, are you prepared to grow a garden big enough to feed your family at least for six months during growing season (and a few months after…do you know how to “can” food?)
Deborah lists over twenty things you really need to know and consider before you give up your day job – be sure to think about this before you sell your house in Sardinia and head for the hills.
First I’m going to Spain on vacation because I’m finally proud to be an American.
“Number Two, if you have kids, prepare to homeschool or “unschool†them, because otherwise you will be spending probably two hours a day either picking them up from public school or dropping them off.”
Well, you probably ought to be homeschooling them ANYWAY, at least through elementary grades so A: they get a decent start in education, and B: they don’t get indoctrinated by the State.
As to transport, they have these big yellow pupil delivery vehicles that run all over the rural areas….though looking at the line of SUV’s dropping off the kiddies at most schools, you have to wonder why…..
Did anybody else notice the list went from #3 to #5 ?  #4 must have been REALLY bad, huh ?….ahahahahaaaa
AND if #3 and #5 bother you, you should probably stay in the city and die with the rest of the yuppie crowd WTSHTF rather than suffer a little work and dirt under your manicure.
Deborah Lagarde,
I’ll bet your proud of the POTUS. Tell me one thing that he has done.
Is there a family member to garden size ratio to know how big your garden needs to be? also, I didn’t see anything on stockpiling ‘Sevin’…
Checked out the entire article. 4. is about waiting for some one to come out and provide services like wash/dryer maintence, or plumbing, etc. In the rural area I live in you do it yourself or have a friend who can do it for you. If not you are out of luck.
Also talks about not having cable tv, and having your baby at home. I’m all about living on a farm and who has time for cable tv, but really most communities do have those big yellow pupil movers and access to medical care or mid wives. Not the best article I’ve read about the reality of living on a farm.
“deal with an individual who likes to shoot his guns at all hours, using the pretext of ‘I’m shooting skunks’?” – Uh. I don’t have any problems with *THIS*. If I did, I’d have to YELL AT MYSELF!!! …and my Dad, and Matt and Jerry and Larry (Four of neighbors within 500ft of my place.
Actually, I never shoot before 6am and never after 11pm unless its necessary (stray dogs, cats trying to eat livestock, people turning around in my driveway, census workers, stuff like that.) (I don’t really shoot census workers. The paperwork it generates would be horrendous!) I was here at least 35 years before any of the people around me. If they don’t like the blast of the 44 mag and the twangggggggg…. of the 30-06 ricochets they can just go back to the city.
If you come our here with me, assimilate. That means if I’m shooting at 11pm you should come stomping over mad and exclaim, “So! Shooting again and you didn’ t invite me and you want to call yourself a good neighbor? Thats just not acceptable.” Then, with a smile, ask, “Want a beer?” Of course you’ll have to walk the 1200 feet back to your house to get it, but, its the only neighborly thing to do when you’re out here.
There are several neighbors that moved out here BECAUSE they wanted to be able to shoot. Each neighbor that shoots much, this happened to at least once. They start shooting. I get all excited and go over to see what they are doing. I show up on ATV, dirt bike or 4×4. They start apologizing. They say something like, “Oh! I’m so sorry, did we wake you or disturb you?” When they finally stop. I say, “Uh, no, I just wanted to see what I was missing.”
If you move to a rural area you should have an absolute minimum of 1 shotgun, 1 22 rifle and 1 pistol. If you don’t own those and you aren’t comfortable with that STAY IN YOUR STINKY CITY!
…and if TSHTF and you don’t have a Plan, well, be sure you tread lightly. My trigger finger might just get a bit jumpier during those times.
Comments…..
We left the “city” and moved to the country over 15 years ago. SO was able to transfer and keep his well paying job. No children still in the house so we didn’t have to contend with that. You don’t need much space to grow a garden. There’s a book called “Squarefoot Gardening.” However, if you don’t know how to manage acreage and a garden, you can learn, it isn’t that difficult. Learn how to keep animals and pests away from your garden and animals you plan to raise. It’s not as difficult as Deborah Lagarde is making it out to be.
