Country surprises?

[marusempai]

We have (finally!) moved onto our little farm, after seven years of hoping and planning. But there have still been some things that caught us with our pants down, and we've only lived here two weeks.

The big one: there is no trash pick up. Never even *occurred* to me that there might be no trash pick up. Fortunately the dump is on DH's way to work. It took some getting over though.

Anything that seems obvious now that blindsided you? I hope I'm not the only one. XD

[Just Little Me]

LOL, yep, we had to get a dump tag when we moved here. Alot of folks filled gullies on their proptery instead. I use the dump :-)

[Maura]

It seemed obvious to me that dogs belong at home. Beware the neighbor who thinks it’s okay to let his dogs roam all over the county because they live in the country.

Another thing is the septic. If you’ve never lived with a septic system you’ll want to have yours checked out by someone.

[Chief Cook]

Congratulations on moving to the country! This is what we learned. LOL Just because there are high line wires on your property, doesn't mean there is phone service. We got lucky because a government trapper lived here and had to have a phone. Whew! We lived here for a year without a phone until we decided that we needed one. It is kinda like the shop, some days it is a blessing, and some days it is a curse!

[Bret]

Not really. It was just getting caught with my pants down.

[Gray Wolf]

Pants? You need to move farther out in the country.

[simi-steading]

Some you probably aren't thinking of..

When the power goes out, the closer you are to the end of the line, the longer it will probably be out..

Are you on a well? if so, you may want to keep a spare pump on hand... or at least a manual pump if your well isn't too deep..

Keep a generator on hand.. that way if the power does go out, you can at least power your fridge or well if need be..

Keep spare gas around the place.. You wife (or husband) will do like my wife just did last weekend.. Drove to town and didn't look at the gas gauge... I wouldn't have made it to the closest gas station 15 miles away..

[KIT.S]

At night, it's DARK. Keep a couple good flashlights in the same place all the time so you can find them in the dark. It will nearly always be dark outside when you need to know what that is out there making that noise.
Frogs are really loud, so when they get silent, there's something out there.
Don't leave all your emergency water stored outside in the winter. When you really need it, it'll be ice.
And somehow, I always need one more extension cord.
Kit

[Gray Wolf]

Now's the time to figure out where to have packages delivered in the winter when UPS & FEDEX won't come out because of the snow. (They will now deliver to a PO Box so that's what we've started doing.)

[simi-steading]

Better than a flashlight, keep a Coleman lantern by the door.. the next best thing to daylight you don't have to hold when you need a lot of light.

[where I want to]

No one and I mean no one ever uses a door bell. I think most houses don't even have one. If some makes it to the front door at all, they knock.

[Brighton]

Originally Posted by simi-steading

Keep a generator on hand.. that way if the power does go out, you can at least power your fridge or well if need be..

We keep a generator to run the Sump Pump, as it is always raining buckets when the power goes out, and, here at least, it only takes about 1/2 an hour to fill the sump pit and the basement starts flooding. Also a full gas can for the generator.

We keep plenty of water stored so we don't have to worry about the well, and don't open the fridge or freezer until power is restored.

We also have a propane stove so we can cook if the power is out, and plenty of flashlights, batteries, candles, oil lanterns, etc.

[KnowOneSpecial]

When you buy your place the realtor will give you a set of keys. First of all, check that they work in the door. Then put them someplace where you won't forget where they are.

We don't lock our doors. Ever. Not even when we went on vacation (Meant to, just forgot!) Now we're looking at moving and the realtor will be asking for the keys. I can't remember where I put them! I might have to put new locks in!

[marusempai]

Originally Posted by KnowOneSpecial

When you buy your place the realtor will give you a set of keys. First of all, check that they work in the door. Then put them someplace where you won't forget where they are.

We don't lock our doors. Ever. Not even when we went on vacation (Meant to, just forgot!) Now we're looking at moving and the realtor will be asking for the keys. I can't remember where I put them! I might have to put new locks in!

The previous owners here were like that... there were no keys! I drove straight to Home Depot after closing and bought new locks. We've lived here all of two weeks, and guess what... I'm starting to leave things unlocked. It is clearly contagious!

We are looking at getting a generator. The house is all set up for it, we'd just have to plug it in. The whole "no water if the power is out" is a little scary.

[BamaNana]

What took us by surprise, cable doesn't come out this far. Back then, satellite was super expensive, so we were on dial up for 8 years. Have satellite now, but still miss cable.
Also, make sure you have more than one running vehicle at all times. And get jumper cables!!! Don't ask me how I know.........

[JoePa]

Keep a shotgun leaning against the wall behind the door - and shells handy -

[MO_cows]

Our biggest surprise was, our water meter is waaaay down on the corner. And on the "wrong" side of the house from where the line comes in. There are hundreds of feet of water line on "our" side of the meter we are responsible for.

