I love my country life. I love raising my daughter on the farm where my dad had so many good memories with his brothers. I adore the history, connection, and responsibility that comes with stewardship of this land. I enjoy the possibilities that this farm offers. I appreciate the peace and quiet, the feeling of privacy, and the slower pace farm life offers. I can't find a lot to criticize about rural living. However, it is not a perfect world, and there are a few things I wish I could improve. In this blog post, I will share with you my list of pros and cons of country living.
Let's begin with the pros; starting on a high note is always good. First and foremost, I appreciate the space. We have room to spread out, walk for miles, and explore areas near us without seeing another person. If I'm being transparent, it's nice not to have neighbors encroaching upon us, watching our every move, and running into each other. My husband's gauge of a great living space is being able to walk out the front door and pee in the yard without anyone ever seeing him. He's a simple fellow. Simple? Yes, but he is not wrong. I have been known to wade into the pond in my underwear to gather goose eggs and run to the garage in my underpants for a bar of soap, and we have all stripped off our filthy clothes on the front porch at one time or another. At some point, I plan to install an outdoor shower and fully anticipate enjoying being naked in nature with a few elements to protect my privacy in place. I believe our privacy is probably the high point of our rural life.
To counterbalance our privacy, let's discuss country neighbors. There are seven families on Tonkin Road. I know the names of the families and consider a few of them my closest, dearest friends. I know that if I should need anything, each of these families would jump in to help us. We don't see our neighbors often, but we know they are good people we can trust. When we lived in the small town of Brookville, I only knew a few of the dozens of neighbors on our street. Most of our neighbors didn't even wave when we were outside, let alone offer to help with anything. I believe country neighbors feel a stronger sense of community. Some of the families on Tonkin Road have been in residence for generations. It's kind of cool to know my grandparents knew the same families.
Let's talk about the cost of living in the country. Until a few years ago, I would have said that living in the country is far more affordable than living in a town or municipality. Indeed, we don't pay for water, sewage, or gas. If one is very frugal, one could also avoid waste management services by composting, recycling, and using a good old-fashioned burn barrel for paper products. That leaves an electric bill for monthly charges, which is impressive in this day and age. If one is diligent about conserving energy, one can get away with an electric bill of less than $200 per month. When my parents lived here, the rent that local farmers paid to lease the land covered the cost of the yearly property taxes. However, the local taxes were reassessed, and now, we spend over $13,000 a year to own our land. We must take over $1000 off the top each month to cover our annual taxes. Taxes are a bitter pill for me to swallow, dear reader, but it is the law of the land. I would not be so resentful if my taxes were used for practical, beneficial programs that improved my life and the local community. However, I take issue when I don't have reliable infrastructure like good cell phone service or internet to run my business, but we have miles of bike trails. Don't get me started on that!
Lastly, the beauty of where we live is priceless. On any given day, I can look out my window and enjoy a gorgeous view from a stunning sunrise to a flock of wild geese flying in, songbirds singing in the trees, deer, foxes, bears, and rabbits crossing the land near my home. The changing seasons are abundant and apparent in the country. We move from grey, dreary, muddy spring into lush, green, and gorgeous late spring to summer, to the glory of fall, and into the stark contrasting beauty of winter. I love this about country living. Let's not forget the beauty of looking out and seeing pastures filled with my beautiful, healthy goats. It truly is picturesque. I love where I live and would encourage anyone to move to the country to enjoy all the benefits of living a rural life. That is not to say there are no drawbacks to rural living. However, I believe the pros far outweigh the cons.
Let me now touch on the few cons of a provincial life. Probably my most significant complaint about rural life is the lack of infrastructure. While those living in towns and municipalities enjoy lightning-fast internet and reliable cell phone service, ours is sketchy at best. Sometimes, running our computers on a hotspot on our phone is better than our internet service. Trying to run an online business with this lack of service is frustrating, to say the least. We have looked into having a line put in on Tonkin Road, but the cost is exorbitant and not within our budget. Poor internet service is the bane of The Bibbed Wonder's existence.
There is frequent electricity loss as well as a lack of reliable internet and cell service. Downed power lines happen more frequently than one may think. Once my dad had our electrical lines run underground, our service improved. When we first moved in, cows scratching on the electrical poles would often cause outages that lasted for hours. It became a running joke that the cows took out the power grid on the farm. Although the service has improved, we continue to be surrounded by trees, roads that are often the last on the list to be treated in winter, and large equipment that is easy to misjudge its vicinity to power lines. A fallen tree, a car careening off the road, or someone not checking with the power company before digging a ditch can take out electrical service for hours.
Another con of rural living is the lack of educational opportunities. Often, rural schools are under-served, have school boards filled with individuals without educational or business experience, and don't have the means to offer high-quality academic programs. It can be very frustrating as a parent to choose between rural living and enriching, challenging educational opportunities for one's child. We are fortunate to have backgrounds in English and math education and wonderful friends who help us create enrichment opportunities for the arts and humanities outside of school. However, this is not a problem solely for rural schools. There is a nationwide trend to cut out the arts and humanities and a lack of funding for school technology programs. In small rural communities, we don't have a plethora of educational options that larger urban areas can generate. We do our best, create opportunities where we can, and hope our children glean life experience and have the intrinsic resources needed to succeed.
Lastly, there is the workload that goes along with living in the country. The maintenance is endless if one has more land than a postage stamp-sized yard, outbuildings, and a large home. There is weekly mowing, maintaining one's sewage and water source, and multiple roofs and buildings. Multiple buildings with an extensive track of land can soon become overwhelming. Country living is not for the lazy. Maintaining these things is also costly. A new barn roof can set one back tens of thousands of dollars. The gas required for weekly mowing in the summer months quickly adds up to thousands of dollars. Purchasing, fueling, and maintaining equipment for the care of the animals and land can also be exorbitant. However, I believe it all balances out. What one saves in monthly utilities rolls into the cost of the above-listed things. It is also dependent upon where one's priorities lie.
As with all lifestyles, it is a balancing act. For me, the benefits of country life far outweigh the drawbacks. It is far more important to me to maintain my father's legacy and build something to pass on to my daughter than to live somewhere filled with people and conveniences. However, everyone is different, and country life does not appeal to many. That is okay; different views are what make life interesting. Today's blog was me pulling back the curtain to give you a peek at what life on the farm entails. Unfortunately, it's not all quiet moments on the porch drinking a cup of coffee at sunrise. However, there are more moments like that than having the sewer pumped because of a backup!
On this snowy Monday, stay safe, be smart, enjoy your life wherever you live, and keep washing your hands.
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