Oregon Pines Subdivision HOA? (to buy, living in, to eat)

[PNW to NEPA]

Wow. That article by Emma Marris is terrific. I know this is an OLD thread, but I'm happy it woke up again so I could get to read that. I'm in the other southern Oregon. The orderly, genteel side of the Cascades, but have been into that back country often enough to know she really captured the feel of the place.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

So, I am taking it that a couple of naive kids from the midwest that are dreaming about a nice calm idyllic life homesteading in Oregon's lush green hinterlands may not have the full picture?
You mean it's not going to be like "Little House on the Prairie"?


Imagine that.

(Sorry, but it is that time of the year for those kinds of posts)

[texasdiver]

What struck me about Emma Marris's article is how much poverty is out there. Sounds more like what you would find out on remote indian reservations. People living disability check to disability check. Sounds like half those people barely have cash to fuel up their vehicles with gas and buy food. A lot of the characters don't sound much different from the urban homeless one finds around our larger cities. And their "homesteads" don't sound or look much different from the homeless encampments one finds scattered about Portland.

I think the difference between today and say the 1850s was that back then young ambitious families looking to get ahead and make a start on life believed they could actually do so by homesteading some land and building a farm. The society was still majority agrarian. And with the right location with good soils, water, and access to markets one could actually do it. These days no one young, smart, and ambitious thinks they way to get ahead in life is to scratch out a homestead in semi-arid scrubland. So it's only people on the very fringes of society who are left messing around with that sort of thing.

There are plenty of places in the Pacific Northwest to find a rural lifestyle. Heck, 90% of the state is still quite rural. But the nice places all cost money. These far-flung rural subdivisions like Oregon PInes are a whole diferent class of property that were essentially land scams from the beginning. There are other similar places with similar shattered dreams out in the scrublands west of El Paso and on some of the plateaus way outside Albuquerque. Where people get sold lots with no power, water, electricity or improved roads.

[PNW to NEPA]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

What struck me about Emma Marris's article is how much poverty is out there. Sounds more like what you would find out on remote indian reservations. People living disability check to disability check. Sounds like half those people barely have cash to fuel up their vehicles with gas and buy food. A lot of the characters don't sound much different from the urban homeless one finds around our larger cities. And their "homesteads" don't sound or look much different from the homeless encampments one finds scattered about Portland.

I think the difference between today and say the 1850s was that back then young ambitious families looking to get ahead and make a start on life believed they could actually do so by homesteading some land and building a farm. The society was still majority agrarian. And with the right location with good soils, water, and access to markets one could actually do it. These days no one young, smart, and ambitious thinks they way to get ahead in life is to scratch out a homestead in semi-arid scrubland. So it's only people on the very fringes of society who are left messing around with that sort of thing.

There are plenty of places in the Pacific Northwest to find a rural lifestyle. Heck, 90% of the state is still quite rural. But the nice places all cost money. These far-flung rural subdivisions like Oregon PInes are a whole diferent class of property that were essentially land scams from the beginning. There are other similar places with similar shattered dreams out in the scrublands west of El Paso and on some of the plateaus way outside Albuquerque. Where people get sold lots with no power, water, electricity or improved roads.

Well said, texasdiver. There was a pretty active thread (may still be active) from a guy looking for an affordable house with acreage near Grants Pass and he was dismayed at the poverty/abandoned cars/trash /tarp-covered piles of junk, etc. that he saw on so many neighboring properties. Josephine Co isn't nearly so distressed as the Kalmath County areas in Marris' article, but it does still have remnants at least of that culture.

There is a stunning culture clash between societal "winners" and "losers" now, and the divide seems so intractable that the only hope for people who fall on the sad side of that divide —whether by bad starts, bad breaks, or bad choices— is to find some kind of protective haven of other "losers" and band together... away from more societally successful folks. That haven can be in far flung rural areas, it can be in urban homeless camps. It's a painful, painful reality.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by PNW to NEPA

Well said, texasdiver. There was a pretty active thread (may still be active) from a guy looking for an affordable house with acreage near Grants Pass and he was dismayed at the poverty/abandoned cars/trash /tarp-covered piles of junk, etc. that he saw on so many neighboring properties. Josephine Co isn't nearly so distressed as the Kalmath County areas in Marris' article, but it does still have remnants at least of that culture.

There is a stunning culture clash between societal "winners" and "losers" now, and the divide seems so intractable that the only hope for people who fall on the sad side of that divide —whether by bad starts, bad breaks, or bad choices— is to find some kind of protective haven of other "losers" and band together... away from more societally successful folks. That haven can be in far flung rural areas, it can be in urban homeless camps. It's a painful, painful reality.

It also sounds like they all spend 1/2 of their disposible income on guns. Truck is running on fumes because he can't afford to fuel it up. Living on ramen and water because can't afford groceries. But still armed to the teeth with plenty of ammo. None of which is cheap, even if you buy at pawn shops and swap meets.

[PNW to NEPA]

Yeah... didn't think about the guns/ammo costs. Also notable is the disconnect between being so libertarian/live-free-or-die but subsisting on government disability checks and food stamps. It almost seems like being so anti-gov't is coming from this place of deep shame for being dependent on the gov't. What a mire.

[PNW-type-gal]

In the same area (roughly):
https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...t-wasnt-106446
https://www.latimes.com/la-fg-ujaama22sep22-story.html

Follow-ups:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/24/n...re-prison.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Hamza_al-Masri

[Johnny Z]

So when is this government colapse gonna happen? Do you really think you'd be safer living out in the woods? I wouldn'd move because of fear of a colapse. If you like the outdoors and know something about living without the basics, have a way to support yourself and can deal with doing everything on your own, I say go for it. Other wise you'll lose interest and move on in a very short time. I know this because over 40 years ago I did about the same, I stuck it out, sometimes wasn't easy. In all that time I saw alot of people try and give up, a few made it. Maybe your better off where your are.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

It also sounds like they all spend 1/2 of their disposible income on guns. Truck is running on fumes because he can't afford to fuel it up. Living on ramen and water because can't afford groceries. But still armed to the teeth with plenty of ammo. None of which is cheap, even if you buy at pawn shops and swap meets.

Guns and ammo don't spoil, and you don't have to dehydrate, refrigerate, or can them.

True, Guns and ammo aren't cheap, but it's not like you have to replace your guns and replenish your ammo supplies every two weeks because they spoiled and went bad.

[Johnny Z]

Guns are probably one of the last things you need to consider living out in the woods. A good chain saw and decent 4x4 with good tires a good woodstove and a job are the most important things. IMHO. Guns are easy to get and you can assume everyone has one. I don't usually pack a gun, don't feel the need. I spent allot of time working and living in the woods. In my job I was allowed to carry one but seldom did, the woods are allot safer than the city streets. Allot of new comers think they need to pack a gun. Some do it as a statement, 2nd Amendment freaks and allot of Pot Growers do it too. Unless you hunt you probably don't need much more than a .22, but thats up to you to deside.