Anyone else just up and "QUIT" & move to the country?

Semi I'll bet once you get out there and start working in the great outdoors, you will find renewed energy and enthusiasm. I don't see 50 as being very old. Guess it's all really a state of mind. Sounds like you two have a great plan and are already off to a great start!

DH and I are doing the same thing. We purchased 50 acres in MO and have been moving our current farm there for over a year. This spring will be the final move. Excited! We plan to raise livestock and use the natural resources to make money here and there. Without a lot of debt it doesn't take a lot of money to live very comfortably. DH is 50 and I'm right on his heels.

Good luck, and enjoy.!

__________________
If you're not going to SNORT....why even laugh ?
------------------------------------------------------
Andi

Wow.. I couldn't imagine trying to move a whole farm that kind of distance..It's already bad enough trying to move a home 5 hours away without a moving company.

We love it out there. We try and go as often as we can.. Every other weekend during the warmer months. At least once a month during the winter. We take a week at a time every 4 months or so.. .

When we're out there, we can't seem to just sit and relax.. we're always finding something to get done... we really like stepping back afterwards and admiring...

I'm not thinking 50 is too old.. I'm just looking at it as I sure wish there was more time down the road. Wish I would have been in the position to do this 30 years ago.. I tried once about 20 years ago, but that whole ordeal was set to fail before we ever got married... I knew better, but dreams will make you take a lot of chances.. I like oh craps better than what if's.. .

__________________
Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

Semi, we have dropped it all and moved a number of times over the last 48 years, and I will drop just a few bits of advice about making a rural living on random subjects related to that.

We have always went for remote spots and often the folks around us were not exactly getting rich and were quite friendly when we came in, in hopes we might be bringing in some big bucks with us, so don't be surprised if the welcome cools when you start looking for a job.

Myself, I would never go looking for a job anywhere. First off, if you have one, your well-being is connected to keeping it, and that weakens your position in your community. You won't know who's feathers you are supposed to preen that might be related to your boss or who your boss's enemies are that you might enjoy shooting pool with and thereby losing favor.

I find it SO much better to make my living by selling our products online for the retail stuff and through once-monthly sales trips for wholesale customers. The New Mexico sales tax folks audited me a few years ago because they found it hard to believe I rarely if ever sell anything in my home state on a retail level, but it's true. I do not want to depend on locals for anything related to my living. Once you have to depend on them, they own a chunk of you that's hard to get back.

Often, though, rural areas are buying opportunities for things you can sell online or on occasional trips to the city or cities of your choice. Artisans in rural settings are often retailing their wares for what would be below-wholesale prices in the city. A good opportunity for a middle-man who respects their work and abilities and is willing to pay them for their work on the spot. While you are still urban, you might drop by some local shops that sell rural crafts and get a feel for what they buy and what they will pay.

if you wish to be an artisan yourself, you probably have a grand opportunity to do blacksmithing, since your chosen state has an abundance of the "right" kind of coal for the task, and probably also has a lot of scrap available for use. The tools of the trade are not horribly expensive, and while the learning curve to perfection is life-long, primitive blacksmithing is quite salable. It would build up those desk-atrophied mucles, too!

Speaking of coal, there used to be a guy who took a yearly trip out here that he financed by selling carved coal figures that he did at his home in WV the rest of the year.

The other thing that should be touched on is your idea about repairing small engines. I had sharpening and repair shops around Tucson for a long time, and I can tell you a couple of things about them.

Sharpening is more profitable than engine repair, if you know a couple of tricks, and they are not hard to learn. The only exception to that is that engine and equipment repair is VERY profitable if you know what you are doing and buy the equipment, repair and refurbish it, then sell it. MUCH better than repairing it for hire. Some folks have PILES of dead generators around they'd be happy to sell for peanuts.

Still not nearly as good as making stuff in a rural setting and marketing it online or selling it wholesale in the cities, though.

All purely my own opinions, and worth exactly what you paid for it, like all advice....Joe

Wow Joe.. I'd almost swear you know me..

Back in Illinois, I started doing functional art metal work.. things like tables and furniture and usable wall hangings like lamps and candles and such..

There wasn't much market for it there like I knew there was in DC< so that was part of the reason we wanted to move out here. Reality set in, and there just wasn't time to dedicate to it... Once I got done fighting traffic home, it was late, and the last thing I wanted to do was hit the workshop.

