Good neighbors

[Aklogcabin]

We're blessed to have good neighbors. We don't have many so that probably helps. And with one neighbor we go back over 38 years. She is now our family. The fine folks who lived next door for many years were replaced by a great young couple. First things they did was build a garden buy chickens goats turkeys n such. And they love the outdoors. Yesterday they gave us 5 roosters they raised from eggs. Free range. She didn't want to harvest them. We traded out rabbits. We buy our eggs from them. Sooooo good, huge bright yellow yolks clear whites. And different colors.
We will sign up for the moose road kill program together. Other neighbor is also new. Elder lady who built a nice little retirement home. She fell while talking her dog for a walk a couple months ago. She was in the middle of the woods on a trail when her dog tripped her up n she fell. She called us first. Knowing we could find her and had a wheeler to get her out. She was hurt pretty bad with a broken up knee joint n ligaments. Multiple surgery things. I'm glad my daughter n me could help n proud she trusted us to help her. Couple years back she had a huge bull moose stuck in her fence, I got the call. Along with downed trees dog stuff n such. Great neighbor.
Mostly we are here to help each other. No matter. Both good n hard times. Like when they are on their way to our Good Lord.
They are my neighbors but they are treated like family. Bon fires n beers.
Then we have our son next door as we gave them an acre of land behind us when they got married. Helped him build their home n babysit our granddaughter 5 days a week. And our daughter who works remote lives with us as we also have our 4 year old grandson full time.
I'm surrounded by my family. Both natal and adopted neighbor.
And feeling pretty darn blessed

 

[Cascadian]

We have a few good neighbors and a homeless meth camp. You are indeed fortunate.

 

[Alaskajohn]

Along about a 10 mile stretch of road I have 4 other neighbors with a much longer stretch before you get to any other humans. Unlike me who purchased the "homestead" that I live on, the others are true original homesteaders. All are salt of the earth great folks who know hard work and the value of helping others. I am by far the youngest of the bunch.

The furthest away is a near 90 year old homesteader who has a gold mining claim that has allowed him to live a good modest life. He is a hermit and sticks to himself. On occasion we bring him wood if he runs low, but that is the only interaction we, or anyone else, ever have with him. Like my place, he has a long, narrow driveway and is tough to get to. His stories are legendary and his "yard" if filled with some amazing old equipment! He says they all work. Nearest to me are a great couple almost 70 years old. We are fishing and hunting buddies and are like minded in a lot of ways. The other two are a male widower and a bit further a female widow who have adjacent homesteads. All good folks in their mid 70's. We interact often with them during winter when they join me and my nearest neighbor on our long winter snow machine rides. Somehow they have all accepted me and all are very gracious, not only with helping each other, but in sharing stories of a all but gone true homesteading lifestyle. We also trade crops and surplus of other subsistence activities. In reality, we only interact about 8-10 time a year combined with any of our neighbors, but they are meaningful. Otherwise, do to distance and all of us having long driveways, we never see or hear any of them.

While I call my place a homestead, it was an acquisition. Real homesteaders will be gone when the aging generation of the last homesteaders passes. I consider myself fortunate to know and live next to real ones. I am a bit fearful of what will happen when they pass. As I drive the many miles to get to civilization in either direction, I pass by many abandoned old homesteads decay away as nature reclaims the land. While I cherish my isolation, there is some comfort and real value of having great people in the vicinity.

 

[Morgan101]

You are indeed blessed if you have good neighbors. I have two that both think their property is hallowed ground. One even yelled at my 85 year old MIL for parking in front of his house. Don't get me started. You can probably see the mushroom shaped cloud above my head.

Sorry, but I have to go by the old adage "Good fences make good neighbors."

 

[goshengirl]

Where we are now, the neighbors aren't so great. Couple of drug dealers on one side, and an HOA president wanna-be on the other. Miss Priss complains about how we keep our property (it's not Better Homes & Gardens enough for her), while the drug dealers have their shady customers driving in and out all times of the day and they used to send out their dogs to attack us when we were outside (said dogs are now dead, thankfully the new dog seems harmless). We have five beautiful acres but I hardly spend any time outside because I'm so tired of the threats and complaints.

By contrast, we've owned our 'farm' property for three years, and are currently building our final home on it. The neighbors are so amazing - they are more than friends. We help each other out and share resources all. the. time. It's completely different from where we are now, and I can't wait to move! We've had so much help - we help them, too, but it feels lopsided because we're not there full-time. It's not uncommon for us to show up to the place and there's one of the neighbors, doing something on our property to help us out. They perfectly balance helping us out while respecting our privacy. We share resources - firewood, canned goods, skills, manual labor, etc. When I think of how we're setting up our farm place to weather what's coming, our neighbors are in those plans - I want what we do to be able to benefit them as well. As much as we love our land (and we do), we wouldn't love it nearly as much without the neighbors. There are meth heads at the end of the hollow, and it's no fun having them drive past. But the neighbors immediately surrounding us, a couple of properties thick, are fantastic.