Comments….
Ms. Lagarde makes a good point by essentially encouraging people to “count the cost” of abandoning suburbia and learning a host of new skill sets. Â If we could only convince our debt-leveraged, dollar-dependent loved ones to “count the cost” of doing nothing and remaining as they are. Â 15 months ago I convinced my wife and 4 young children to abandon suburbia, public school, and debt. Â We moved to a small farmhouse and now tend a large garden, 6 cows, 4 sheep, 30 chickens and 2 great pyrenese. Â Now, rather than spend $300 and 5 hours on the golf course I repair fence with my son and vaccinate sheep with my girls. Â I hope I am wrong about the future of the US dollar and I hope my dollar-dependent loved ones never have to deal with its demise. Â But even if I am wrong about the dollar, the decision to move from suburbia to the farm and to trade the artificial expectations of suburban lifestyle for the real productivity of a family farm- that will never be regretted.
NR, now that’s what I’m talking. I’d lend any good neighbor a few rounds of 44.  Henry only holds 10 plus 1 anyway & Pb is my favorite element in the table.  Mr. H&K has threads for a can so I really doubt that you will hear it after 2300. Â
The Author of the article should definately not be giving city advice to those wishing to live out in the boonies. Repair man for the washer? Please (shakes head) Necessity is the mother of invention, that is how the founders of our nations overcame in the first place isn’t it.
A lot of the skills metioned, such as farming a small plot, can be learned by necessity over a few failed harvests and in the meantime the prepper can live of their stored hoard. Because anyone around here who is at the stage of moving to the country already has 500kg of rice and beans stored up, I have enough to feed 2 for 2 years.
Comments…..You don’t have to move to the country to grow a garden. City folks could remove some of their stupid grass, create some beds like 3’x12′ and get started.
We’ve been gardening with about 15 such beds for 25 years. We never put more than $25 into a season. It’s totally organic and the results are fantastic. Some years are better than others…ie. this year we had a cool spring and month of June. Tomatoes, peppers, and winter squash are slow but we’ll get a harvest even if we have to cover for frosts in September.
My wife freezes spinich & peppers, beans, peas, &  corn;  cans tomatoes and salsa. We store squash, potatoes, cabbage, garlic and beets. We eat the rest in season. In fact we’re looking to relocate and one criteria is enough room to have a large garden. It is work though and that is why so many people try it once and fail. It takes time to water, thin, weed and harvest. Most don’t have the will to invest the time that is necessary to grow a great garden.Â
Goldenfoxx is 100% correct about “Square Foot Gardening”. The book is great, easy to follow and the results are nothing short of amazing. You will be surprised at how much food can be produced in a small area. Start out with one 4′ X 4′ raised bed this season and I guarantee that you will be putting in more next season. You can get creative with PVC pipe and fabricate mini-greenhouses for your raised beds. The book is available at my local public library, most likely it is available at yours also.
God Bless, good luck and happy gardening.
or…. live in the city and be prepared for muggings, home invasions, armed robbery, drive-by shootings, robbery, ever increasing property taxes with less services, fluoridated chlorinated water, section 8 housing developments, welfare tax eaters (aka Democrats)Â public schools filled with gangs to rape your daughters, aggressive panhandlers, city inspectors sticking their noses into everything from using lawn water to parking on the street, really insane CC&R’s, low riders blasting music at midnight, sirens all through the night.
Bring on the grasshoppers and good riddance to the TV!
Mac, where did you find this woman? Â Are you just trying to test us????? Â OK, I’ll bite.
