5 ms·

What's stopping you? I live in a small house somewhere in the woods. I have 40 acres, a house, a woodshop, a nice "man shed", and several more small buildings

by mod 4y ago

What's stopping you? I live in a small house somewhere in the woods. I have 40 acres, a house, a woodshop, a nice "man shed", and several more small buildings for animals and equipment---and I bought all that for $60,000 in the Ozarks. The slow life doesn't need much to sustain it after you buy your place; maybe it's time to jump off the cliff. Things I've been doing lately: enjoying our first snow last night. Doing things by a kerosene lantern (because I like lanterns). Wandering the woods...I found a "deadhead" a couple of days ago in great shape. Baking bread. Planting fig trees in my garden. Watching the sunrise. Drinking warm cups of hot cocoa. Making some holiday gifts in my woodshop, with wood harvested from my land. I'm missing someone to share it with. Add someone to the above: that's the kind of life I dream about. Good luck to you!

enchiridion 4y ago
How do you protect your fig trees in the winter? I used to pack leaves and straw around them and wrap in plastic, but I didn’t like the resulting mold in the spring. Last year I just used bubble wrap and plastic, but a lot of the smaller branches died.
- mod 4y ago
  Truthfully, I haven't had fig trees before. My neighbor (and uncle) has some that I love the fruit of, so I got some myself. That said, I don't think he does anything. They need watered the first growing season, if there's not enough rain, and that's it. They grow well here with no insect pressure, climate issues, etc. Our winters are mild, and we rarely get below-zero temps. Usually a couple overnights each year.
hnthrowaway0315 4y ago
Nice. I guess once you put up a telescope somewhere there it's going to have good view because of darkness? Sigh wish I could do that. Going to be next life.
- mod 4y ago
  Don't even need a telescope. You wouldn't believe how many stars are out there, no telescope required. You can always visit the wilderness. No need to live here. But I sympathize. I have many other lives I'd like to live, as well.
  - hnthrowaway0315 4y ago
    Thanks, and kudos on getting a very nice view of the sky. I'm thinking about maybe getting an agreement to rent a cabin in a dark area for maybe a month and see what happens.
    - mod 4y ago
      Do it. And bring a kerosene lantern.
bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago
Whatcha gonna do with the deadhead?
- mod 4y ago
  I hung it on the wall in my "gym" for now. I have a lot of antler already for projects, so I intend to leave it how it is. It's pretty cool looking. No specific plans, I guess.
rahimnathwani 4y ago
This sounds amazing! I'm not willing to make the necessary trade-offs. Some of the things we might lose if we were to move from San Francisco to somewhere rural: - my 6yo son's school, which is an amazing fit for him - proximity to my wife's family - comfortable weather all year round - not standing out by being Asian - easy access to Asian groceries - 10 mins' drive to Costco I would love to have a room per hobby/craft. Needing to pack/unpack and setup/teardown stuff like the sewing machine creates a mental barrier to using them. I can't just quickly fix something on a whim. Second order effect: each time I use the sewing machine I need to relearn somewhat.
- mod 4y ago
  I hear you, and not to argue with your points, but I have some comments. - There is a very close school here, as I happen to live in the tiny area that has the school for a pretty big region. They have very few students (graduating classes of 10-20). I'm not sure how good the school is, but I knew a second grader who tested 99.9 percentile on the Iowa standardized test. So it's at least passable? I think schooling is a big rural concern, for sure, but worth the tradeoff of getting to grow up in a place like this. There's much to learn that isn't in a textbook. - [Comfortable weather] There's other regions, of course. I don't love the summer here, but I like the 3 other seasons. And in summer I just travel and work inside more. It's not even the heat, it's the bugs in this region. Ticks, mostly. - [Asian] You would stand out here, but wouldn't be receiving any hatred or anything. The man I bought my property from married a Filipino woman, and she had a daughter who went to the little school here. They didn't speak much English when they arrived. Anyway she loved the school, and married locally and had children. They all still live very close; they moved away when I bought this place, and moved back after a couple of years. No groceries in this county for you, though, sorry. No stoplights, either, so you can imagine why niche businesses don't spring up. That goes for all niches. We have farm stores, dollar stores, grocery stores, gas stations, and that's about it. Dry county, too. - [Costco] That's kinda nice, but then you're 10 minutes from Costco, and for me, that eliminates a lot of why I like to be out here. You can wander all around my property and all you're going to see is trees, wildlife, mountain views...and my stuff. There's no towers, homes, roads, billboards, vehicles, radios, any of it, unless you choose to bring it here. That said, I own a business in town, and I commute usually once per week, so I can do my shopping while I'm there. - [Room per] My county has no building code, so you can build whatever you like out here. That's cool. I do stuff like this. I have an area for leatherwork, an area with my sewing machine, my woodshop. Fly tying in a spare bedroom. A home gym. Etc. That's one of my favorite things. If I ever have a family out here, maybe I'll stick the kids' bedrooms in a separate building once they're 10 or so. I visited SF in 2020, right before COVID. I had a great time. Very interesting city. I do love cities, too, but they don't feed me like this place. In another life, I'll be an almost-anonymous resident of a massive city, one unimportant detail. In contrast to out here, where I'm the only one who can affect any change. What are you sewing? I'm about to make a tipi cover on a Singer model 128 (a treadle machine).