 

[Amish Heart]

You are blessed, Aklogcabin!
We are in a small amish farming community of maybe 800 people. We have a small place by most standards here of 23 acres. Everyone here helps each other pretty much, as long as they know you. If something is going on, boy word gets around very, very fast. No secrets around here. Neighbor to one side of us are english, and have Levi the nine yr old terror that they've let raise himself. He has been ok lately, but horrors if he's off his meds. That mom never comes out and is kinda hostile, but the dad is very friendly. I give him extra rabbits and roosters. He brought over raccoon traps. He's a prepper with lots of small animals. The other side are amish neighbors and they are wonderful. We even have a path between our farms to visit. We trade things back and forth, and the husband is always helpful if we need something beyond our (old) ability. Next Sunday is a neighborhood farm gathering at another farm. It'll be home made ice cream and good visiting. I don't know anyone in our neighborhood that isn't friendly or helpful, except maybe Levi's mom, but she sits in the house.

 

[Peanut]

My family came to this farm in the 1880's but has been in the area since the 1830's. Then there is the other thing, my grandparents and their siblings totaled 74 children. I make the joke I'm related to half the people in 3 counties but it's not far from the truth. Just my third cousins number in the hundreds. I know people, lots of people. Every land owner within 3 miles is either directly related to me or related to someone who is. Example - a cousin owns the farm to my west. Her cousin owns a farm to my north. His grandfather and mine had a small logging business together in the 1920's. So, I'm not related to the guy to my north but we know each other, and our families go back generations walking the same fields and paths.

The advantages seem endless. If my truck broke down within 20 miles of here I'd be within easy walking distance of someone I know. When I speak to someone in the community I probably knew their grandfather and heard stories about their great grandfather. Most importantly I know who can be counted on no matter the situation. That alone is worth more than money can buy.

The last 30 years folks have been moving out here to the country. In a few cases they are descendants of people who lived out here years ago. Others retire and buy land which is fine except they bring their untrusting, hostile neighbor, city attitude which is not appreciated by their new neighbors.

 

[Amish Heart]

That was my case, being a descendant of the people here. Husband's job has had us living all over the place, and I wanted to be here when I retired. There is never any places for sale in our town. If someone has a property they don't want, word gets out for family members. Eliminates outsiders.

 

[LadyLocust]

I've had good and bad neighbors. Right now we have neighbors (a retired couple) who are 1/4 mile away and they are nice. We are currently only renting but in the middle of a 75 acre plot so at least not right out the back door. Up the mountain we knew and got along with the neighbors at least a mile each direction; however, that doesn't mean we liked them. A couple thought they should be able to tell us what we could or couldn't do on our own property - Ha! Ex. "You can't kill that deer because I named it." Doesn't matter if they named it or not, if we have a tag and are on our own property we can kill it. (& eat it of course) We gave them "quiet nicknames" like Sherriff XXX and Deputy XXX, because that's what they thought they were. They weren't all bad and if someone needed help, we would be there for each other. Like Morgan said though - good fences/boundaries.

 

[Amish Heart]

We made it a point to invite each neighbor over for pie when we moved here, one family at a time. We had difficulty with two couples, both english before we moved in. One was storing farm equipment in one of our outbuildings without our permission before we moved in, then gave us grief when we told him to clear it out. Day two of moving in, one of his employees was parking a combine in our roundtop. Couldn't believe it when I saw it coming in our driveway. He filled up another building, too. So pie helped. And we get along fine now. The other is just a weird guy, boastful, full of himself. His wife is nice. Someone told him that our land boundaries were not what they were. And the guy that told him that wanted us to make an easement for him. Wasn't happening. They didn't come for pie, so I made one and came to them. They are friendly now. We did the hardest ones firtst.

 

[Amish Heart]

Ha Ha I just thought of something like your deer naming. Grandson had an FFA day at their High School farm today. He brought a meat rabbit and discussed meat rabbits. He came home and said that the jr high girls named it Belle. A name doesn't save anything.

 

[Bacpacker]

We have had great neighbors for our 27 years living here. But last few years one family moved, but have yet to sell their place. I'd love to but some or all of it, but suspect prices will be well out of my league. The past few months another guy moved, his wife died a couple years back and he downsized. His son (our best neighbor lives next to us.But he is wanting to move to a more remote area. He's even discussed us going in together on some property. Something we are considering. We've looked at the area he's talking about for land for several years ourselves. But that's a lot to think about

 

[Spikedriver]

@Peanut your comment about having people you know within walking distance rings true. I've got that back where I grew up. A few years back during the spring thaw I was driving home from my parents place and decided to take the "shortcut" which has several miles of dirt road. There was a layer of slush over ice on it. My front wheel drive Buick got stuck when the wheels spun but couldn't get through the ice layer underneath. I just made divots in the ice and then it was like I had wheel chocks in front of my tires. So I walked 200 yards back up the road and knocked on the door of a farmer I've known all my life. He laughed at me and said, Let me get my coat. Then we walked out, he pushed, and away I went. It's always good to know people...