I hope that everyone living in the big city reads this article.  I hope they all read it and know how HORRIBLE things will be for their CIVILIZED SOULS once they get out here to red-neck-ville.  The odds of them being shot at by drunken hillbillies is 100% (especially if I’m on my way over to Net Ranger’s house with a fresh 18 pack, some Crown Royal, and a bunch of guns!!!!!).  Oh Yeah, that hollering in the distance, nothing to worry about, just another in-breed wedding.  You city people  better stay right where you are, much safer in the big city with your SWAT cops and all.  You know the war on drugs is going great.  I bet your neighborhood is 10X better than it was a year ago.  If I were you, I’d STAY PUT.  Further more, there is NO CABLE TV out here.  We’re so far out, the satellite doesn’t even reach us.  No American Idol out here, better stay home………
Jonny V, you crack me up! You’re the result of at least 2, 5 shot groups @50 yds being 2″ instead of 1″ because as soon as I tighten up on the trigger I start thinking about that 18pack.
(…in reality, though, It would take me about 6 months to get rid of an 18 pack…)
Dang! Another evening working late replacing server. Don’t mind the time, just hate that I can burn a few 9mms before it gets dark.
Oh, well, time for a beer, I guess. Got ta get me some shuteye. Got an in-breed weddin’ to go to tomorrow!
Comments…..
 Living in the country is like living anywhere else. There are good things and bad things. I have been fortunate in my life to live in both rural and city areas. Both have their advantages.Â
  One advantage that is increasingly important as I get older, is the necessity of being near good doctors. My relatives who presently live in the country have to drive many miles to a “good’ doctor in the closest larger city. Also, being in a surburban local as I am now, we are near city conviences, but we also live in a farming area. We still have the conviences, but have a little more privacy than our town folk.Also, I am blessed to live next to the same great neighbors for over 30 years. we know each other very well, and would have each others back in a bad situation.
    Right now, I choose to stay where I am, as even if I wanted to sell out and move, there’s nobody buying anything right now. Another drawback to the rural life, is the very much slower pace of life, and I mean slowwww. If your’re ok with that, it’s no problem. In comparing both, I’ll keep what I have now, because I have some of both worlds. I can grow a garden, keep chickens, raise a little ruckus, and still have some city conviences. But one big thing that might determine one’s opinion in the long run. If you live in the country, you’ll probably always have food and water. There is no reason, unless you’re a dumbasss, that you can’t learn to grow a garden, hunt, fish, raise animals for food, and generally get by a lot better than city folk. And rural folk do take care of each other, it’s just the way it is. Good luck as you decide what you want to do…
Comments….. she sounds like a paid shill, move to the country??? its nasty and dirty. The city provides everything and its easy. Its obvious the govt wants everyone in the city. It is way easier to control than a brigade of Ted Nugent types.
Comments….. Man, what’s up with some of these comments? I grew up on a farm in Texas. There was a state of the art hospital 10 miles away and people weren’t shooting at each other. Most kids I grew up with had never fired a gun. There were plenty of repairmen and a little thing called satellite TV. My parents still live in the country and get a million channels and even surf the internet.Â
The thing I’m not hearing here is a debate on Fernando Ferfal Aguirre’s opinion of living in the country. He wrote a book called “Surviving the Economic Collapse” about what happened during the fall of Argentina. He recommends that people don’t move out to the country because it will be just as violent.  If there was a road good enough to get you there then it can get anybody else there, too. During the collapse farmers in Argentina were tortured and murdered for food and supplies, sometimes over the course of days, because nobody was close enough to hear them screaming for help. And yes, they had guns and ammunition, but there was no “safety in numbers”. The families started posting guards through the night to protect themselves and were totally stressed out.  Their dogs were poisoned. If a farmer shot one poor kid trying to steal food for his family there was another kid taking his place the next day. Once things settled down a little and supplies were being sold again (black market or not) it wasn’t to the farmers. It was to people in towns and communities where the sellers could make the most money. It turned out there was a greater variety of food and medication in towns than what the farmers could grow themselves.Â
Comments….. By the way, Greaseman, I agree with you. Stay where you are. If you’ve been there a while you’ve got friends and support and enough room to grow a little food for yourself.  That’s just what you need. A little space and safety in like minded numbers. We’ll all need to just hunker down.