I've always said that in a past life I would have been a blacksmith. I do have a few tools.. but I've done what I can with torches and no forge.. I'd love to learn more... Funny, cause just earlier today I was thinking about blacksmithing and getting back into metal.

I had also taken up stained glass and was actually pretty good at it. The guy I was taking classes from said he'd never seen anyone figure it out and get so good so fast... I guess it came from a lot of years cutting glass in hardware stores I worked in, and doing a lot of soldering over the years..

We've talked about doing a lot of buying in WV and PA, and bringing it back to DC to sell. My wife also does a lot of selling of antiques on Etsy, and does pretty well with it.

We've got a lot of ideas.. it's just a matter of can we live on what we got long enough to get built up into making something profitable enough to support us..

I agree, moving into an area where everyone has lived there all their lives, and everyone is somehow related to each other sure makes it interesting in trying to fit in... Thankfully we're fairly well connected with a couple of the bigger clans in the area as to they don't have a problem sharing the intricacies of the area and people.

__________________
Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

Oh.. another idea I've had is trying to salvage old barns and building wood and building high end furniture out of that.... Not the little wine holders and such you normally see, but really nice heirloom tables and such..

__________________
Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

I salvaged the old boards from our kitchen addition and made some tables and decorative items (2 6' tall growth charts for our boys)...need more wood for tables...they do sell.
As for buying for resale, check local auctions (auctionzip dot com is a great site for what is coming up in your area code...got a lot of silver, tillers, tractors ( a small 3 cylinder Kubota compact went for $700 and the 6' Woods mower went for $5), night vision, fun stuff etc. again, won't make you rich, but it can be an addition to the egg money.
You'll make do just fine if your true persona is the same as you online persona...I don't think you would allow for a failure...and should one occur, I believe you would make better for it IMO.

Matt

__________________
Support your local Scouts!

simi-steading, here is a link where Scott Nearing talks about his approach to achieving a homesteading lifestyle. I believe you and anyone who reads this article will find inspiration and food for thought on making the transition.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/homes...z77mazbon.aspx

__________________

Simi, there is so much stuff out there to build, nobody could ever get to half of it. I saw a while back where some lady was buying up old framed mirrors from junk stores and painting them with chalkboard paint and turning them into antiqueish blackboards and had sold a couple hundred of them.

I just PMed you some info that might be usefull.

Building a forge, either gas or coal, is pretty easy stuff, and if you can get good coal easy and cheap, and awfull lot of folks have gone for years using a box of dirt with a hole in the middle for a coal forge, and either a hand crank blower or a fan with a baffle to control the airflow for draft. Careful, though, my first time out with a coal forge, I melted a railroad spike into a puddle. Coal hardly ever glows white, even when it is getting far to hot for the job at hand.

If you want a gas forge, you can build that, too. Here is Ron Reil's instructions on building his burners, and his burners are the standard of the industry and easy to make.

http://ronreil.abana.org/Forge1.shtml

My gas forge is built in an old propane tank, and about all I have bought for money is my 150# anvil. All my tongs I made myself, and I rarely meet a hammer at a junk sale that I do not bring home, so I guess I spend some money on them, too, but it really is a pretty cheap thing to get into compared to what it pays.

You might look around DC and find a few potentiol shops to sell to before you leave the city. If you can forge door hardware, it brings a fortune.....Joe

Thanks so much.. That looks like some great reading.. Done with the first two pages.. I'll get that finished.

__________________
Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

We're good Matt.. we'll make it. we both push each other.. but sometimes she wished for a cattle prod I'm sure.. LOL..

We're both auction fanatics. We miss hose once we moved here.. They pretty much only do tag sales. We've both done really well buying and reselling.

We picked up an old weather beaten kicked around piece of wood that had come off the top of a mirror or small dresser or something while at the farm and tossing out junk.

She took it home, washed it off and sold it on Etsy for $20 and shipping within just a couple days... "Structural Salvage" We see money where most see junk..

I've learned someone is always buying something. Just gotta package it right.. We've picked up small items and sold them for several hundred profit.. We look, we research.. we do well..

BTW, here's a mahogany mirror I made to match our furniture.. I got enough ability to waste a lot of time and make a few bucks if I can get it to a good market..

OH, it's all mortise and tenon and sliding dovetails... I'm not a pocket screw kinda builder.. The only screws or nails on it are for the hanger wire..

