Ready to try rural life; where should we go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you thought about how far you'll have to drive every day for kids activities/sports/errands/groceries?

Our children (5 and 8) had a hard time adjusting to rural living after living in the close in metro suburbs. They were used to being very close to other children outside of school (assuming you aren't home-schooling) at the playground/waiting at the bus stop/riding their bikes in the neighborhood... Being isolated on 10+ acres can be a difficult adjustment for children.

[Anonymous]

I'm the Frederick poster from earlier in the thread - OP, if you are just wanting chickens and a garden, you will only need 1-2 acres for that. But - make sure you don't buy/rent in a subdivision with an HOA because most HOAs have restrictions on livestock and poultry.

The formula for how much land you need for livestock is 2 acres for every 1000 lbs of animal. So - one cow/horse that weighs 1000 lbs, 5 goats @ 1000 lbs, or 200 chickens that weigh 1000 lbs equals 2 acres. Most breeds of chickens lay an egg a day during the warm months, some breeds will give you 2/day, so have a plan with what you want to do with all those eggs. My mother used to make egg noodles and I would walk into the kitchen and almost hang myself on strands of pasta draped all over the damn place. DH and I give our extras to coworkers, because pasta making is too much work for me right now.

[Anonymous]

I have liberal friends in Easton MD (not super rural, but small town), Point of Rocks (probably the fewest other liberals nearby), Frostburg (schools are crap; they use parochial), and Harrisonburg VA (this would be my choice). You could also look near Ellicott City--Howard County schools are great and you'd be close to Baltimore and DC if you did want to visit a city or need medical care. I go through Middletown MD sometimes on the way to camping and visiting family, and always think it is SO CUTE.

I agree with the PPs that you need to start small, think about what you want to do with the land, and not expect any return on investment. Also note that opioid addiction is a huge issue in many of these counties--are you prepared for needles in the park, people OD'ing in the bathrooms of libraries, etc.?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you want to do anything with the land (grow vegetables, raise chickens, etc), or do you just want to be on a big lot? Do you need to be close to medical specialists?

With only 2 years before we likely head overseas again, we can't do much. I'd love a garden and some chickens but we can't heavily invest ourselves. No need to be close to specialists, just don't want to be too far from emergency services in case something unexpected happens. Thank you for your help and good questions!

So what are you going to do when you go back overseas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP.

We live on 5 acres in Clifton, VA. This is in Fairfax County, so it's faux country that is still pretty liberal. All the lots are 5 acres or more. It caters to the equestrian set, so most homes are closer to the $1 million mark, but there are smaller houses that come up occasionally in your price range. I can commute to L'Enfant Plaza or Union Station in an hour on the VRE train.

Echoing what the other PP said, if you haven't worked land before, 20 acres is A LOT. We have 5 acres with a horse barn, chickens, 2 dogs, and a barn cat. Taking care of this property is very rewarding personally, but it's like a second job.

That's a farm-ette.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Also note that opioid addiction is a huge issue in many of these counties--are you prepared for needles in the park, people OD'ing in the bathrooms of libraries, etc.?

Yes, the rural town playgrounds and libraries are littered with drug needles and people are OD'ing everywhere. love this forum...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Also note that opioid addiction is a huge issue in many of these counties--are you prepared for needles in the park, people OD'ing in the bathrooms of libraries, etc.?

Yes, the rural town playgrounds and libraries are littered with drug needles and people are OD'ing everywhere. love this forum...

+2



Just goes to show that urban does not necessarily =/= informed (at all).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Also note that opioid addiction is a huge issue in many of these counties--are you prepared for needles in the park, people OD'ing in the bathrooms of libraries, etc.?

Yes, the rural town playgrounds and libraries are littered with drug needles and people are OD'ing everywhere. love this forum...

+2



Just goes to show that urban does not necessarily =/= informed (at all).

Double negative, baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Also note that opioid addiction is a huge issue in many of these counties--are you prepared for needles in the park, people OD'ing in the bathrooms of libraries, etc.?

Yes, the rural town playgrounds and libraries are littered with drug needles and people are OD'ing everywhere. love this forum...

Sure, make fun of it. But in Carroll, Harford, and Anne Arundel Counties, the librarians have been trained to administer Narcan after people OD'd at libraries there: http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-md-library-opioid-resources-0809-story.html. At the Westminster branch of the Carroll County library, the librarians administered it to one person in the library and two people in the cemetery behind the library from December to August: http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/local/cc-library-opioid-resources-20170804-story.html

Frederick County bought a billboard showing how many overdoses there are, and their law enforcement had to step up the protective gear they wear on calls to protect against fentanyl exposure. https ://wamu.org/story/17/06/01/spike-deadly-synthetic-opioids-rock-western-maryland/. The local newspaper has a "heroin's toll" page on its website: https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/continuing_coverage/heroin/

And Frederick doesn't have it the worst. In the county with Martinsburg WV (end of the MARC line), the opioid death rate in 2015 was 42 out of every 100,000 people. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/03/upshot/opioid-drug-overdose-epidemic.html It didn't get better last year or this year.

These are the parents of your kid's future classmates. They're shopping at the same grocery store you will. If you go to the library you might see someone collapse and be given a shot of narcan by the librarian. The local governments are having to devote an enormous amount of resources to handling this crisis and that affects the lives of everyone living there. It doesn't mean everyone should avoid living there (and I live in a city that certainly has its own share of issues!), but it's worth knowing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP.