http://www.morningliberty.com/2010/05/16/economic-collapse-martial-law-24-experts-warn-of-2010-meltdown/
Here’s what I did. bought a food vac, mylar bags, oxygen absorbers. I packed away a years supply of rice, beans and pasta. As usual, gun and ammo with silver for financial. There’s other preps too numerous to mention. Latest is getting a cache of arrows for the compound bow. Latest is I bought us some self defense pens for the car and office.   I hope it all crashes. Then people will stop being so liberal. Also, Joined the NRA. MESSAGE TO CONGRESS AND THE NWO. If you take our guns and ammo. We will just make our own. I reserve the right to defend my home. If you take that right away, I will just break your bullshit laws and make my own weapons. Final thought. If you think you will grow a garden to feed your family. It’s not realistic. Better start stocking up the pantry each week. Better safe then sorry.
So I had to go to Las Vegas on business (really).
But driving back to SoCal …. and bored with the direct route, I went along the Colorado River. The following observations aren’t necessarily directed to the folks in the Bullhead City AZ or thereabouts … just so you know.
So you’re going to live “off the grid”. Regardless if it’s in the southwestern desert, Rocky Mountains or eastern parts…. so just exactly how self reliant are you. Do you need energy for air conditioning or heating at times of the year. Where does you food and water come from. Is the stream of trucks I saw typical of all areas nowdays in that we’re dependent on receiving goods and exporting goods to sustain ourselfs.
Just how many of you are even somewhat independent of “the system”? Seriously …think about it.
 S-510 , FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2010 . Makes it illegal to : GROW-OWN-TRADE-TRANSPORT-SHARE-FEED-OR EAT , EACH AND EVERY FOOD THAT NATURE MAKES !!!  Yup you got it , obama now will control the food supply . Still want to move to the country ?
My parents are getting old. They live on a big farm in Pikeville Tennessee and have a huge house with 2 barns and big workshop. My dad can’t take care of it.Â
Hmmm. I am thinking of leaving the big city and moving on the farm. I do woodworking, plumbing, remodeling , repairs of all kinds. But I know doodly squat about gardening or raising chickens. But I promise you I can learn. I can do just about anything I set my head to. I am 46, divorced, live alone and don’t have debt. I drive a 1988 ford ranger.
The only thing I would miss about Chattanooga is the traffic jams. I love to sit in traffic.  Oh well, you can’t improve without making a few sacrifices.Â
S-510 , FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2010 . Makes it illegal to : GROW-OWN-TRADE-TRANSPORT-SHARE-FEED-OR EAT , EACH AND EVERY FOOD THAT NATURE MAKES !!!  Yup you got it , obama now will control the food supply .
Uh, it’s easy to pass a fool law…..it’s another thing to find folks ( and their replacements once people shoot their ass ) to enforce it.
I can’t imagine a better way to start American Revolution 2 than to tell people they can’t grow their own food. I actually hope they try it.
Gee,I guess we humans aren’t capable of an agrarian life style,we only did it for the previous 10,000 years.
Maybe we should just become completely dependent on the bureaucrats that wear costumes (and guns) for all of our food,housing,water and safety,that will be a great idea.
Who the hell wants “dirty fingernails”?
Ted Nugent for president!
The question is largely academic. If you don’t already have a farm, then you are probably too poor to buy one or too old to manage one (unless you may inherit a farm as the case for one of the previous commentators). You’re stuck in a city or the ‘burbs trying to keep a positive cash flow while raising some kids, or you have managed to retire solvent in which case you can’t start a new life very easily.
Comments…..
 let me make a few comments on growing your own food and so forth. I’m not an expert pre say, but for years, my wife and i raised and canned vegies for later use. I can speak with some authority on these points.
   First off, my garden area was aproximately 1/8 -1/4 acre in size. While we were growing this garden, we were also working full time. For the average family, unless you have older children that can share the tending, in my opinion, that’s about the largest garden area that is practicle to tend. We mostly grew peas and green beans, as these were our favorite vegies. I also grew some “greens” , but my wife doesn’t care for these, so I didn’t grow too much of them.