We'll make it, or at least having a blast trying!

__________________
Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

I like the idea about a gas forge Joe.. since the gas is free

I like working with pretty much any material I can get my hands on. I prefer metal though... I really like being able to mix glass metal and wood..

Thanks so much for all the info though. Lots of things to think about... At least we do know all the places around here to sell. We've sold at a couple flea markets around here too, and I' think some ideas would do well here. Just a drag to come back to DC.. LOL.. trying to get away.. BuT, it would be nice to visit a friend or two every now and then..

__________________
Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

Yep BTDT

Moved out here six years ago wife two young daughters and I. No job and poor health. Since the wife left the girls and I are still here. Sometimes its hard sometimes its not. My health has improved my girls are happy life is good. Our house still isn't finished and may never be. lol

Would I do it again you bet its a good life. We are happy none of us like it when we have to go back in to the city for whatever reason.

If you are within 20 minutes of a town. Here's a way you could set up your small engine shop. Offer pickup & delivery most people have no way to haul anyway. Get an account with RBI and Dixie Sales have your parts ups delivered twice a week for $10 on orders under $200 over $200 is free. You'll learn what things to keep on hand for minimal cash layout. That way you have no extra overhead and get to do something you like. Buy junk and build it thats where we earn a good bit of income. You would be amazed at how many 5-8 year old riding mowers you can buy for $50 ea. put $50 and time in and sell for $400+. Its not a killing but it is a living. I could do way more than I can find. We also get a lot of push mowers for free + $10 in parts and sell for $50+ Unless you like wasting your time though try and stay away from 2 stroke whenever you can.

About the only way you can loose is if you don't try. You will make it yes there are highs and lows but thats just life anywhere.

Larry

WE moved out here to the Country, on 13 acres of wooded hills, when I retired, 10 years ago. My Dear Wife is still working because she was too young to retire. She has a year and a half to go, before she will be Retiring. Her Passion is making Oil Paintings. And she does a few now, in her spare time. But when she Retires she'll devote a lot of her time to it. I support her work on them now, by doing most of the housework. And I'll continue to do it after she Retires from her job. It gives me something to do besides my several Hobbies. And oft times we work together on housework. It's more fun that way.

__________________
Be Intense, always. But always take the time to
Smell the Roses, give a Hug, Really Listen, or
Jump to Defend your Friends & What you Believe in.
'Til later, Have Fun,
Old John

I feel the same way.

I t is scary . My wife and I retired from the army so we had/have income. We bought the property before we retired and moved with no jobs lined up.

I did pick an area that I thought I had a good chance of getting job for my profession. It worked out well but it was take a job until a goo position opened up.

Let everyone know you are looking, take anything to start, get some local contacts/references. In my case they had no interest in calling/writing emailing out of state to check a reference. Who cares about a reference from a Doctor, Professor , research scientist or a General Officer who is out of state or working over seas they were happy with the recommendation of the school maintenance man/ volunteer Fire Captain. I found out later they never checked any other references.

__________________
Health Care is vital to all of us some of the time but Public Health is vital to all of us all of the time. C. Everett Koop US Surgean General 1981-1989.

There's a several craft outlets in WV. Poplar Forest is located in Sutton.

http://www.poplarforestwv.com/

There's also a location (No website) in Weston at the Appalachian Glass Farmer's Market. The big one is Tammarack near Beckley.

http://www.tamarackwv.com/

There are others.

Thanks Darren. I knew about the Glass place.. didn't know they had spaces though.. .

I kinda doubt though there'd be much market for much profit in that area.. Like you were saying, I think it's probably better buying out there than selling...

__________________
Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

Those are outlets whera you can sell without being present. All of them rely on visitors. Yo are correct about the area being a place to buy, but not to sell except when it involves tourists.

The auctions used to draw the Amish from PA. The local auction houses have closed. There used to be three in the area. One is now the pawn shop you know about. One was demolished. One was sold to the insurance company.

There's an idea.. start me a new auction place.. .I love collecting junk...

I think what's really happen is we'll get out there.. try and get settled a little, then figure it out as we go along... Who knows, maybe I'll find gold on the land..

__________________
Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

Prioritize, prioritize and prioritize. In your location: 4x4, load hauler with towing capability. If you want gold you should have gone to the mountains in Virginia. Wrong side of the hill here.