Hmmm. Family is here. Job is here. Simple as that.
State your case
- Thread starter Patchouli
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Main reason we live inland off the east coast of Australia is -
- We moved from the coast where it is more humid inland to a drier region for health reasons for DH as his back was seizing up with the humidity.
- We are no where near my family and they don't know where we are (bonus and don't ask).
- All the facilities are here for our gardens where we can access cheap bulk horse and cow manure from local horse studs and livestock transport companies.
- Anything else not in our small town we buy on the internet.
- Much cheaper land and housing prices to save for our home to be built and lots of acreage.
- We are out of the city rat race and now in the country.
- We moved from the coast where it is more humid inland to a drier region for health reasons for DH as his back was seizing up with the humidity.
- We are no where near my family and they don't know where we are (bonus and don't ask).
- All the facilities are here for our gardens where we can access cheap bulk horse and cow manure from local horse studs and livestock transport companies.
- Anything else not in our small town we buy on the internet.
- Much cheaper land and housing prices to save for our home to be built and lots of acreage.
- We are out of the city rat race and now in the country.
I would like to have given more than one "like" for every item on your list.
"a drier region for health reasons"- many people have no idea just how much this helps people. When we moved from humid Minnesota to dry Arizona my wife's health made huge improvements.
I have a friend moving to Southern Nevada for that reason. I am hoping it helps her very much!
Thats one of our many reasons for leaving here as well. Hopefully the somewhat drier and cleaner air will helo with my wife and sons sinuses and itchy skin.
Thats a tough one. No doubt the cleaner air will help, but BIL who lived in Shen Zen and is now back in Taiwan, cannot handle the drier air here in Canada; sever sinus problems from drying out. My nieces did ok after some acclimation. I have lived in some major cities around the world, and Hong Kong is not a place I would like to live in for very long either.
If I was picking my dream place, it would be in the northern parts of BC or Alberta in a mountaness region on at least 640 acres with no one within a hundred miles.
It wasnt so bad when the British still had it before '97.
Now its just polluted and dirty and crowded. 8 million people....
We live in a village on the mainland side and its gotten more dirty and crowded the last 5 years. That is our major reason for leaving.
Quick edit to add:
The Mainland govt. is planning on Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong to eventually become one big super metropolis! within the next 20 years apparently, you can slowly see it happening, Mainland customs agents/immigration on the HK side of the border. Hong Kong, Zhuhai, Macau bridge is completed. ( an amazing feat of engineering!) There is a ton of money to be made over here but you need to deal with the problems I have said before.
We bought our dream place this past summer, no neighbors and trees trees trees...
Now its just polluted and dirty and crowded. 8 million people....
We live in a village on the mainland side and its gotten more dirty and crowded the last 5 years. That is our major reason for leaving.
Quick edit to add:
The Mainland govt. is planning on Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong to eventually become one big super metropolis! within the next 20 years apparently, you can slowly see it happening, Mainland customs agents/immigration on the HK side of the border. Hong Kong, Zhuhai, Macau bridge is completed. ( an amazing feat of engineering!) There is a ton of money to be made over here but you need to deal with the problems I have said before.
We bought our dream place this past summer, no neighbors and trees trees trees...
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@hiwall I am glad that your wife improved after the move to a drier climate, DH was partially in a wheelchair when we lived near the ocean and coast but since then has never used it in 3 years. Another happy story too is my allergies and hay fever almost has totally stopped since we moved here too. We lived near a major international airport on one side and the rescue helicopters flew over our home to the hospital too. In the home there was always a trace of aviation fuel and diesel dust that stuck to the skirting boards and all through the house.
@Justin76 going on the pollution I saw over in Hong Kong when I was there and that was during British rule I can say your family will be far better without being exposed to that level of pollution. If street sweepers and most of the locals wear masks to protect them from the pollution as they did when I was there then I have to say what is it doing to you and your family health wise. Glad you are moving from there for your families sake and yours
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@Justin76 going on the pollution I saw over in Hong Kong when I was there and that was during British rule I can say your family will be far better without being exposed to that level of pollution. If street sweepers and most of the locals wear masks to protect them from the pollution as they did when I was there then I have to say what is it doing to you and your family health wise. Glad you are moving from there for your families sake and yours
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My wife's walker has been in storage for the last 12 years! We commonly go for walks together. Thank you dry climate!
