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I love that I can let my kids play in the yard and not worry about the traffic, my dogs have plenty of room to run (a beagle and a German Shepard) and stay very close to the house. I also love to look out my window and see all of our horses running and playing. alot of people know our house as the ones with all of the horses. My most favorite thing is taking the kids outside around a bon fire (as big as we want) and look up and see the stars at night and the lighting bugs in the yard.
The smells. I love opening the door in the morning to fresh air and that lovely damp tree-and-earth fragrance. Or the dusty horsy smell of the pony as he's brushed, or the smell of the tomato or lavender or anything else in the garden when I walk by with the watering can or shears.
The privacy. Some mornings I'm grumpy and just want to stay in my pyjamas...thank heaven goats don't care what you're wearing when you walk in the barn door!
And everything that everyone's already listed, too. I love the country.
I can do most anything that I want to do, with no neighbors to whine.
Much lower taxes.
I so much agree with this. When I lived as a kid in the city, one of our neighbors starting a dispute about a fence boundary. This little episode cost my grandfather hundreds of dollars to correct.
The suburbs were no better with various neighbor wars throughout the years. They'll call on you if you grass gets a little high. I once had the cops pay me a visit because I had a car with a flat tire outside in my driveway for less than a day. Unbelievable!
Living on a farm like I did for 7 years we never had petty stuff like this happen.
Favorite things about living in a small town... Back when we lived in New Hampshire, I worked at the school, and we lived close to the center of town:
Hanging my laundry out on the line on a Saturday and having the kids at school on Monday giggle about seeing our family's underwear.
Having kids ask me year after year to set aside the book I was going to read aloud in the library and tell them, instead, the ghost stories about our house that they had heard about from their older siblings.
Having all the kids from the park across the street come over to our house for a potty break because they had heard we had a new "jet" toilet.
Hearing stories about our old house having been a stop on the Underground Railroad from the volunteer firemen that time our furnace caught on fire.
Having the 8th grade English teacher write a play about our house and the Underground Railroad.
Going to the Town Clerk's office for some car-related business only to find that the office was in her 250-year old house and that those of us waiting in line, sitting in lovely old chairs, were to be entertained by her two-year old playing the piano. This was a LOT different from the motor vehicle office I had dealt with in my previous state.
Watching that same two-year old grow up to adulthood and start raising her own family.
Finding a line of kids at the door one day waiting for a tour of all the haunted spots in our house (our son was apparently charging admission).
Hearing the carpenters run away when they were fixing one of the sills and some snakes came slithering out of the wall of the bathroom/laundry room. They said there were 14 snakes.
Being asked two weeks later about the 14-foot snake that "people were saying" we found inside our clothes dryer. We loved the way stories grew as they passed on and joked that if the "carpenter/14 snakes" story continued to circulate it might eventually morph into 14 belly-dancers-with-snakes discovered in the attic.
~clairz
Thanks for sharing your memories. I liked the story about the 14 ft snake. That is funny!
How in the world can you choose just one thing? Heck, how could you choose just a dozen?
The wonderful neighbors. If you're in a bind of any kind they come out of the woodwork to lend a helping hand. No questions asked.
The devotion to their country. You just can't find people as proud of this country in the big city.
High morals. Very God loving people. We live in a town of 200 people but have 3 churches here.
Easy going life style. I always hated that dog eat dog, rat race mentality in bigger towns.
Schools - need you say more? The kids still have prayer optional at all school functions. The learn the basics that every child should be excelling in - reading, writing, math. The basics. No stupid foo-foo modern art and acting classes here.
What real life comes from. They see how hard farmers work. And let's face it, the farmers are what keeps this country alive. If they decided to just produce food for their families, most of this country would die. Tell me those NYC people can grow their own veggies and raise their own beef.
Not locking yours door and never thinking twice about it. Crime around here is missing the potluck that's benefitting one of the neighbors down on their luck.
Opening your windows and hearing cows moos, crickets chirp, birds sing, etc.
Geez - the stuff I'm still missing!! I just can't imagine ever not living like this. It's so quiet, peaceful, relaxing. I work in Nashville, but live 2 hours away in a very tiny little town. Everyone at work asks why I don't move closer. My office is a memorial to why. I have photos everywhere in there of my family, pets, and especially my views. I watch the sun come up over the mountains from my front porch. I watch it set over the mountains in my back yard from my deck. Move closer to Nashville? There isn't enough money in the world to get me to do that!!
what is your favorite thing about living in a rural area?
Having a large second story barn door fatigue a support bracket in a wind storm. And having a friend a mile to the east who just happens to be an expert welder repair it. And have another neighbor with a big a** front end loader. We were able to get the door on a flat part of the front end loader and with ropes and muscle got it back on its tracks.
Everyone looks at helping one another as fun. Everybody is laughing and joking. No money (of the currency variety) is passed.
Next most favorite thing? Riding down a gravel road on a bike, and when the time comes, no need to look for a rest room.
Next most favorite thing? Riding down a gravel road on a bike, and when the time comes, no need to look for a rest room.
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