Husband Wants To Move To The Country

[Anonymous]

This is my husband's dream, too, and we live it in part--in that we have a second home in the country (on three acres). What's good about it: I love being out of the city in the summer, it's really nice to spend a lot of time outdoors and live at a slower pace for some of the year, and we can take interesting day trips from them that we wouldn't be able to do from DC. What I don't love: as others have noted, taking care of 3 acres and hobby gardening is a lot of work. Yes, it's satisfying to eat food you've grown, but it's definitely easier to just go to a farm market and buy what you want. I find it very hard to find friends/community in a rural setting, where I must drive to everything, there are no good restaurants, bookstores, coffee shops, never mind the readings, lectures and music I'm used to here. (Covid aside.) My husband would love to live there full time, but I'm ready to come back after two months, so I guess we're lucky we can manage both and also that we don't mind spending time apart once in a while. Definitely try before you commit, OP.

[Anonymous]

Was totally baffled by the Peaches references and looked it up: Now I remember! The music video has a strange ending, but I loved reliving the song. Thanks PPs!

[Anonymous]

Is your husband planning to hire a farm worker? I have an intensely planted 0.3 acre yard and it takes a lot of work to keep everything in good shape.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He doesn’t want to become a farmer and own animals or anything. He is talking about growing some of our food like produce and possibly getting chickens ( for eggs). He is fine with not getting chickens, but with the cost of living and inflation, he thinks it would be cool to be able to grow our own food. It wouldn’t be enough to fully live off, but we would be able to save money and grow our own food that we know is healthy.

He is not talking about living in a super rural area either. Most of the suburbs we looked at don’t offer more than .25 acres of land. He thinks moving to a place a little more rural but by the city or suburbs would be cool.

We are not wealthy but we make good money and he won’t quit his job. He works from hone and can work from anywhere most of the time.

I have friends who actually did this. They are both brilliant, high-functioning Ivy Leaguers and they are very happy. They work remotely but also have chickens, a big piece of rural land, tractors, etc. They live in Hopewell, NJ -- check it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Watch the old Chevy Chase movie "Funny Farm" tonight . It's how I see most of this stuff ends up. lol

We watched this recently with our sons. Very cute movie. And, yeah, city folk that really don't have what it takes for country life at first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2-3 acres isn't that crazy - you can find it in a suburb.

LOL not in Washington DC!

Sure you can. Sleepy Hollow area of Falls Church, and many towns in PG County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2-3 acres isn't that crazy - you can find it in a suburb.

LOL not in Washington DC!

Sure you can. Sleepy Hollow area of Falls Church, and many towns in PG County.

Great Falls, Oakton, Fairfax Station, Reston -- you can easily find lots that large.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in CT on 2 acres about 1.5 hour away from nyc - it’s doable but …why spend months growing something and dealing with bugs when you can just get it for .50 cents at the store lol

.50 cents? Most produce these days cost way more than that. Organic costs even more than that. Most conventional vegetables these days coat at least $1. That can add up if you eat a ton of produce for a family of 4. Inflation prices are only getting worse. People are barely going to be able to afford even things like cucumbers.

Fine I used the wrong hyperbole number here but seriously have you tried growing anything? I did some tomatoes in our “garden” and green onions and I have a lot of money spent and time to show for it but no edible tomatoes or onions lol. You have to pay a lot of money to fence in for animals grow seeds milt weed soil tools etc. I don’t think people that want to do this realize you don’t just plant a seed and have a yummy cucumber. Ill pay my 5$ for a cucumber if I didn’t have to deal with growing it. What’s a banana and what could it cost? 10$ haha (had to throw that reference in)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in CT on 2 acres about 1.5 hour away from nyc - it’s doable but …why spend months growing something and dealing with bugs when you can just get it for .50 cents at the store lol

.50 cents? Most produce these days cost way more than that. Organic costs even more than that. Most conventional vegetables these days coat at least $1. That can add up if you eat a ton of produce for a family of 4. Inflation prices are only getting worse. People are barely going to be able to afford even things like cucumbers.

Think of tomatoes. I definitely know people who spend a LOT of money trying to grow their own. Buying plants and pots and soil and then trying to keep squirrels and deer out. And they get maybe 5 a summer. The cost is actually WAY more than buying it at a farmer's market.

And I’m the CT PP yes! I can tell this person talking about inflation and cucumbers has never actually tried to grow something and realize how expensive and time consuming it is. An amateur grown tomato is MUCH more expensive that a hyper inflation tomato.