If you wanted to live rural in Kentucky where would you live and how would you live? (Lexington: student loans, motel)

[tamaralj]

Been wondering about this one. I live in a tiny town in a semi small county, but right off the major highway, and 30 miles from a very large city. However, our dream has been to live rural, and do some farming of sorts (have to learn!) and homesteading, by growing our food and such. Mind you, this has been a dream, and whether I'm living in reality or not remains to be seen (according to my DH). I have never lived totally rural. I lived in the Matanuska Valley in Alaska, but I lived in Palmer which is a small town. We had to drive to Anchorage for major shopping. Here in Kentucky I lived in a larger area in Northern KY, then moved semi country where I am now. Okay, so given that. The "dream" is, that in a few years we would move more rural. So I am wondering from the fine folks I have met on here, what are your thoughts about living rural (meaning out in the country, but maybe within an hour or so of "somewhere" big), and where would you live? We are leaning towards the western country of Kentucky. The whole area seems more rural even with Paducah being near by. It's 2 hours from St. Louis to the north and I believe about the same distance to Nashville to the south. Does anyone here live this way now, and farm or homestead? Would love some advice on how the living is. I just long to live natural, away from the rat race.

[EricOldTime]

Bullit County Kentucky south of Louisville.

[censusdata]

I would like to live in the country but within a reasonable distance to a good hospital and a lot of decent jobs. I lived in a very rural area when I was a young boy (age 5 to 11) and loved it. I had a 70 acre play ground on land my mom's parent's owned. On our little family road there were an uncle and aunt with their families and grandparents house in between. Always had cousins to play with, I'd make my own trails in the woods. It was a great place to be a kid. But as a 31 year old the job market down there is just not something I could deal with. Unless you're a teacher or elected official you'd make minimum wage. Most people live off "the check" or they worked somewhere else in their prime years and moved back after retirement. My family for generations would spend their working years in the lumber yards in Cincinnati's Mill Creek industrial valley but always return home. They made more money up there but never felt it was home. G Grandparents actually owned a motel nearby that catered to displaced KY workers.

I'd actually like to eventually build a cabin somewhere in the country but closer to Louisville and Lexington. Most of my family and friends live up this way, I'd rather by 45 minutes away instead of 2.5 hours away. The cheapest land near both cities would be in the hills north of Frankfort, maybe in Henry Co? I'm into the whole sustainability / green living thing and would like to have a composting toilet, make my own heat from wood and bio mass, etc. I've already grown tired of slaving away at a desk to barely make enough money to pay my student loans off while the dude running my company lives in a $700k house and screws his workers out of every penny. If I didn't have the loan debt I'd already be pursing my cabin dream lol

[CHAIN5]

I wouldn't want to live too far from a decent hospital, and right now we have to be near to decent schools. However, I've wondered if getting an EMT certification (or something similar) would put my mind at ease about being a bit further from the hospital.

My dream is to live off grid in a straw bale house with 5 - 20 acres of property. This may be fanciful thinking on my part, but dreaming about it can be fun .

As for jobs, there are companies that don't require much more than a good internet connection. My husband works at home most of the time.

[kygman]

Tamara, I'd check down around the lakes, in Trigg County. Calloway and Marshall County got busy and have a lot of residential areas and resorts in the country towards the lakes. There's several places between Cadiz and Rockcastle, then on in the south part of the county. My stepdaughter and family have 14 acres on a road about 10 miles south of Cadiz. One of the former owners left a lot of their home made jams, jellies and wines behind in the out buildings. Son-in-law threw them all away but they have plenty. They had blackberry bushes growing on the side part of their land that had blackberries the size of your thumb. There are also apple, pear, and plum trees on their land. Their maybe 25 miles from Hopkinsville, for hospital and shopping. Son-in-law is in the Army, stationed at Ft. Campbell. As the crow flies, he's 10 miles from work, but 20 by road. Cadiz is about 5 miles from I-24 which will take you to Paducah or Clarksville and Nashville. Up 24 about 20 miles you can take the W.Ky. Parkway to Princeton.