Gualdrapo 4y ago
> What's stopping you? > The slow life doesn't need much to sustain it after you buy your place That's exactly what it's stopping me, being able to afford a place.
- mod 4y ago
  I hope you can figure it out. For me, the place I bought reduced my expenses. My rent was more than my mortgage ($625/month). That rate was high because I only took a six-year loan, and paid it off quickly. I had previously been paying $850 in rent.
alexfromapex 4y ago
This sounds good but I wouldn't want to be too remote
- mod 4y ago
  That's fair. Not a problem for me, and I am definitely remote. You can have a very similar setup close to civilization, it just costs a lot more. For instance, in my region, acreage might go as little as about $2000/acre still. But when you get close to town, you might pay 10k/acre or more, even "out here." Town meaning a county seat or something, not a metropolis. Anyway, I chose it because it was remote. I can still get USPS and UPS deliveries, though, so Amazon is on the table. I relied on it heavily in the beginning; I find I don't have to buy many things now.
nostrademons 4y ago
"I'm missing someone to share it with." That's what's stopping me. I was effectively retired before I had kids. Unfortunately, I want certain things for the people I love: - My kids to be close to their grandparents (and my wife to be close to her parents), who live in the most expensive metro area in the country and aren't likely to move because their other child now has a home & job here. - My kids to have good schools where they'll get the academic & cultural base they need to be successful in STEM or business fields, should they choose to go that route. - My family to not be an outcast because of their race. (I'm mixed-race and so am not going to fit into racial categories no matter where I go, but my kids basically look Asian and it's important for my wife to be around people near her.) - My wife and I to be close enough to keep up our old friendships. - Given that I've got to work to afford #1-4, being able to do so in a field that I'm good at, with people that I enjoy working with and a work culture that respects me. Community and relationships create entanglements. If you are willing to optimize only for your own happiness, you can often reach a significantly higher happiness bar then if you have to compromise for the people around you. Unfortunately, it also means you are optimizing only for your own happiness, which creates its own form of unhappiness.
- mod 4y ago
  I'm also "effectively retired" so that makes being out here for long stretches pretty easy. I own a bar, but I have 4-hour-work-weeked myself out of any steady obligations there. Of course, I'm working way harder out here improving the land than I ever would at the bar. I'm a bit of a loner so it's easy for me to be out here. I visit my dad about every week, and that's plenty. My mom lives 1200 miles away, so I guess I have to choose. I don't actually have kids yet, so less of a concern at this point. I'd really like to find someone compatible with this lifestyle, but I would be willing to give it up under the right circumstances. My favorite thing out here is the freedom, and I can approximate that in many other places. [Outcasts] I think the fears of racial tensions are mostly over-hyped. I'm not saying you'd never run into some overt racist out here, but the population density here is 8.8/sq mi. Compared to the 18,635/sq mi in San Francisico and I don't know...the odds seem greatly reduced, even if the racists are 10 times more likely (which they aren't IMO). I've only met good people so far, in my 7 years here. You get to choose where you interact, and so I've chosen places like Scouts, the school, and a volunteer group that protects our national river here. Great people in all 3 places. That said, it's very homogeneous in my particular county. I'm sure there's differences across the country, though. [Friendships] I've considered moving over friendships. One, actually. I just don't want to move "back home" (Florida). I visit that friend for almost a month per year, though. [Work] Yeah. I also worked remotely from here for a few years, and that went well. But there's no way I could have an office job & commute here. No way. Your last paragraph is on the nose, and I'm definitely struggling with that. It winds up making me feel tied to several places and pulled in many directions. I also have diverse interests/hobbies/talents that do the same. Anyway not trying to change your mind. I like the 8.8. And honestly I agree with all your points. Maybe my life will be wildly different if I meet someone. I better hurry up, I'm about to age-out!

