How many times do you hear folks telling you how lucky you are to be living in the country, trying to live off the land, doing the things you want to do without interference from city ordinances telling you how many chickens you can have or a homeowner’s association dictating the height and materials to be used on your greenhouse? Maybe you’re even the person saying that … while dreaming of a time when you can move to the country. On the other hand, there are folks like my mother who look at where we live and say, “I wouldn’t live there if they gave that place to me!”
When I last blogged here, we were living in a small town in Missouri. Prior to living in Missouri, we had lived in Kentucky. We had wanted so badly to live in the country but, when we moved to west, for several reasons we bought a house in town, even though we knew it was probably not the best choice for us.
The rules and restrictions of city/subdivision living were about to get the best of me. Even though I had always told my husband, “I will move anywhere in the south, except Texas …,” when he told me he had an opportunity to transfer to Texas, I was ready to start packing. It was our chance to get out of the city limits … to get to a spot where we wouldn’t have neighbors; no one to measure my weeds to make sure nothing was taller than 8 inches; no one to tell me how many chickens I could have (though, based on the number of chickens we’ve accumulated, maybe we do need that kind of supervision).
It wasn’t easy because it seems there are lots of folks wanting to move to Texas and live in the country, but we finally found out little piece of heaven.
We moved into a house less than half the size of our previous home but we got what we had always wanted – not a big house, but land where we could do what we want (within reason I suppose), with few rules and no restrictions. We call it our little piece of heaven, and it truly is. Look at that glorious blue sky! It’s that way almost every day. The downside of having few cloudy days is that we’re in a drought.
We’re able to have chicken coops anywhere we want them, with no one measuring to see how far they are from the neighbor’s house. No one (except my husband) is counting to make sure I haven’t exceeded the allowable number of chickens. No one complains about the symphony of roosters crowing before daylight.
We’ve fenced off our garden area, added a small orchard, added a solar-powered well for the orchard, added solar panels for power (though we’re grid-tied … not our preference but the way it had to be). Life is great! We’re working hard to make this place what we want it to be and creating our perfect retirement spot.
This is the place I’ve always dreamed of having. Honestly 15 years ago, 10 years ago, even five years ago … I had almost given up hope of ever living in the country and feeling freedom from city rules and neighborhood restrictions.
If you’re wanting to live in the country, I hope it happens for you. Things don’t always happen the way or in the time frame that we want them to happen but don’t give up hope. We’re proof that the near impossible can happen and dreams do come true!
