Do you live on the farm?

[Logan52]

My main barn where I load cattle and feed fronts on a blacktop county road. We use to live there but built a new house, more isolated but more centrally located on the farm.
To get to the new house a gravel road turns off a state road and wanders up a wooded hollow. It then goes up a steep hill to the house. Probably 1200 feet or so but one lane and not visible from the house. When I head over the hill I call my wife to make sure she is not coming up the hill.
Most UPS drivers have little trouble but the potential is there. I usually have packages sent to family in town.
We like the sense of isolation even though we are only 6 minutes from the town square of our little county seat town.

 

[mml373]

We currently live on our farm and we were planning on rebuilding a home in the next year to two. I got to thinking after doing some reasearch and whatnot, my wife and I can barely decide what we are going to eat for dinner most of the time so building a house might be a nightmare…There are also some other things we don't particularly care for as well. But on the flip side there are things we love about being here. Pros and cons like anywhere I suppose.


So we are entertaining the idea of buying something already built that is no further than 15 minutes away. We would not be moving directly into town. Anyone live off the farm? I'd be interested in your guys' thoughts.

Thought about it, to escape constant road noise. Bottom line: we ended up staying, will be renovating the house, and will just deal with the noise till we can put it on the market after we find a bigger farm with a better house.

It is just too difficult to commute. We work off-farm jobs, fulltime, and garden chores, poultry chores, and sheep make it so there's no real way we could live off the farm. I won't leave the sheep unattended, especially during lambing season.

 

[chaded]

A farm that is 5 minutes from us that we knew was going up for sale finally went up. They want way too much for what is there and we don't like the inside of the house either. We also would go from 100% privacy to no privacy. So scratch that.

We are leaning towards rebuilding a new house here but are staying open about it. We are in our 30's right now and don't plan on ever leaving the area so while it is a big chunk of change up front, we feel we will get what we want with the new build and keep the privacy and of course not have to travel to the farm. Farm will be paid off next year so we have been trying to plan ahead for what's next.

Appreciate the responses.

 

[Travlr]

Ahhhh... Jehovah's Witnesses triggered a memory.

I was working outside and could hear a car coming down the drive. Looking around the garage I see a little car trailing dust. It crosses the cattle guard and pulls up to the house, two people inside. The driver gets out, unfolding a tall, lanky frame with a wide and tall cowboy hat on top. His female companion is fussing with things, doing the things necessary to a woman before getting out. He approaches me with his hand out, mouthing some words I'm immediately familiar with.

"Hello, I'm Brother So-and so.... "

A Mormon. My wife shed "The Church" years ago but they just won't turn her loose.

I take the guy's hand in mine and keep a lock on it. He's suddenly startled, realizing he is trapped. I lock eyes with him intentionally.

"Did you see the No Trespassing sign at the top of the driveway?"

He smiles, friendly like, and meekly embarrassed. "Oh, sure. But I didn't think it applied to us."

"Well... Brother... that sign was put there for a reason and it applies exactly to you... specifically."

I still have his hand and he's getting uncomfortable. My eyes are locked on his, but his eyes are starting to look for an escape route. I squeeze a little harder to draw him in, so he focuses.

"Now... Brother... I keep a loaded .357 just inside the front door over there," and I tip my head toward the house, "and I'm going to walk over there to get it... and if you are still in my driveway when I come out of the house I'm going to shoot you."

And I turn loose of his hand... and begin to walk. By the time I've taken my first step he's turned around and taken two, and by the time I've taken a few more he's already at the car. The woman is just starting to exit, one foot actually on the ground, and she's bunched to get on her feet. The man says something that makes her hesitate, and you can see she's inclined to dispute him. But by the time she gathers her wits to reply he has already started the car and put it in gear, and she draws her foot back into the car and shuts the door as it begins to move.

By this time I'm at the steps and I stop long enough to watch the car rattle across the cattle guard on the way out. I mount the steps slowly and by the time I get to the top the little car is still accelerating and half way to the road.

We were never visited again... there.

 

[Dave]

Travlr's story reminded me of a JW story.

I was working in the woods back then. It had been one of those absolutely miserable PNW days in the woods. I had just got home and hadn't had time to clean up. Dressed in soaking wet, mud, and sawdust covered cloths. A knock came on the door. I open the door and there stood neat grandmotherly looking lady. I say hello and she starts in. About 2 seconds I realize she is a JW. I interrupt her speech and politley say thank you but I already have a church. I go to close the door. She literally has her foot in the door. She is going on with her speech. I look at her foot, look her in the eye, and again look down at her foot. She isn't pulling her foot back or slowing down on her pitch. I once again try to shut the door. This lady aint giving up. I throw the door open and step out and into her face. She is about 5'2" and well dressed. I am 6'2" and dressed like a very dirty logger. I start with, "lady I tried to be polite." At that point my language takes a serious turn down hill. As a logger I can cuss for 15 minutes and never use the same word twice. Every step of the way back to her car I am loudly explaining what I think of her, her relatives, where they can go, and what they can do when they get there. She never came back.

 

[herofan]

This sounds like the beginning of a suspense or horror movie.

For people who aren't accustomed to
It, that's probably exactly what it seems like. I live almost a mile back with no other houses. One of dad's cousins with his young son and girlfriend from Chicago dropped by unexpectedly a few years ago. I was outside and looked about as rough as I could. I hadn't shaved in a while, had on an old brown coat and muddy boots. They stayed only a few minutes, and the girl looked scared the entire time.