by mod 4y ago

enchiridion 4y ago

How do you protect your fig trees in the winter? I used to pack leaves and straw around them and wrap in plastic, but I didn’t like the resulting mold in the spring. Last year I just used bubble wrap and plastic, but a lot of the smaller branches died.

mod 4y ago
Truthfully, I haven't had fig trees before. My neighbor (and uncle) has some that I love the fruit of, so I got some myself. That said, I don't think he does anything. They need watered the first growing season, if there's not enough rain, and that's it. They grow well here with no insect pressure, climate issues, etc. Our winters are mild, and we rarely get below-zero temps. Usually a couple overnights each year.

hnthrowaway0315 4y ago

Nice. I guess once you put up a telescope somewhere there it's going to have good view because of darkness? Sigh wish I could do that. Going to be next life.

mod 4y ago
Don't even need a telescope. You wouldn't believe how many stars are out there, no telescope required. You can always visit the wilderness. No need to live here. But I sympathize. I have many other lives I'd like to live, as well.
- hnthrowaway0315 4y ago
  Thanks, and kudos on getting a very nice view of the sky. I'm thinking about maybe getting an agreement to rent a cabin in a dark area for maybe a month and see what happens.
  - mod 4y ago
    Do it. And bring a kerosene lantern.

bitxbitxbitcoin 4y ago

Whatcha gonna do with the deadhead?

mod 4y ago
I hung it on the wall in my "gym" for now. I have a lot of antler already for projects, so I intend to leave it how it is. It's pretty cool looking. No specific plans, I guess.

rahimnathwani 4y ago

This sounds amazing! I'm not willing to make the necessary trade-offs. Some of the things we might lose if we were to move from San Francisco to somewhere rural: - my 6yo son's school, which is an amazing fit for him - proximity to my wife's family - comfortable weather all year round - not standing out by being Asian - easy access to Asian groceries - 10 mins' drive to Costco I would love to have a room per hobby/craft. Needing to pack/unpack and setup/teardown stuff like the sewing machine creates a mental barrier to using them. I can't just quickly fix something on a whim. Second order effect: each time I use the sewing machine I need to relearn somewhat.

mod 4y ago
I hear you, and not to argue with your points, but I have some comments. - There is a very close school here, as I happen to live in the tiny area that has the school for a pretty big region. They have very few students (graduating classes of 10-20). I'm not sure how good the school is, but I knew a second grader who tested 99.9 percentile on the Iowa standardized test. So it's at least passable? I think schooling is a big rural concern, for sure, but worth the tradeoff of getting to grow up in a place like this. There's much to learn that isn't in a textbook. - [Comfortable weather] There's other regions, of course. I don't love the summer here, but I like the 3 other seasons. And in summer I just travel and work inside more. It's not even the heat, it's the bugs in this region. Ticks, mostly. - [Asian] You would stand out here, but wouldn't be receiving any hatred or anything. The man I bought my property from married a Filipino woman, and she had a daughter who went to the little school here. They didn't speak much English when they arrived. Anyway she loved the school, and married locally and had children. They all still live very close; they moved away when I bought this place, and moved back after a couple of years. No groceries in this county for you, though, sorry. No stoplights, either, so you can imagine why niche businesses don't spring up. That goes for all niches. We have farm stores, dollar stores, grocery stores, gas stations, and that's about it. Dry county, too. - [Costco] That's kinda nice, but then you're 10 minutes from Costco, and for me, that eliminates a lot of why I like to be out here. You can wander all around my property and all you're going to see is trees, wildlife, mountain views...and my stuff. There's no towers, homes, roads, billboards, vehicles, radios, any of it, unless you choose to bring it here. That said, I own a business in town, and I commute usually once per week, so I can do my shopping while I'm there. - [Room per] My county has no building code, so you can build whatever you like out here. That's cool. I do stuff like this. I have an area for leatherwork, an area with my sewing machine, my woodshop. Fly tying in a spare bedroom. A home gym. Etc. That's one of my favorite things. If I ever have a family out here, maybe I'll stick the kids' bedrooms in a separate building once they're 10 or so. I visited SF in 2020, right before COVID. I had a great time. Very interesting city. I do love cities, too, but they don't feed me like this place. In another life, I'll be an almost-anonymous resident of a massive city, one unimportant detail. In contrast to out here, where I'm the only one who can affect any change. What are you sewing? I'm about to make a tipi cover on a Singer model 128 (a treadle machine).

