What's it like living out in the wilderness/wooded areas or out in the country (few neighbours)

I haven’t done it often – not often enough – but the times that I have, I’ve enjoyed it a lot.

It’s great. For one thing, you don’t have to run back to the house just to pee.

or poop

^ He’s right!

I like that it is quiet – except for occasional gunshots, chainsaws, wood splitters, and snow mobiles.
It is also incredibly safe. There is no need to lock your doors.
The neighbors we do have, we know very well and take care of each other like family.
The critters are always interesting with may photo-ops. It’s wonderful.

There is a downside. Taking care of land and property is work. Some people can look out the window and see deer. I look out and see deer in front of a couple of trees that are leaning dangerously over a pile of wood I need to split. I’ll get to it when the snow melts.

I love how quiet it is. There are no yelling neighbors, loud cars or barking dogs to bother us. We’ve never had a solicitor at the door, just an occasional stranded driver needing shade under our sycamore or a telephone to call a tow truck. If you have kids you get to schedule play dates with the kids you like. You aren’t stuck with the bratty kids that are on your street. I could never live in a city again. ever

The views and the wildlife are a major plus too.

I could never live in a city again. ever.

The views and the wildlife are a major plus too.

Peaceful, but @LuckyGuy is right about the hassles like mowing 5 acres. Still, nnothing like pulling into your driveway and having 2–3 dozen turkeys take flight (or as close to it as turkeys get)

I used to love cutting the grass. Very therapeutic and plenty of time to enjoy a good cigar without feeling rushed. I could actually see the stars at night and remember being really disappointed with the Comet Kihoutek from our telescope. I got my first deer from the bathroom window. I loved watching storms from the front porch.

Winter was kind of a bummer sometimes. We got snowed in and the National Guard evacuated us to the High school once. When the power was out, we had no water nor heat, save from the wood stove. But we still loved the place. If by some miracle I got healthy again, I would get out of the city as fast as I could sign the papers.

Heaven. Deer wander around and rabbits. It’s so quiet. I loved it. I used to live right out on the end of this.

We had a unique, perfect situation. We actually only owned 2 acres . But 99% of that acreage was covered with trees , fallen branches, stones and newly growing greenery. We had no front yard because where it normally would be there was a huge driveway. On one side of the driveway was the house and front door; the other side was one row of shrubs . Next to the shrubs had a 5 foot wide strip of stones they had brought in. The only part that had to be mowed was the backyard. Behind the backyard the land sloped downward and that, too was covered with young pine trees and pine needles with some tall hardwoods. You could not see one single house from any of the 4 sides of the property. Why? The land around it and all up the street was unbuildable; it was too steep to build on and no For Salel signs; just trees.. The house sat on top of a very steep hill and had a finished basement with a door leading directly to the backyard . We lived there for nine years and, if my s/o had not gotten sick, we’d still be there. It was hard to sell; I could not believe it. Each day of the fall and winter you could see deer and , one Christmas, one deer was up at the driveway chomping on a shrub. If I were not living here to be near my family I’d go back there in a second. It was also at the end of a cul de sac but, as I said, there were no other houses anywhere around. My Dream House=gone forever. The downside? Mice and rats. They never got inside the house but they got into the engine compartments of our cars and RV. Mice took acorns and made nests in those places and cost a lot of money in repairs from them chewing the wires. One other thing I’m still holding a grudge about: I walked out the front door once and a wasp flew from a flowering shrub across the driveway fifteen feet away and stung my arm. Still, if you saw the house I bet you’d want it. LOL

@marinelife That does look like heaven. How beautiful!

I never did understand why people enjoyed living in cities. It’s so much nicer out in the middle of nowhere for all the reasons illustrated above.

I have crowed so often about the joy and peace that living on my twenty acres accord me that I won’t repeat myself (or share even more photos).

In addition, there is the pleasure and safety of small town life combined with an unusual amount of culture, particularly during the summer months.