Getting electric service through a co-op has been a pleasant surprise and a great experience. We are literally at the end of the line, our nearest neighbor a mile up the road has a different electric service. But when there is an outage, they are johnny on the spot and get it restored quickly. This year, we are getting $130 check for our capital. I like that they actually send a check, don't just credit the electric account.

It was a surprise how much light there really is from a full moon. Without "light pollution", you can easily see to walk around without a flashlight.

We have had many more pleasant surprises than unpleasant ones since moving to the country.

[PrincessFerf]

When we moved from the city to the country the first things we noticed (on our first night in the house) was how quiet and dark it was. LOVED it. But it was frustrating bumping into things at night so we got a lot of night-lights that turn on when it gets dark.

Outside we purchased some solar lights, just for a little light in the backyard. We have a "barn light" but it doesn't light up the property enough.

Enjoy the stars at night. MIGHTY better than anything you can see in the city.

I love that we can have the animals we want, park our vehicles where we want, shoot off a gun if we want, and burn (responsibly, of course) what we want.

Definitely spend some time and money investing in a generator and other "supplies" for when the power goes out.

You don't need a shotgun to dispatch a sick chicken.

If your house is set off the road far enough, you don't need privacy window treatments. You can also go outside in your underwear without worry about the neighbors seeing you. (and even if someone had binoculars, who cares?)

No matter how much gardening experience you have, when you move from a "small garden" to a "gigantic garden", fighting weeds becomes a lot more work (regardless of how much mulch you use).

If a nearby farmer offers you fresh cow or horse manure for your garden, politely decline unless you want to introduce 1 gagillion weed seeds where you don't want them.

You can never have too many fruit trees... until September arrives.

Anything you raise yourself to feed your family (meat or produce) tastes 150% better than anything you will ever buy in a store.

But, don't feel like you have to raise everything yourself. Especially not within the first few years. There's no award for doing it all yourself in the first year, unless you count grey hair, blisters and sheer exhaustion an "award".

Learn from your failures, be humble, be kind to your neighbors and share your excesses with those around you (you will be surprised what you get in return).

Enjoy the peace, clean air and opportunities that country living offers. Congrats!

[simi-steading]

Originally Posted by JoePa

Keep a shotgun leaning against the wall behind the door - and shells handy -

I keep it over the door... that way I won't knock it over.. and it's loaded.. not shells by it..

I've not gotten them mounted yet since we live there.. but it will be shotgun over the back door, rifle over the front..

[Wayne02]

I always try to be honest when folks say to me they can't wait to retire and move from the suburbs to the quiet country life. I love the rural life but it's not without its potential problem areas.

Off the top of my head.

- your favorite package delivery service may or may not be able or willing to deliver to your doorstep as they did in the suburbs.

- just because one may live in a rural area doesn't mean that area is crime free, in fact in many cases it's actually worse than a suburb.

- some people in rural areas have no concept of responsible dog ownership and as a result the number of free ranging dogs in the community can be problematic.

- you may need to get used to living on 'country time' when dealing with locals, procuring services, products etc. Some of them operate on the, 'when I get round-to-it' time system.

- many country folk are friendly and especially so after they get to know you a bit. Their concept of 'personal space' can be off sometimes. As in they will knock briefly on the door and then walk right in.

- do not under any circumstance insult one of the locals choice in pickup trucks, guns or beer.

- get used to the fact that it may be many years before you are not referred to as the, 'new people from the city'. You basically have to outlive the youngest member of the good-ol-boy club before you are considered a 'local'. And it doesn't matter if you just moved to the area from the remotest section of Alaska, you are still, "from the city." We have been here for quite a number of years now but some of the good-ol-boy members have 15-20 years on me and are really well preserved. I'm not sure I will be able to outlast them.

- speaking of the good-ol-boy network, get to know who they are over time, as they can be a tremendous ally and resource, or a thorn in your side.

- do not let the locals bully you just because you are new, but by the same token understand their sensitivity to new folks who arrive and immediately want to start changing things about the communities long standing way of life.

- it's not quiet in many rural communities, particularly those that have a thriving small farm population. It's amazing how far sound travels in the country despite there being X number of acres between houses. You can hear dogs barking (or farm equipment) for many miles.

- be very careful when procuring products or services until you get some experience in dealing with the locals. A relative kindly explained it to me like this when we set up shop years ago. "you are new here and when some of the locals look at you they see a capital N on your forehead with dollar signs on either side of it". Point being 'some' of the locals may try to take advantage of the new person.

- going to town takes on new meaning when you have to drive X number of minutes or more to get there.

- same thing when procuring medical services, in some cases it can be a half day or more deal each time.

Most of all though, enjoy your new life style as the positives out weigh the negatives, particularly if you make even a small effort to meet and introduce yourself to some of the locals.