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I have land in midlands of South Carolina, been in the family for over 50 years.
So I will live here for the rest of My life, leave every thing to my children.
So I will live here for the rest of My life, leave every thing to my children.
I Love South Western Arizona. No Gun Restrictions. Open Carry or CCW no permit required. No Magazine Restrictions for Hunting now. Im Free. I like the Heat of the desert. I can cook with a Solar Oven year around. I like 4 Wheeling. I can Garden year around. Plenty of Water, above and Under the ground. Lots of Irrigation Canals, so if you want to grow something, just open a gate. Lots of Deer and Mountain Goats here. Fishings Good. Mild Temps in Winter, so not really any need for Heating to Survive. Lots of Open Public Land. Low cost of living. The City of Yuma is just big enough to have everything a person needs. Nice New Hospital, Big with Advanced Tech. Yuma has a pretty recession proof economy, very diverse. I live just far enough out in "The County" and Love it, not many people around out here. Theres 2 Military Bases here and Lots of Testing Range surrounding this area. Its very remote, too much desert to cross to get here post SHTF, even from the South. People are really nice here and stay out of your Business. The City has a Slow paced, small town feel for a population of 122,000. Folks are very Conservative around here also. LEOs know their Place and their Job. No Adam Henrys here, they don't last long. People think that Cartels are a problem here, they aren't, that's over in Texas.
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I like Yuma! I took a small city bus down from Quartzsite to Algodones and then to Yuma once or twice a month. It always seemed like a small town to me!
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Live in the same state i was born, a lot of my family and extended family live here.
Can drive any direction in KY & TN and find family.
My grandparents owned farms here, and they are buried here.
I know the lay of the land and have been to every county.
I'm also close to a metro area so there's always jobs in my field.
I've lived outside of my state before, but I've always came back home.
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Grew up and lived in PA several times. Where I was, it was high taxes and too much traffic. Couldn't afford to live there now. Lived in south Louisiana for most of a decade. Hurricanes. Got tired of that threat, and the last one we went through was Katrina. Don't want to go back. Lived in central Mississippi for a while. Low regulations, low taxes, but I didn't fit in with the culture. Spent some time in Arizona. Liked that it was warm in the winter, not sure I could take the heat of summer. Also, it was so brown. I like green. Spent some time in Kentucky and TN over the past few years and fell in love with the TN Cumberland Plateau. Love the people. Love the countryside. It happens to be one day's drive from family in AL, LA, and PA, can't do that for AZ. Not too hot, not too cold. Good place for low taxes and low cost of living. Not much crime out here away from the cities. Plenty of rain. Soil isn't great but workable enough. It's home.
Texan by birth, born and raised in the Hill Country. Never had shoes on except for church or school. Yes, I had them, I just preferred to be barefoot.
I used handle a gun fairly well. I rode bareback all over the area a never saw a rattlesnake even though we were known for them. I'm a miracle to even be alive because there wasn't a tree I couldn't climb, a horse I couldn't ride or a river I couldn't swim (at least so I thought!) I'm an Okie by marriage. I met my Indian and his tribe in 1974 and married that same year. Climate wise, not too different, just more humid.
I would move back closer to the area I grew up in but never my home town. Nothing to do there. My family and I do better just seeing each other once or twice a year. It's much more pleasant that way in my clan.
I used handle a gun fairly well. I rode bareback all over the area a never saw a rattlesnake even though we were known for them. I'm a miracle to even be alive because there wasn't a tree I couldn't climb, a horse I couldn't ride or a river I couldn't swim (at least so I thought!) I'm an Okie by marriage. I met my Indian and his tribe in 1974 and married that same year. Climate wise, not too different, just more humid.
I would move back closer to the area I grew up in but never my home town. Nothing to do there. My family and I do better just seeing each other once or twice a year. It's much more pleasant that way in my clan.
My and my wife's family lives here.
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CBL doncha just hate it when yure trapped like that....................
I've lived in Ohio, Louisiana, and Colorado - and back to Ohio during a divorce. Never really saw myself as living here forever, but it's a good thing I did come back, as I met my husband/best friend (a southern Illinois transplant) here.