 

[Peanut]

@Spikedriver As a little kid I though everybody went to family reunions where 400 people showed up. I thought this was normal. By the time I was a man I'd learned to keep my mouth shut. People, even friends would look at me like was was either lying or delusional when I spoke of how I grew up. Unless you've lived in a place like this it's hard to relate.

Frankly, I wish everyone could grow up like this. I have a sense of belonging to this community that I've never gotten anywhere else I lived. Though the years I'd come home for visits, 5 or 10 years go by and it was like I never left. But, it's not all roses either, more than a few black sheep in my family. I know people who I can best describe as less than appealing. What's the old sayin'? Better the devil you know than the one you don't?

And, as a teen growing up this area was a pain in the butt. No matter where I went or what I got into, there were always kinfolk there. I couldn't wait to leave here when I turned 17.

Now I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be. "It's always good to know people..."

 

[bamadeb48]

I have some good neighbors,mowed my front yard when my lawnmower was down, I share my garden with them. I have another neighbor that told me once we help each other ,you help me ,I’ll help you, I found out what she really meant was You help me more, I mowed her yard once , too wet and high, afraid my lawnmower woul tear up, I need to mow my own and if it tore up, I can’t afford another, helped her in her garden, but what really got me ,she calls one morning and says, 6am, I’m still in bed, would you bring me some ice,for tea, and it’s raining hard outside, I said do you know what time it is? NO so she just said,well call me when you can bring some over, i never called, so she passed by going to Walmart and dropped by on her way home and was mad, well you never called about the ice, last time she called, and I don’t mind a bit! She wants to borrow everything, but I told her I will not lend my lawnmower or tiller out, I need it.i lent her the tilleronce, andhadto finally go get it, she wouldn’t bring it home, had the fender off, lost the screw, I learned my lesson.

 

[goshengirl]

Wow, @bamadeb48, she’s a special kind of special. Sad thing is, people like that go through life having no idea that their problems are all self-made.

 

[Weedygarden]

I have some good neighbors,mowed my front yard when my lawnmower was down, I share my garden with them. I have another neighbor that told me once we help each other ,you help me ,I’ll help you, I found out what she really meant was You help me more, I mowed her yard once , too wet and high, afraid my lawnmower woul tear up, I need to mow my own and if it tore up, I can’t afford another, helped her in her garden, but what really got me ,she calls one morning and says, 6am, I’m still in bed, would you bring me some ice, for tea, and it’s raining hard outside, I said do you know what time it is? NO so she just said, well call me when you can bring some over, i never called, so she passed by going to Walmart and dropped by on her way home and was mad, well you never called about the ice, last time she called, and I don’t mind a bit! She wants to borrow everything, but I told her I will not lend my lawnmower or tiller out, I need it.i lent her the tiller once, and had to finally go get it, she wouldn’t bring it home, had the fender off, lost the screw, I learned my lesson.

I've known too many people like that! They quickly learn that if you treat me well, I'll treat you well, but you cannot run over me with demands and insults. (Remind you of anyone or a situation we all know?) I now have mostly great neighbors. We take each others trash bins out on trash day as needed, and take them back in. We also watch out for each other and keep each other posted about potential problems. Bossy and demanding neighbor is out of that for me. Once she and another neighbor had tree branches taken down professionally and the company ground them into mulch. Friendly neighbor told me I could help myself. The problem, they were in her driveway. I never said a thing to him about it, but I was not going to get mulch from her driveway. She has offended and gone after people who were just walking by.

 

[Cascadian]

We left all those lifelong connections behind when we left california. We had the same address for 30 years. Between us and our sons friends we knew a guy for just about every situation. I could forget my wallet and leave the hardware store with my stuff anyway. They just wrote it on a ticket and I paid next time I was back. We do miss that terribly.

 

[Aklogcabin]

We did have one of those guys once next door. His 82 year old mother bought the little cabin at the time. Her retirement home. Old school , mushed dogs homesteaded. Then her 55 year old son moved in. She slept outside on the front porch. Then he married a foreign girl n moved her in. Mom slept in the garage.
My wife n daughter had those kind of feelings. Like when they are working in the garden n look up n he's standing there watching them. Last words I had with him were, stay the #/÷* out of my yard n if I hear about you stalking my family I'm going to kick your ass. Bad, real bad !
Old lady made several restraining orders after the troopers were called several times for abuse. She always withdrew them.
Make that property line clear.
Hey when we want to get together we just start a bonfire. When we do a neighborhood burn we just start a big bonfire in the caldisak at end of the road.
On the first day we started clearing our lot , our neighbor Ken stops over beer in hand with an invite to run an extension cord or hose to his place if I needed. Still keep contact even though they moved after our homes burned down.