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I come across this problem all the time, I am a huge country music fan, when I mean huge, I mean, it is something I could never live without. Even here in Iowa, which is an agricultural state, you will find those types who do not like or hate country music, sometimes, women get turned off when you start talking about country music or country things.
Also, when I tell some women that I will never drive anything but a pick up, that eventually I want to live on 10-15 acres and live in the country, it seems like they think it is bad or like I am a person with no "ambition". Actually, I just happen to be a person who is not materialistic and I enjoy the simple things in life like being in the country, being in contact with nature, could care less about cars, huge mansions, material crap, I like the simple life and I don't see what is bad about that, oh well
Loving and living in nature doesn't have to include country, to be clear. I'm happiest when I'm camping up in the mountains and that happiness would be squashed if most country music polluted my ears. I'm thinking of that sappy I'm so depressed or so in love long drawl country music. Blue grass, OTOH, no problem. Folk? Great.
Oh goody, I can be a pinko liberal weirdo country girl. Perfect!
Stepka, did you ever read Spiritual Midwifery? Now that is some good reading along the lines you're talking about!
Of course you can. Just don't expect the local farmers to understand. I've never read the spiritual midwifery book but had some hippie next door neighbors who had just come from The Farm in TN and they had that book.
I think a distinction needs to be made between people who are making a pretentious front of being "country" and those who are actually engaged in living a country lifestyle. Many of the country stars who live around Nashville have big mansions on many acres of land far from the city center but they're obviously not farmers or ranchers and they pay people to operate the place. I've seen this sort of thing on real estate websites and the manager of the property often has a separate house from the mansion on the same property.
Having grown up in Montana with relatives who owned ranches and having both parents who were raised on working ranches I obviously recognize the difference. Some big changes have happened to the family farm over the last fifty years or so and the result is that the majority of farming or ranching is run by corporations and the number of family farms have dwindled. So what we're really talking about on this thread is the people who enjoy living in a rural area but don't necessarily make their living on their own land. Most of them work in nearby small towns and just prefer to have their homes far from the bigger cities because they enjoy the peace and quiet of a country setting. In this day and age that has become more difficult as younger people tend to leave the small towns to where the jobs are. People who want to remain in this rural lifestyle often face some tough economic realities because it's hard to make a living.
Here in mid tn you dont see the old working family farm. Most all farmers have a day job and the farm supplements the income. What I have been seeing is the young sell the inherited family farm to transplants who have big retirements and got a big price for their home they left it areas with a high cost of living. I see Melissia's point. They buy land that is cheap to them (driving up land prices), build a big house and put up no trespass signs around the perimeter or buy and build in high dollar rural "gaited developments" and call themselves country, but spend their time complaining about the smell of the neighbors livestock, driving behind hay trucks and tractors, no street lights, no garbage pick up, no cable or high speed internet, gravel roads, dust, barking dogs, hunters, horse poop on the road, country and religious music on the radio, businesses closed on Sunday, the slow pace, and locals in general.
Been there, done that! Didn't bother me cause I was raised on a farm, but that was in my teen years. Today, will drive thru areas like that and it's cool to see all that stuff again, but definitely wouldn't live in it again. Nothing against the Amish, but try living around an Amish settlement........talking about taking a step BACK in history!
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Originally Posted by 2mares
Here in mid tn you dont see the old working family farm. Most all farmers have a day job and the farm supplements the income. What I have been seeing is the young sell the inherited family farm to transplants who have big retirements and got a big price for their home they left it areas with a high cost of living. I see Melissia's point. They buy land that is cheap to them (driving up land prices), build a big house and put up no trespass signs around the perimeter or buy and build in high dollar rural "gaited developments" and call themselves country, but spend their time complaining about the smell of the neighbors livestock, driving behind hay trucks and tractors, no street lights, no garbage pick up, no cable or high speed internet, gravel roads, dust, barking dogs, hunters, horse poop on the road, country and religious music on the radio, businesses closed on Sunday, the slow pace, and locals in general.
Been there, done that! Didn't bother me cause I was raised on a farm, but that was in my teen years. Today, will drive thru areas like that and it's cool to see all that stuff again, but definitely wouldn't live in it again. Nothing against the Amish, but try living around an Amish settlement........talking about taking a step BACK in history!
Not as extreme as the Amish, but Im surrounded by Mennonite communities. I have never seen one of them in a hurry.
I enjoy living in the country and was quite rural for years. Couldn't even get a phone at one of the places I lived. Now that's rural. I don't mind trucks either. They can be quite useful and have great visibility.
I don't like most country music but some of the old stuff is quite good. I do like most CW dancing.
What I don't like is the fake, down home, proud to be dumb, YEE HAW mentality some of these people sport like it's high fashion. When I lived in Texas, they were called drugstore cowboys. I've met my share of genuine cowboys and the real ones are a delight to know. Don't care much for the wannabe posers.
Well since I'm not a country music fan or outdoorsy in the least all I can say is a guy like you wouldn't be interested in a girl like me anyway. Fortunately, there are all kinds out there so don't worry about the ones you don't click with.
Some big changes have happened to the family farm over the last fifty years or so and the result is that the majority of farming or ranching is run by corporations and the number of family farms have dwindled. So what we're really talking about on this thread is the people who enjoy living in a rural area but don't necessarily make their living on their own land. Most of them work in nearby small towns and just prefer to have their homes far from the bigger cities because they enjoy the peace and quiet of a country setting. In this day and age that has become more difficult as younger people tend to leave the small towns to where the jobs are. People who want to remain in this rural lifestyle often face some tough economic realities because it's hard to make a living.
That's quite true and I don't see a problem with folks wanting to live in the country and make their living another way--that's the reality and I don't think those people are posers--less than 5% (is it 2.something %?) of the population farms and I'm betting that more than 5% of the population would like to live in a rural area. I share your distaste for the snobby ones who look down on the locals and complain about lack of services. I knew one in rural MO who had come from CA with her Dr. husband and I kept wanting to tell her to go back to CA. Some of the locals were big snobs too though--they had that "big fish in a small pond" syndrome.
I disagree that there are no jobs in the country. It depends on where you go, but where we were, there was a shortage of good plumbers, bricklayers, and electricians. Also anyone who could put in a well or a septic tank. They begged me to come be a substitute teacher. My uncle ran a body shop and come payday, all his workers bought drugs and were out for days. Anyone responsible enough to come in every day could have a job for the asking. There were, however, a lot of crap jobs, like at the chicken processing plant, but those were almost completely unskilled labor jobs. It's easier in many ways to start a small business in the country and the cost of living was cheap enough that I was able to be a SAHM to my children while my ex worked for the govt.
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