The only natural problem is the Lyme tick. Avoiding him does take some vigilance but is doable (As is the poison ivy.)

As an older woman who lives alone, I am grateful to have family and several close friends nearby. We rely on each other for support and succor in times of crisis.

And I have found reliable people to mow, brush hog, plow, do the plumbing and electricity, and a Jack-of-all-trades for home and garden maintenance, problems and capital improvement.

@jerv: Your turkeys can fly? I’ll have to send a memo to mine, whose preferred form of transport is lumbering.

I’m here to tell you that turkeys can fly fine. Although my current home is not in the country, I had a large, undeveloped lot next door for several years after I moved into my current home, and turkeys and deer lived there. The turkeys used to fly up into the trees at the back end of my property from time to time and roost there. I’d see them out there about 10–20’ off the ground all the time. While I didn’t see them fly up there all the time, I’m all but certain that they didn’t climb those trees.

I love being up North. I love nature, tall trees and being able to be outside and do as I please. Privacy, really.

I enjoy interacting with people. Say, for a job or socializing. But, I when I am at home, I want to be left alone. I want to be able to walk around wearing whatever. I want space.

I want this to be me.

Every time we go up to our house up North, we see deer, wild turkeys, rabbits and hares, and other wildlife. When it snows, I take my grandson outside to look at the tracks. We often see coyote sign. I heard something on my roof, but wouldn’t go outside to see what it was. My neighbor, who is a retired forest ranger, says it was probably a mountain lion.
My neighbor told me he had a wolf on his back deck around Christmas. He has also mentioned bears in my driveway.
So, the wildlife is cool.
I do miss easy access to fast food, movie theaters, and such. It’s 25 minutes downhill to reach civilization.

It’s awesome, but only if you like peace and quiet, safety, zero crime, and sleeping with your doors and windows open all night in the summer and the freedom to keep farm animals like chickens, geese and horses and goats etc.
Drawbacks are more driving to get to the hub of things, few local jobs and high propane bills in the winter.
I have been on property forever up here in the Sierra foothills, but sadly, I may be seriously downsizing again soon and going to a neighboring small community. ;-(

I can’t wait to build on our 5 acres. The other day we went to visit and a crane and a duck were in the pond. They left when we pulled up tho. Have yet to see any deer, but lots of tracks! Everybody is just going to have to get used to us when we move in. (I can hear the animals going “Well, there goes the neighborhood!”)

@Coloma :(

@gailcalled They usually don’t get far before tiring out and crashing back to the ground.

@Coloma One thing I don’t miss is the 20-minute drive to the supermarket. Forget eggs? Tough!

I think @LuckyGuy and I must live in nearly identical places – because what he wrote describes my home perfectly. (Occasional gun shots and snowmobiles and all.)

Here’s my pros / cons:

Pros:
For much of the year I can sleep with my windows open and get lovely breezes and hear only the croaking of frogs or buzz of insects at night.

I love looking out my window and seeing deer, coyote and other wildlife (we even had a small black bear a couple of years ago).

I love that the kids can catch turtles, frogs and can play outdoors and roam around in the woods behind our house.

We have space to stretch out and to store stuff in our extra garage for our family members. We have extra stuff like a boat, a generator, my FIL’s project car and up till recently my BIL’s snowmobile.

Same thing with the garden – we have extra space to grow whatever we want. Some raised beds, some tended brick edged bits and some wide open spots. We have a sprinkler system to water them-and because we have well water we’re never limited in watering. (No watering bans even in drought. The homes in the nearby ‘burbs may be limited to watering only odd/even days to conserve water—but we remain green & lush because we can water as much as we want from our own well.)

Cons:
– Well water means if that if something goes wrong..it’s our problem to fix it. Power goes out? Can’t flush the toilets or get water..unless we hook up the generator.

- Beautiful wooded lot also means worrying about whether that big ‘ol birch is going to come down on the house in the next storm with strong winds. And then my husband climbing up a ladder with a chain saw to trim limbs and scare the crap out of me..

