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Dairy farms in New England are in danger of going under because milk prices are too low. Still, there's much less reliance on illegal Mexicans for laborers than in other areas, and farms that don't solely rely on milk are getting by albeit with difficulty and do hire temporary workers as needed (I know one guy, who I worked for this Spring in fact, for instance, who'd have gone under if he didn't make so much from his large sugaring operation this spring, and he's hoping the apples provide some good money this fall, they usually do, these two things are keeping him in the black, barely, but otherwise he'd be in the red with his cows, he also grows most of his own feed and that has helped a bit, he has no debt and is using older equipment)...I know some farmers have turned to the illegals here in VT, I don't support them, and spend my money with the ones who hire the locals who badly need the jobs...the illegals don't find themselves very welcomed up here by locals, no job is really undesirable here because of the economy, so "they're doing jobs Americans won't" doesn't pass up here...
For all of you who prefer to live in selecued areas, what is your line of work?
Do you commute? If yes, what type of commute (highways, town-to-town, etc), and how far? Or do you have another residence used only for work?
Education level, and requirements?
For those don't mind; your salary.
I'm trying to gather information on how people hide out in the wild and hold jobs! See my other thread entitled "Converting to rural life how-to" [followed up] as it is one big thing I need to know if I am to live the rural life.
Any and all information is appreciated!
I live in a small town of roughly 250 people. My husband is a tree climber/trimmer (he clears right of ways for power lines) for the electric company in the next county. He travels about 40 miles a day round trip. He does not have any college education, but does have several different certifications for his line of work, and is considering training to become a lineman in the near future. I'm a stay at home mother with some college time under my belt, and a free lance artist. I have the luxury of working from home on my own time, which eliminates the need for a commute and child care.
I would LOVE to homeschool, but I thought that as a single mom that was not possible. Maybe I need to revisit that dream?
I hear everybody's point about jobs availabilities, but I am am optimistic and I think that if I look carefully enough I might find a small town whith enough odd jobs to go around, make a living, be happy and be close to my kid.
I think I need to find a town that is 1 hour from a souce of "traditional" employment. That way I can taste the area, know the neighbors and identify sources of income while I keep a job...
In the meantime I work on simplifying my city living and my expense habits. I hear it loud and clear that I need to be debt free before I go country. So I have a year to plan this out while I pay everything back.
We have 40,000 in our county. Land wise, we are one of the bigger counties in CA. Just rural. These are the employers in our county. This was printed recently. I think Safeway and the city are tied for the same amount of employees.
State (2 prisons, Highway Patrol, Cal Trans)
Federal (1 fed prison, US Forest Service, BLM)
Walmart
County (county offices, schools, jail)
Hospital
City
Safeway
Jobs in our area have just about dried up. The Jobs section of our weekly paper used to be 2 pages. Now there are a few dozen jobs and that is it. Alot of them are seasonal or one time things like picking up pinecones for several weeks (get paid per piece), etc. Now you know where the Sugar Pine cones in holiday deocrations come from. LOL
When I lived rurally, I worked for a family of small community newspapers serving my town and surrounding small towns. I started initially as a reporter and a photographer, and moved up to editor. It was nice, because small community weeklies serve such a niche that they were not initially impacted as greatly by the issues befalling large newspaper conglomerates, although now, the economy has impacted papers of all size. At any rate, it was without a doubt the best job I could have had in such a rural area, and the best fit.
Most other jobs in the area where in health care at our small local hospitals, education, and in the agricultural and agricultural processing and implement-building industries. Not much white collar, and not much white collar within an easily commutable distance.
When I lived rurally, I worked for a family of small community newspapers serving my town and surrounding small towns. I started initially as a reporter and a photographer, and moved up to editor. It was nice, because small community weeklies serve such a niche that they were not initially impacted as greatly by the issues befalling large newspaper conglomerates, although now, the economy has impacted papers of all size. At any rate, it was without a doubt the best job I could have had in such a rural area, and the best fit.
Most other jobs in the area where in health care at our small local hospitals, education, and in the agricultural and agricultural processing and implement-building industries. Not much white collar, and not much white collar within an easily commutable distance.
I've found that media in general in the areas more dependent on agriculture and not industry havent suffered quite as much in the recession.
Small town media is some of the best there is, in my opinion.. much more responsive to their readers or listeners needs. .and actually care about the community.
Definitely loads more community-centric, and very, very loyal readership (even though it's still a local sport to bash the paper...they keep buying it). It was definitely more fun to write for, too, from a feature writer's perspective. Somebody who only likes to write hard news would likely be bored working in a non-populous area, but I always found the storytelling aspect of features to be more appealing and interesting, and I have a wall of press association plaques that tell me others must have agreed.
The recession has still affected small market media, simply because, like with every other media outlet, it's so dependent upon advertising revenues, and those are hurting everywhere. But it took longer for it to hit. We were still doing okay when others were slashing staff and benefits and mandating furloughs. But that's starting to catch up, from what I hear of my old colleagues still in the game.
For all of you who prefer to live in selecued areas, what is your line of work?
Do you commute? If yes, what type of commute (highways, town-to-town, etc), and how far? Or do you have another residence used only for work?
Education level, and requirements?
For those don't mind; your salary.
I'm trying to gather information on how people hide out in the wild and hold jobs! See my other thread entitled "Converting to rural life how-to" [followed up] as it is one big thing I need to know if I am to live the rural life.
Any and all information is appreciated!
I drive 2 hours each way. 3/4 of it is through a 2 or 4 lane highway through small towns. The last stretch is a main interstate.
HS and some college. I'm in the 40s for salary. My husband is retired / disabled and gets a monthly check. That combined with buying a very inexpensive home and trying to stay as debt free as possible (no credit cards or car payments) is how we do it. We've wound up in a bind lately because of his medical bills and have taken on 2 car payments, but until that we actually did very well.
Oh, for reference, my town is less than 200 people and my county is less than 2000. I work in Metro Nashville.
Definitely loads more community-centric, and very, very loyal readership (even though it's still a local sport to bash the paper...they keep buying it). It was definitely more fun to write for, too, from a feature writer's perspective. Somebody who only likes to write hard news would likely be bored working in a non-populous area, but I always found the storytelling aspect of features to be more appealing and interesting, and I have a wall of press association plaques that tell me others must have agreed.
The recession has still affected small market media, simply because, like with every other media outlet, it's so dependent upon advertising revenues, and those are hurting everywhere. But it took longer for it to hit. We were still doing okay when others were slashing staff and benefits and mandating furloughs. But that's starting to catch up, from what I hear of my old colleagues still in the game.
I love working in local media because I get a sense of satisfaction from benig a person to my listeners and not just a number or voice on the radio
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