  The last big year i had my garden, we put up 60 quarts of green beans, and about40 quarts of peas. These have lasted for a long time. What i found year after year, is that the growing is not so labor intensive, by the harvesting is a bitch if you don’t have help. we both spent countles hours shelling peas. But the price was worth it.
     also, I found that some vegies are just easier, and more cost efficient to buy at a local farmers market. I live in central Fl, and basically we have two growing seasons, and everything is available most of the year.
     My main point about growing your own garden is this. It can provide a large suppliment to a family’s grocery supply, but is extremely labor intensive. Unless one person is a stay at home spouse, things would have to be scaled back quite a bit. I believe that for most people if you figure that a home garden will suppliment your daily food stuffs when in season, is a good realistic way to look at things.
     we don’t live on farms anymore, and most people don’t keep all the tractors and other equipment necessary to grow a large garden. I used a large Troy Built tiller for my work, and it could handle about an acre or so before you reached the practicle limits of it’s size. Everyday, once my garden got growing, I had to spend time weeding and taking care of the plants after work.. I got my aerobic exercise everyday. Now that I’m much older, I’m not sure I could do all that anymore.
      All these things i’ve mentioned shouldn’t stop you from trying to grow a garden. But just be aware that it takes a good ammount of row footage to grow enough vegies to put up a significant ammount for later use. Smaller gardens however, are great for daily fresh eating, and don’t take near as much time.
    Lastly, I used non-poision, organic insect control. I found that I could do ok with insecticidal soaps, and other homemade brews to control bugs. I did use chemical fertilizers, as going totally organic on the fertilizers was too labor intensive.
     I hope this helps, and you guys have a great day.
A small 2 bottom plow tractor and one can “harvest” onions, potatoes, & carrots very quickly. All can be dehydro or canned where potatoes/onions can be laid up in cool place for long periods of time.Â
Please, please, please…..Stay where you are and not bring your problems to the countryside. Work out your problems where you live. They are problems you have created or allowed to happen. Deal with it. Don’t just think that you can skate out and leave them behind. You only muck it up for those of us who live this life because we wanted to….not because of the screwed up cities/burbs and need to escape.Â
   It takes all of my waking hours to do the garden, the bees, the fruit trees, and the goat dairy. It is already a 14 hour day and I don’t have extra time to keep the masses (YOU) off of my land.
   Quit whinning and act like responsible human beings and start taking care of where you live before it is too late…I do that here and have for the last 57 years. This is my home and there is not room for the city people out here! Get your own house in order instead of messing up ours, too!Â
   The entitlement mentality already has you people thinking that you have a right to hunt and gather anywhere you want to. We have had enough already with the corn-maze crowd thinking that all farms are public petting zoos and there is an entitlement of access.Â
    We do not want to have to shoot you but you not only endanger us but also yourselves by thinking that all you need is an AK47, ammo, a year of supplies, and camo. Keep your 4-wheel atv’s and guns and survival gear where you are. Get real and get busy taking care of what you have where you have it.
   If you really, really believe in the ultimate shtf, then it won’t matter if you fight the urban warfare or the jungle warfare when the real shtf. In fact, you probably know that turf better than out here anyway. For goodness sakes, if someone is carrying a bullet for you, they will find you where ever you are and no matter how long you run.
Read “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy if you want the dire picture of what the ultimate shtf scenario looks like. And I empasize “READ” not just the movie version.
All in all, I wish us all the best in these coming dark clouds. Our system of greed has brought us here. WE can survive but wars cost lives…it is their nature.
Ms “Deborah” is blowing it waaaaayyy out of proportion! I moved my Family from Northern NJ to Northern NH 13 years ago. 2 places as different as night and day. In NJ, NY City was just 13 miles away. The nearest city to us now is 100 miles away. And today? It’s as if we never lived any where else!
Comments…..