- Being out in the country a bit does mean a couple of times we’ve had to plow ourselves out after a heavy snow. They’ll get to us eventually—but I can remember at least once that my husband had to plow me out (he has an ancient pickup with a snowplow on the front) to the main road so I could get to the airport to catch a flight.

- I grew up in the city. I was able to walk or ride my bike to a book store, bank, cafes, little grocery & library. I kind of liked being able to walk to stuff…so I miss that convenience. Where I grew up we had nearly 2 acres on the edge of a ravine in the heart of a city—so it was truly a best of both worlds unique spot…next to impossible to recreate that…

@geeky_mama Are we neighbors? You mentioned the garden, storage, well water, generator and storage for project cars. Yep. That’s my house.

@jerv, @gailcalled I have had turkeys scare me half to death! I’ll be just walking peacefully in the woods, minding my own business when suddenly, Whoosh!, they take off with an unbelievable crashing sound a bit like a helicopter. Wow!

@filmfann The coyote in the area do give me the creeps. They howl when they take down a deer. And if they can out maneuver a deer, they sure as heck can take me. That is another reason I carry a handgun when I am alone out there.

I grew up out in the boonies, and when I was old enough I did appreciate the beauty and calm and peacefulness. However when I was little it scared the shit out of me, I was constantly convinced I was going to be murdered.

@LuckyGuy When my grandson heard a coyote howl a few months back, he was sure there were werewolves in the area. I had to convince him otherwise before he would go back outside.

My small town in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis is quickly becoming another suburb. It’s really depressing.

@filmfann We have a weekend party here every Sept. with campfires and tents and RVs. It is fun. Last year we were sitting by the fire talking and drinking wine into the wee hours when the coyote pack suddenly started howling – they probably took down a deer. Some of my guests were really shaken up by the noise. They stayed close to the fire. The guy sleeping in the tent decided he didn’t want to stay out there and stayed in one of the RVs. Funny.

@LuckyGuy Hilarious, but…so unlikely for a Coyote to ever attempt to attack an adult human.
A very small child perhaps, but Coyotes are really very shy and wary creatures and my only experience of getting really close to one was when a 3 legged guy that roamed my mountain some years ago tried to drag off my 26 lb. Embden goose.
He snatched her by the neck in the yard at 5 o’ clock in the afternoon, right under my nose, when I was out washing my car and let the geese out to wander around.
He was dragging her down the hill by her neck but she sat down and was dead weight no pun intended and created extra drag in the deep pine needles.

I literally was standing over him hitting him with a stick and he still wouldn’t let go for about 20 seconds!
My goose survived but I couldn’t believe this guys tenacity. haha
Still….sure they will go for small pets and livestock but the odds of a Coyote attacking a human, unless rabid, is about the same as a mountain lion. Very, very, rare.

@Coloma I’m not really worried. It’s just scary to newcomers. I find their reaction hilarious.
When I am by myself out there I like to have the .380 in my pocket. I feel more comfortable knowing that I could fight back, or at least make a deafening noise, if I need to.

@LuckyGuy Yes, mostly the noise factor. I called off a Coyote by yelling when it was chasing my cat across the field as she ran for the deck a few years ago. I just yelled NOOOO! really loud and it veered off back into the woods. She actually had a fang scrape on her hip, he was inches away from getting her! I think it’s hilarious too, this is why people need to be really educated about wildlife habits in their areas so they do not freak out and want to kill everything they see wandering by.

I decided a long time ago I would never report a cougar sighting in my neighborhood, people flip out. Unless the cat was actually stalking someones livestock or small kids were in the area. Many of them are just passing through like the black bears, traversing part of their huge territories which can be hundreds of sq. miles. :-)

Y’all convinced me to move up North. There! Done deal! :)

@Mama_Cakes I am so happy for you! You will love it!