 

[Dave]

This picture is where my driveway turns off the road. I was maybe 50 feet from the driveway and standing up on the quad when I took the picture. Mighty easy to miss it at 35 mph if you don't know where it turns off.
When I give people directions I tell them to look for that square sign on the right side of the road.

 

[simme]

Dang. The mere mention of high nitrate hay for trespassing, property damaging cows in the night stirs up condemnation of the possibility. Yet some are quick to shoot or threaten human visitors peddling their religion in the daytime. You guys are a tough crowd. But entertaining none the less. Old Mr. Grit on here a few years back thought anyone that came to his door deserved to be shot. I thought he was an exception, but maybe not. Any of you guys are welcome to visit me anytime. I never even thought of shooting any visitors just for visiting. Might be that fence out thing.

 

[kenny thomas]

Dang. The mere mention of high nitrate hay for trespassing, property damaging cows in the night stirs up condemnation of the possibility. Yet some are quick to shoot or threaten human visitors peddling their religion in the daytime. You guys are a tough crowd. But entertaining none the less. Old Mr. Grit on here a few years back thought anyone that came to his door deserved to be shot. I thought he was an exception, but maybe not. Any of you guys are welcome to visit me anytime. I never even thought of shooting any visitors just for visiting. Might be that fence out thing.

Maybe I should pack a bigger pistol next time I stop by your place.

 

[Dave]

Nobody is actually going to shoot someone. But if unwanted visitors think you might shoot them they leave quicker. They might spread the story which helps keep other unwanted visitors away

 

[Travlr]

Dang. The mere mention of high nitrate hay for trespassing, property damaging cows in the night stirs up condemnation of the possibility. Yet some are quick to shoot or threaten human visitors peddling their religion in the daytime. You guys are a tough crowd. But entertaining none the less. Old Mr. Grit on here a few years back thought anyone that came to his door deserved to be shot. I thought he was an exception, but maybe not. Any of you guys are welcome to visit me anytime. I never even thought of shooting any visitors just for visiting. Might be that fence out thing.

Selling religions is not "just visiting" and stalking someone continuously over the years is a good way to develop animosity.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

I've had a couple tail swinging Australian Cattle dogs on my porch for 35 years, some of my friends wouldn't get out of their cars, let alone a JW.
But once I told them " leave it" they would babysit your two year old with a ball.

 

[wbvs58]

I get the occaisional JW that are game enough to try my driveway in their sedan. I wait until the old girl hauls herself out of the back seat of the car then I send them on their way.

Ken

 

[BFE]

It's funny what the sight of a firearm does to attitudes.

My old house sat just north of the RR tracks and had a grass road with a private crossing to the east leading to one of our fields that my dad and I own. To Backstory, there had been a methed up shooting a couple miles away within a couple years of this event. So I'm sitting there doing whatever and I see a truck pull in the road and cross the tracks. I throw in my .357 and go to investigate. It was the adjoining landowner, an old SOB who was notorious for causing problems, fast to sue, and even quicker to call you in for trespassing. He'd been known to threaten to shoot you over piddly crap. When i pull up beside him he gets out and walks over to my truck, spies the revolver, and immediately I become his best friend. I didn't say much. I also never seen him use the road again.

 

[cowgirl8]

We have a sign on the entry of our place that says, Bad Dogs Do Not Pass This Point, with my phone number under it. People still come in. Our dogs are old now, but we did just have a couple puppies dumped on our road that we took in. They are pure junk yard dogs prospected to be over 100 pounds full grown. One who looks like a pit, has 2% chihuahua which gives him a really bad attitude.. The other mastiff looking but is more laid back...They are full bothers and they naturally have docked tails...I'm hoping this will keep people from wandering in. Both are on electronic collars. Loose, they'd be disastrous. I'll put up more signs warning of bad dogs when they are older, just 6 mo old now. and the last will say, I'd turn back if i were you...... I always respect bad dog signs... i respect when i see a bad dog, even if its good. My aussie was one that acted like she was approachable, but then would turn as soon as you got in her zone.. hence the reason for the signs. If you knock on our door, you will be greeted with a gun...

 

[chaded]

Some real neighborly folks on here…

 

[simme]

Some real neighborly folks on here…

If we could just get trump and biden to embrace the JW religion and make a few cold calls to some of these people, some problems might be solved.

 

[cowgirl8]

Some real neighborly folks on here…

We dont really have neighbors.. so if someone wants to drop by, they call first. One person out here had a visitor, a meth head wander up to her house and waved a shotgun at her front door, then climbed on her house and set it on fire.. She really lives in the backwoods. Took 4 hours to get officers to come out. She called my husband, but he was not around. Meth heads sometimes wander around out here, they dump their crap and not really sure why they sometimes come out here... But, if someone comes to my door without me knowing, they do not belong here, i do not know them. We do occasionally get someone who walks up that got stuck somewhere, but they usually call the very visible # at the gate... I want to get security cameras, one day we will...

 

[Dave]

You can't see another house from my house. There is a neighbor about half a mile away. We just can't see each others houses. This is a small ranch community where people who live 10-15 miles away are considered neighbors and act like good neighbors too. Outsiders who come around and behave themselves are welcomed with open arms. Outsiders who don't behave themselves....... Well this isn't a good area to do that in.

 

[Silver]

I live on a dead end road that is a little over 20 miles long. There are 5 ranches on it and no one else. People don't pass through, if they are out here they have a reason. We don't get flooded with traffic like Dave, so if there is a different vehicle in the area it becomes a topic of conversation.
My doors have locks, but I have no idea where the keys are. Machinery, 4 wheelers etc have keys that I think are actually a permanent part of the ignitions. They must be because they have never been removed.