Hubby and I wanted to move west. Early in our marriage we bought a place in Montana where we planned to retire some day. But finances changed drastically, and the retirement we planned was no longer an option. We hadn't bought good homesteading land, and the cost of developing the land had become prohibitive to us. We couldn't even afford to go there and camp on the land.
We realized that if we had land in OH we could enjoy it now, and spend the occasional weekend there fixing things up and getting ready for our retirement. We liked the idea of homesteading (hubby grew up on a farm), and I like the idea of being as self-sustaining (and independent) as possible - and the weather and growing season in this area is good for that. But we didn't know how to make it work short of selling the land in MT, and it was oh so hard to give up that dream.
Then our neighbor in MT offered to buy our land (turns out we were land locked - he'd already bought all the land around us) - and once we sold that, everything else fell into place. We bought 53 acres on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains, surrounded in all directions by the Nature Conservancy (not our immediate neighbors, but close). I not only love the land, I'm in love with the land. It heals my heart in ways I can't express. We bought the adjacent house on a 1 acre lot - it's either a tear-down or a major fixer-upper (jury's still out), but it's a great homestead location. There are meth-heads down the dead end road in the hollow, so it's not perfect. But there aren't many - and our immediate neighbors (several neighbors deep, so to speak) are terrific - much better than we currently have. I can't wait until we actually live and homestead there.
We are where we currently are due to hubby's job. Which he hates. So we'll see what happens with all that...
Hubby and I wanted to move west. Early in our marriage we bought a place in Montana where we planned to retire some day. But finances changed drastically, and the retirement we planned was no longer an option. We hadn't bought good homesteading land, and the cost of developing the land had become prohibitive to us. We couldn't even afford to go there and camp on the land.
We realized that if we had land in OH we could enjoy it now, and spend the occasional weekend there fixing things up and getting ready for our retirement. We liked the idea of homesteading (hubby grew up on a farm), and I like the idea of being as self-sustaining (and independent) as possible - and the weather and growing season in this area is good for that. But we didn't know how to make it work short of selling the land in MT, and it was oh so hard to give up that dream.
Then our neighbor in MT offered to buy our land (turns out we were land locked - he'd already bought all the land around us) - and once we sold that, everything else fell into place. We bought 53 acres on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains, surrounded in all directions by the Nature Conservancy (not our immediate neighbors, but close). I not only love the land, I'm in love with the land. It heals my heart in ways I can't express. We bought the adjacent house on a 1 acre lot - it's either a tear-down or a major fixer-upper (jury's still out), but it's a great homestead location. There are meth-heads down the dead end road in the hollow, so it's not perfect. But there aren't many - and our immediate neighbors (several neighbors deep, so to speak) are terrific - much better than we currently have. I can't wait until we actually live and homestead there.
We are where we currently are due to hubby's job. Which he hates. So we'll see what happens with all that...
Whenever you say things like that, I really feel for you, as it hits close to home. About six months ago I severed all ties with the family I was born into after a lifetime of dysfunction. The last several years were especially hard, and I saw enough cruelty to give me the strength to let go.
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Arizona, with all the good things Resto pointed out and even more. I have not settled on a specific area of Arizona I want to build on. I have passed through Yuma and liked it but I have to still do more research. The only Arizona area off limits are above the snow line. Being The Great Lizard, I don't do cold. 
My family and I have been strained but never estranged. We are just the kind of people who enjoy our distance. Various circumstances have led to this over the years. Mainly the fact that we live pretty far apart from each other.
I hear ya. Dreams die hard.
I am not sure if I'm gonna let my dream of having a real working farm die or not. I've wanted one since I was just a young man. But the years have slipped by so quickly and here I am, approaching mid 50's (and my wife approaching mid 60's) and still no farm. Came so close I could practically taste it last year but it fell through. Ended up with a little place, only 3.5 acres, and it'll be a challenge to have even a decent garden. But it's where we are right now.
Don't know if the dream is gonna die or not. Hope of such seems to become a little dimmer with each passing year. But even if it never does come true, it may be that we can make the best of our little plot and fade on into the sunset peacefully.