Oooo! Two whole hours shuttling kids to and from school! How many hours a day do you think it will take to home school kids? More than an hour or two if you do it right!
Get your hands on and read the book “Square Foot Gardening”
1. You aren’t tilling or trying to ammend/improve any soil.
2. You aren’t spending hours and hours weeding the garden.
3. With traditinal ‘row’ style gardening you are only using 20% of the soil that you till, improve and water to actually grow crops. With square foot gardening you are using 100% of the area to grow food. This means that you can grow as much or more food in a 4′ X 4′ raised bed using square foot gardening methodology as you can in a traditional 20′ X 20′ row type garden.
4. Have trouble getting down or bending over to tend your square foot garden? Elevate the raised bed to a convenient height.
Get the book and read it. See if the concept doesn’t make sense to you. Try one 4 X 4′ raised bed this season and you won’t do ‘row style gardening’ ever again. You can do this on a small patio or even on a South facing apartment balcony.
Try it; you may just find that it’s exactly what you have been looking for.
Comments….. let’s face it. In reality, most people are stuck where they are for lack of a better work. No matter what one would like to do, unless you have a wad of cash laying around to buy a farm somewhaere, you’re stuck where you’re at. Even if you put your house up for sale, did you check out the latest real estate figures. Nobody has any money, and if they do, they’re holding on to it.
    Something else that hassn’t really been talked about. Rural people have to get to know you before you’re “accepted’ in the community. I’m sure they don’t want to see a bunch of cityslickers moving in and messing up the neighborhood. I guess it’s like anything else, there’s good and bad to either scenerio.
     Another thing to remember, and mentioned in a previous post, farm life is hard if you’re doing it for real. Long days of hard physical work, and mundane chores day after day. I personally have trouble dealing with the slowwwww pace of life when visiting relatives who live in the sticks. You have to get a certain mindset. Some people can, and some peole just can’t deal with the slow pace.
  Good luck whatever you choose.
Net Ranger, we need to make a date for that 18 pack, after the shooting….got any idea where I can find a firing pin for a Premier Single Shot 22 (Mossberg Model B)? (TRIPOD, DON’T GO GETTIN YER PANTIES ALL GOEY!!!!!!). Â Maybe Zukadu wants to shoot a little too….
Spending hours weeding and tending a garden beats spending money to join a gym to work out. No time for dumb down television makes for a healthy mind and spirit. Â
But for sure you city slickers stay away. Here in Montana the California types have spread their cancer to several regions of the state disrupting longstanding access with their fences to nowhere. They will not last when SHTF. Payback is a bitch.
Totally unrealistic to move to country. With our population, it can’t possibly support them and the “country” would soon be a suburb. No one can hear you scream in the boonies, either and a determined-and desperate-population will take what’s yours to survive.
Better to live in a small town with rural values, safety in numbers and others you can barter with for needful things. We do quite well in our little neck o’ woods.
Many valuable, insight comments here.
And the jist of it all as I can gather is that ‘going country’ is not something done without planning, determination and perhaps the resources to make the transition.Â
And its not like the ‘country’ could anywhere near support the masses in the cities. Nope…. unless you’re bound and determined to a ‘Green Acres’ new lifestyle …. then don’t attempt it.
So…what now. If an easy exist to Eden isn’t in the cards then how does one cope with systemic meltdown.
Ahh….well  you might just try something as basic as NOT voting for a politician that promises an easy out. In fact (rule of thumb)
don’t voted for ANY incumbent. Politicians are keenly aware of what you want to hear and will be chameleons seeking to appease your preferences (e.g  Obama).  Once elected they of course pursue the agenda of looking out for their own welfare ( and that involves collaborating with the existent powers that be).
Bottom line is ….. don’t write in here whining unless you’re also willing to forgo the status quo and risk a restructuring of the system. Don’t whine unless you are backing it up with a historically different voting pattern.
Nothing changes….until there’s change.
You (yes YOU!) need to get off your ass and MAKE it happen.