Gualdrapo 4y ago

> What's stopping you? > The slow life doesn't need much to sustain it after you buy your place That's exactly what it's stopping me, being able to afford a place.

mod 4y ago
I hope you can figure it out. For me, the place I bought reduced my expenses. My rent was more than my mortgage ($625/month). That rate was high because I only took a six-year loan, and paid it off quickly. I had previously been paying $850 in rent.

alexfromapex 4y ago

This sounds good but I wouldn't want to be too remote

mod 4y ago
That's fair. Not a problem for me, and I am definitely remote. You can have a very similar setup close to civilization, it just costs a lot more. For instance, in my region, acreage might go as little as about $2000/acre still. But when you get close to town, you might pay 10k/acre or more, even "out here." Town meaning a county seat or something, not a metropolis. Anyway, I chose it because it was remote. I can still get USPS and UPS deliveries, though, so Amazon is on the table. I relied on it heavily in the beginning; I find I don't have to buy many things now.

nostrademons 4y ago

"I'm missing someone to share it with." That's what's stopping me. I was effectively retired before I had kids. Unfortunately, I want certain things for the people I love: - My kids to be close to their grandparents (and my wife to be close to her parents), who live in the most expensive metro area in the country and aren't likely to move because their other child now has a home & job here. - My kids to have good schools where they'll get the academic & cultural base they need to be successful in STEM or business fields, should they choose to go that route. - My family to not be an outcast because of their race. (I'm mixed-race and so am not going to fit into racial categories no matter where I go, but my kids basically look Asian and it's important for my wife to be around people near her.) - My wife and I to be close enough to keep up our old friendships. - Given that I've got to work to afford #1-4, being able to do so in a field that I'm good at, with people that I enjoy working with and a work culture that respects me. Community and relationships create entanglements. If you are willing to optimize only for your own happiness, you can often reach a significantly higher happiness bar then if you have to compromise for the people around you. Unfortunately, it also means you are optimizing only for your own happiness, which creates its own form of unhappiness.

mod 4y ago
I'm also "effectively retired" so that makes being out here for long stretches pretty easy. I own a bar, but I have 4-hour-work-weeked myself out of any steady obligations there. Of course, I'm working way harder out here improving the land than I ever would at the bar. I'm a bit of a loner so it's easy for me to be out here. I visit my dad about every week, and that's plenty. My mom lives 1200 miles away, so I guess I have to choose. I don't actually have kids yet, so less of a concern at this point. I'd really like to find someone compatible with this lifestyle, but I would be willing to give it up under the right circumstances. My favorite thing out here is the freedom, and I can approximate that in many other places. [Outcasts] I think the fears of racial tensions are mostly over-hyped. I'm not saying you'd never run into some overt racist out here, but the population density here is 8.8/sq mi. Compared to the 18,635/sq mi in San Francisico and I don't know...the odds seem greatly reduced, even if the racists are 10 times more likely (which they aren't IMO). I've only met good people so far, in my 7 years here. You get to choose where you interact, and so I've chosen places like Scouts, the school, and a volunteer group that protects our national river here. Great people in all 3 places. That said, it's very homogeneous in my particular county. I'm sure there's differences across the country, though. [Friendships] I've considered moving over friendships. One, actually. I just don't want to move "back home" (Florida). I visit that friend for almost a month per year, though. [Work] Yeah. I also worked remotely from here for a few years, and that went well. But there's no way I could have an office job & commute here. No way. Your last paragraph is on the nose, and I'm definitely struggling with that. It winds up making me feel tied to several places and pulled in many directions. I also have diverse interests/hobbies/talents that do the same. Anyway not trying to change your mind. I like the 8.8. And honestly I agree with all your points. Maybe my life will be wildly different if I meet someone. I better hurry up, I'm about to age-out!