We have had huge gardens close to a quarter acre and now a raised bed a fraction of that size. Give me the raised garden any day. I wish I had know how well the raised be would have produced when my kids were at home. 3.5 acres will support several raised beds and a nice sized chicken coop. Maybe even a goat or milk cow. We have 8 acres and end up just mowing and trying to maintain. Go for the "farmlett"!!
. The only Arizona area off limits are above the snow line. Being The Great Lizard, I don't do cold.
Awww
Lol
Thanks, NannyPatty,
The place is 3.5 acres total. But there is a house, a detached garage, a barn, and something close to an acre taken up by a pond (and the berm surrounding it). The best looking garden patch is actually the septic drain field, not a place that I'm thinking is good for gardening. (Might be a good yard for chickens, though.) There are maybe three areas that I could actually use for gardening that may total around an acre, maybe a tad more. Other open areas are heavily shaded being next to mature woods or are either swampy or extremely rocky. Actually, I think we will end up with some raised beds though not for all of our gardening.
Gonna make the best of it for right now and have a go at seeing what we can do. There are some things we plan to do to the house that will make it more livable and likable plus some things outside, too. That will put us in a position to either stay and enjoy the place or give us more equity to make a move to a bigger place.
I know a lot of people complain about mowing. Believe it or not, I love to mow. It's one of my favorite things to do. Had about 4 acres to mow a few years ago and mowed it twice a lot of weeks. Wouldn't have had to, but I liked seeing that cross hatch pattern in the yard and seeing the place all manicured. Spent many a happy hour on the trusty lawn steed. LOL!
The place is 3.5 acres total. But there is a house, a detached garage, a barn, and something close to an acre taken up by a pond (and the berm surrounding it). The best looking garden patch is actually the septic drain field, not a place that I'm thinking is good for gardening. (Might be a good yard for chickens, though.) There are maybe three areas that I could actually use for gardening that may total around an acre, maybe a tad more. Other open areas are heavily shaded being next to mature woods or are either swampy or extremely rocky. Actually, I think we will end up with some raised beds though not for all of our gardening.
Gonna make the best of it for right now and have a go at seeing what we can do. There are some things we plan to do to the house that will make it more livable and likable plus some things outside, too. That will put us in a position to either stay and enjoy the place or give us more equity to make a move to a bigger place.
I know a lot of people complain about mowing. Believe it or not, I love to mow. It's one of my favorite things to do. Had about 4 acres to mow a few years ago and mowed it twice a lot of weeks. Wouldn't have had to, but I liked seeing that cross hatch pattern in the yard and seeing the place all manicured. Spent many a happy hour on the trusty lawn steed. LOL!
Arizona, with all the good things Resto pointed out and even more. I have not settled on a specific area of Arizona I want to build on. I have passed through Yuma and liked it but I have to still do more research. The only Arizona area off limits are above the snow line. Being The Great Lizard, I don't do cold.
Have a step-son in Phoenix. And we've been out there a couple of years around Christmas time. Rode around in the back of his wife's convertible looking at Christmas light displays one year, with the top down. On the cold winter days, like we just had here a week or two ago, it's tempting. Wife and I even talked about whether we'd like to plan on taking maybe mid January to about mid March and plan on a regular trip out there every year. Probably won't, but it's nice to think about.
Gardening is quite a bit different out there. Their "winter" is the middle of the summer when everything is so swelteringly hot. But I even saw market gardens and an orchard out there. Who'd have thought I'd see that out in the desert? Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. It is pretty amazing what a determined person can do in a difficult environment.
Arizona, with all the good things Resto pointed out and even more. I have not settled on a specific area of Arizona I want to build on. I have passed through Yuma and liked it but I have to still do more research. The only Arizona area off limits are above the snow line. Being The Great Lizard, I don't do cold.
Quartzsite is a very unique and weird place! Just a thought...
Arizona is way more than just a desert. I have snow on the ground (in shadey spots) and it was 6 degrees this morning and 46 this afternoon. Arizona has many choices so you can pick your climate.
Despite over 12 years of living fulltime in an RV, I never made it to Quartzsite. I always wondered, just never enough to actually make the trip there. Stayed mostly in the eastern side of the Mississippi.