Comments….. I was raised in the Illinois boonies since then been cookie cutter suburban and then urban and lived in 5 different States. After the “urban” experience we had enough of that noise!Â
When my husband lost his job about 8 years ago we went rural again, this time on a small farm. Best thing we ever did! Kids are happy (I have tried the 2hr round trip pick up and home schooling, home schooling provides much better results BTW)Â
I do have dirt under my now very short nails; a walk down to work on the nut trees or grapes involves walking around horse apples and occasionally stepping in them, we have had our dogs attacked by coyotes, a mountain lion and numerous poisonous snakes left as a “present” by our animals on the front stoop. The well went out and a flash flood took out one of two roads to town adding 20 minutes onto the drive to the grocery store. We have had about one dog a year abandoned on our property and we are not covered by any of the animal control agencies. There was a fire that burned about 1/2 of our pasture, that had it happened 1 day before when the winds were kicking up, our house would have been toast before the FD got there. On the other hand if you don’t mind staying on the property for weeks, leaving on occasion just to pick up some supplies; wouldn’t think twice about taking out dangerous “critters”, slaughtering and eating the animals you have raised and don’t mind your hands (and back and knees) looking (and feeling) twice their age, country life may be for you.Â
The other negative that was not mentioned in the article was cost. The cost of farming is not in the initial purchase! It costs a lot of money to grow your own food, maintain the buildings and equipment. You need equipment (a good used basic tractor will run you around 10g without extra things like augers, plows etc) and storage buildings, fertilizer (unless you hire out the labor and are made of money, organic gardening can be prohibitively expensive when you get above 1 acre) and as one other poster mentioned, at harvest time, labor. We happen to have a slew of kids(5) and their friends to help out in that last department so it makes things a bit easier.Â
I am not slamming the country life, I wouldn’t have it any other way, for us the rewards of seeing our kids grow up strong physically, morally and mentally is all worth it, but I know my urban and suburban ” friends” have said they could never live like this. It is definately not for everyone. When in doubt know what you do and do what you know. Â
You country folk make sure to stay outta the city when TSHTF! We don’t need your type round here stinkin’ up the land with your goats, farm tools, and plants. We got ‘nough problems as it is dealing with immigrants growing shit in their backyard, eating it and such. Don’t need more people crowding up the streets, taking whats ours from us. So just stay where you are, and fix it if you can. Otherwise I’ll come through your countryside blasting loud music and burning down your fields! Ya hear!
There is a name for people who do not know how to live in the country.
They are called “city titties”.
If you think the farm life is for you let me fill you in.
First my wife & myself run a 30 acre farm in Western WA.
She was a city girl I grew up backwoods, So backwoods we had no running water and did not get electricity until 1980.
If you are not prepared to work you butt off after you have worked a job all day then you should stay in the city.
If you cannot learn how be a carpenter, smithy, farmer and mr. fixit stay in the city.
If you like to watch TV stay in the city because if you move to a farm you won’t have time.
If you are a twitter, tweeter or cell phone addict stay in the city.
If you …….
I can go on and on but I won’t.
RED!
I moved out of the city in 97 , it was nothing but corn fields and bean fields as far as the eye could see..
the housing boom brought me neighbors!..
but im still far enough away from a large city.
longer drive to work..so what, decompression time for me.
some people dont have the where with all to do for them selfs , they have been too used to calling someone to come fix their problem..if you arnt inclined to learn or know how to do it yourself, you bit off more than you can chew and should stay right where your at.
that way i end up with one less useless person wanting me to support them when SHTF..im not the grass hopper..ive been the ant for over 20+ years..its not something you can do overnight
Been out here since Katrina. The school busses are not real keen on going down my road, so my kids have to meet them halfway down the road (about 2 miles). Item 3 should pertain to buying decent tires, none of the tires that run smooth and handle tight turns with ease, but tires that can shrug off stones (usually put down in attempt to “pave” the road) that will not drain your tires, but put gashes in them that can never be repaired.