[EricOldTime]

Originally Posted by censusdata

I would like to live in the country but within a reasonable distance to a good hospital and a lot of decent jobs. I lived in a very rural area when I was a young boy (age 5 to 11) and loved it. I had a 70 acre play ground on land my mom's parent's owned. On our little family road there were an uncle and aunt with their families and grandparents house in between. Always had cousins to play with, I'd make my own trails in the woods. It was a great place to be a kid. But as a 31 year old the job market down there is just not something I could deal with. Unless you're a teacher or elected official you'd make minimum wage. Most people live off "the check" or they worked somewhere else in their prime years and moved back after retirement. My family for generations would spend their working years in the lumber yards in Cincinnati's Mill Creek industrial valley but always return home. They made more money up there but never felt it was home. G Grandparents actually owned a motel nearby that catered to displaced KY workers.

I'd actually like to eventually build a cabin somewhere in the country but closer to Louisville and Lexington. Most of my family and friends live up this way, I'd rather by 45 minutes away instead of 2.5 hours away. The cheapest land near both cities would be in the hills north of Frankfort, maybe in Henry Co? I'm into the whole sustainability / green living thing and would like to have a composting toilet, make my own heat from wood and bio mass, etc. I've already grown tired of slaving away at a desk to barely make enough money to pay my student loans off while the dude running my company lives in a $700k house and screws his workers out of every penny. If I didn't have the loan debt I'd already be pursing my cabin dream lol

Census, you need to check out the southern part of Owen county up there. That place is back in the hills but your not far from Frankfort, Lexington or Cinnci for that matter. Theres some nice places up there I think youd like.

To the OP - truth be known theres alot of parts of Ky that would fit exactly what your looking for to be honest.

[kygman]

And here's a suggestion for your starter home.
How to Build a Tiny Home - Green Homes - MOTHER EARTH NEWS

There is a show on FYI Network, "Tiny House Nation" where they make people some awesome looking miniature homes that families live in.

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by EricOldTime

Census, you need to check out the southern part of Owen county up there. That place is back in the hills but your not far from Frankfort, Lexington or Cinnci for that matter. Theres some nice places up there I think youd like.

To the OP - truth be known theres alot of parts of Ky that would fit exactly what your looking for to be honest.

I'm very familiar with Owen Co because one of my aunts married a man from there and stayed up there. Been up there on Christmas break a few times. I want to stay out of there to keep from rubbing elbows with people in my family lol. That's how I'm familiar with the Lockport area of Henry Co. I've seen "hunting lots" out there for $10k and under that are 5 to 10 acres.

There are many great rural areas in KY. I would gravitate towards ones I'm more familiar with. My favorite part of rural KY is the SW tip of Jessamine Co into Mercer Co near Shakertown. Land out there is just spectacular and rolling hills and stone fences, but there's regular houses for folks that don't own horse farms. Wilmore is a great small town (it has a small college) that is only 5 miles from all the shopping in Nicholasville and 15 miles from the main parts of Lexington.

Close to Louisville I really like the hills in NW Bullitt Co near Jefferson Memorial Forest because it looks just like where I lived as a kid and I also like Shelby and Henry counties. If my wife didn't work downtown and have family in S IN I would have already moved to Shelbyville since it's close to my job in Jtown.

But really anywhere in rural KY would fit the bill as long as it's far from the surface mining sites in Eastern KY. I've seen FB pics of people's sink water and stories of rocks from blasts flying through windows (sometimes killing people). No thanks!

[tamaralj]

It is great to dream, and then finding a way to make it a reality. Would have to be affordable land for sure. Anywhere near the L cities Louisville and Lexington would be more expensive.

I mean I don't think I could live a truly primitive lifestyle, as in no running water, or hauling water, and outhouse, and no electricity. For a cabin on the weekends it would be okay like camping out with shelter. Done that a lot and love it. I guess I see more of a house on some land. Where I could have the animals and gardens and space. But close enough to drive to things of need. So semi homestead, self sufficient type living. Which seems reasonable.

But I do love small/rural town living. Don't like the big cities, or crowded areas, and even driving into Northern KY bothers me sometimes. Now, the traffic is awful, and it will be through Christmas season. There are places in my county where you can get off the main road, and feel like you are in the middle of no where. And there are advantages and disadvantages to that! Some of the middle of no where places are scary places that you don't want to be there. (Children of the Corn) Some are the best kept secrets and wonderful. Just have to look. Kentucky does have a lot of opportunity in that regard.

[tamaralj]

Originally Posted by kygman

And here's a suggestion for your starter home.
How to Build a Tiny Home - Green Homes - MOTHER EARTH NEWS

There is a show on FYI Network, "Tiny House Nation" where they make people some awesome looking miniature homes that families live in.

That would be pretty cool as a cabin!