We live on 5 acres in Clifton, VA. This is in Fairfax County, so it's faux country that is still pretty liberal. All the lots are 5 acres or more. It caters to the equestrian set, so most homes are closer to the $1 million mark, but there are smaller houses that come up occasionally in your price range. I can commute to L'Enfant Plaza or Union Station in an hour on the VRE train.

Echoing what the other PP said, if you haven't worked land before, 20 acres is A LOT. We have 5 acres with a horse barn, chickens, 2 dogs, and a barn cat. Taking care of this property is very rewarding personally, but it's like a second job.

That's a farm-ette.

Call it whatever you like. My point was that 5 acres is enough if you want to play at the farm lifestyle without it being overly onerous.

[Anonymous]

The post below is great, take heed.

We have 50 acres in Nokesville (near the Broad Run VRE stop). I commute to DC 3-4 days a week by train. Works great.

Politics vis a vis neighbors can be difficult, because western PWC is pretty red, but social media has allowed us to connect with all the centrists through progressives in the area. And we flipped most of the county in the last election.

There are lots of 10 acre lot size (the minimum) developments in the PWC rural crescent. I think 600K is the lower end for new homes but older ones, there are plenty in that range.

The area is rapidly turning into exurbs, but due to the minimum lot size will always have some rural character and we're still very near all the services we need. I think it's a great compromise.

Good luck, OP.

Anonymous wrote:We have 20 acres in rural western Frederick county (close to the Point of Rocks MARC area). DH and I grew up on very big family farms (5K Acres) on the great plains, so knew what we were getting into when we bought our place. I think there are a lot of things you need to think hard about before you go all "Green Acres," especially if you have never, ever lived rurally before.

We are liberals and DH is retired military, (so I think we may have similar backgrounds as far as moving around) - but in our experience here - politics are not talked about, at least in depth, and DH and I usually avoid it if it does come up in conversations. I know in DC, politics are a fact of life, but in the world outside the beltway, people have other things to think and talk about.

We are active in the community, on some of the local town civic associations, and other social events here. People are friendly, and neighbors help neighbors (so liberal in practice, but vote conservative, whatever). We needed help putting new stall in our barn before winter, and two neighbors showed up with a Bobcat loader last Wednesday night to help DH get it together so one of our mares and her new foal are all set for the winter. That's just how farm life is.

If this is just a "temporary" next stop for you before moving again, I think you need to proceed with extreme caution here. These properties are hard to sell because people aren't really looking to buy them. They are also hard to find, we looked for over two years before finding the property we bought and the house needs a lot of updating - but we were looking for useable farm and pasture land to keep horses, cattle, beekeeping, poultry, and a large garden and orchard. Wooded land is easy to find here - good grazing land for livestock and crop farming is really hard to find here.

Farms are a lot of work. I am up at 4am most mornings making sure animals are checked, fed and watered before I log in for work (I telework most days, take the MARC one day a week) - and animals don't care if it's raining, snowing, cold, or hot, they just know they are hungry and where the heck is the lady with that hay??? After I log off for the day, I am on a horse, or cleaning stalls, feeding, checking fences, meeting with our veterinarian, or any other odds and ends that need done around here - and there is always something, but I LOVE living this way. If you don't love it, don't do it.

Do you have the expendable cash for equipment? A hobby tractor for 20 acres, is a NEED, not a want, costs upwards of 20K and then factor in maintenance and the attachments like a front-end loader, mower deck, back hoe, and possibly a baler. You will not have city service to plow your drive - you will need a tractor to do this for you. If your DH is in the city during the week and a storm hits - are you capable of doing this by yourself??? You will also probably want a Gator (a golf cart on steroids) to get around the place, move hay, yard implements, various other equipment instead of using your car. If you want outbuildings (barn, quonset for tractor/gator), factor that in, they aren't cheap either.

Are you comfortable having a rifle or shotgun in your house and using it? You will need it - we have plenty of critters that are known for killing chickens. We have a "shoot on sight" policy for red foxes and woodchucks out here. They cause too much property destruction to feel warm and fuzzy about them.

If the answer to any of those questions above is "No" then you need to slow the heck down and really think this through. I'm not saying don't do it, but you should go into this lifestyle with your eyes (and your pocketbook) very wide open.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP. Former DC person here. We moved to Lake Linganore (in New Market) and LOVE it. Taking the kids to the lake in the summer, the hiking trails and it's close to Frederick. It's a private lake only for the folks that live here. For less than 500k, you can build new! Lots of good restaurants. Check it out! www.lakelinganore.org

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, we are a family formerly based in DC (proper) who joined the Foreign Service and have now lived overseas for 6 years. We are coming back for 2 years and have decided to have an adventure and try living on some land.

Anywhere in VA or MD is fine as long as it's near a Marc line so spouse can commute in on Mondays and come home Fridays. Two or even 3 hours out is fine.

Schools are middle and elementary - we just need good schools with enthusiastic teachers who give a crap about the kids.

We are fairly liberal and would love to find a community that isn't too conservative.

Price up to $600K but preferably lower! Somewhere between 5 and 20 acres.

Any thoughts based on those factors?

The places I've found mentioned so far are New Windsor/New Market/Frederick in Maryland (I was in Frederick this summer and it was adorable) and also Warrentown / Winchester VA and Shephardstown WV.

Thank you!

I thought liberals were suppose to be open-minded to those who are different.... no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I thought liberals were suppose to be open-minded to those who are different.... no?

Don't be obtuse. Everyone would like someone similar to relate to around them, even if they value diversity.

It's hard to be a party of one.

[Anonymous]

So you're looking for like-minded insufferable people? Yeah Easton MD or anywhere where there is "horse farming" is probably a good bet.