As for repairs and maintenance on home and farm, consider the non-electric options.
Did anyone remember this country – this whole country! – was tamed and settled by families without electricity, running water, or natural gas! What has happened to us as a nation is worse than just letting the government get away from us – although that’s one of the many signs.
To Slickey: Us country folk won’t be invading your city anytime soon, but remember where your food comes from (hint: it’s not really the grocery store!)
Here’s to all the truckers keeping those city-dudes alive!
Yeah, my wife and I moved to a suburb about 30 miles from Denver, going on 6 years ago now. This last summer, like, all of a sudden, there are ‘joggers’ with their Ipods running down the dirt roads, some guy is now riding his kid around in a trailer on his bike, people can be seen walking their dogs, etc. Go back to CALI!
Wouldn’t dream of EVER coming back to the city; won’t even visit.  Why would I? Â
I do not love: the smell of garbage decaying in the alley or the smell of human urine wafting on the wind; the bangers, the pan handlers,  the soot that coats buildings and makes your clothes stink (have yet to see a fabric scent called “city breezes†go figure!),  the lack of manners and common decency, litter and beer cans in the gutters and the disrespectful attitudes that are responsible for their deposit there,  bus exhaust, screeching sirens, slamming garbage bins, keeping your head down and to yourself, overpaid, undereducated workers that cannot be fired,  human waste and wasted humans, lack of reverence for life or lives of reverence, self-centered materialism and materialistic judgment,  hopelessness so deep that it can only be cured by stealing from the hopes and pockets of others. Â
 Maybe it will get better after TSHTF?
No. My family stopped playing “sophistication†with the millions of other helpless, hapless minions there years ago.Â
Out here, I have my own food, I have my independent, renewable water supply, good education without ESL classes or tenured teachers, no graffiti, a private shooting range, a group of like minded neighbors, a doc who does house calls…. all in my own “park like settingâ€.  Paid for, no land-lords, artificially jacked up taxes or constantly paying for the “privilege” of living in an overpriced germ factory with more degenerates of all social classes than people of integrity; did I mention that here there is no state income tax? One of the top colleges in the Country is just an hour away.Â
Can’t find a job? Here there are businesses that would hire my high school kids starting well above minimum wage no experience necessary, even in this recession,  just based on the fortitude of their character.Â
Need some plumbing work done? Well since you let me pasture my horse at your place for no charge every month, I’ll do it for free.
No contract needed, just a handshake and a person’s honor.
This is why the country is the place to be WTSHTF. Honor matters, not the size of your bank account or the numbers of diplomas.  Yes. This is what politicians mock when they call us “fly-over countryâ€.
A word of caution to those looking to make the move; If you bring your city attitudes with you, you will find only isolation and sorrow here. Leave the designer baggage at home no one cares if it is Gucci or Wal-Mart what matters is how well you carry it.Â
P.S.  Slickey: Blast your music all you want, our house is far enough away from the road and thickly forested that we won’t even hear it, but the State Cop who lives just up the road on a smaller piece of property will, (he puts my dogs’ ears to shame).Â
Come on the property or try to start a fire on it (good luck with the 13 dogs that now patrol the two abutting pieces of land) and BTW the Castle Law kicks in even WITHOUT TSHTF.  See out here we have the right to protect life AND property even without a breakdown in government systems. Just some thoughts for you. xxxooo from Texas
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It sucks to hear so much anger from the ragin country folk. I don’t know how people could avoid city or suburban living. I followed the path that seemed most natural and now working a pro job in California *gasp* but I’m not from here originally…A WA town. Long line if working class family. So now if I want to ever leave I have to disguise that I’ve moved from here or else subject myself to a wrath of judgement? So I feel there’s no escape. I don’t fit in here and I don’t belong in the country.
P.S. I don’t have designer handbags but I’d rather not shop at Wal-Mart if at all possible. How about shopping online instead?
*sigh* I’m more depressed than ever. . .
Elle