Where I live is hours from a medium size city and almost an hour to the closest town. The closest Costco is 3 hours away! We have low density population and still have range cattle to deal with all around us. We live with wild animals and predators walking on our property. We do not have grid-tie electricity, we do not have a finished house, we do not have indoor plumbing and we do not have our propane tanks piped into the house. We do not have paved roads for the last 3.5 miles to our place.
The weather is extreme, down to 40 F below in winter, snow on the ground for 3-4 months, pipes and stored liquids freeze, our home is heated by wood only with some solar gain. Summer is hot but relatively short. Temps can be around 100 F for days or weeks. Growing tomatoes, peppers, corn and melons is a crap shoot because there is always a threat of freeze, and a lot of work for a probable poor harvest.
The land is rough. Eastern Washington is considered high desert. Here, in Okanogan county, are lots of hills carved out by glaciers, huge rock cliffs, and mountains. Thick forests rise on the north side of the terrain. Sparse ponderosa and sage on the south facing terrain. Fire danger is a huge threat.
The Carlton Complex fire, in SW Okanogan county, last summer burned over 250,000 acres (over 400 sq. miles) was started by lightning, a regular visitor to this area. The nearest fire hydrant is miles away. Did I mention no indoor plumbing?
There is no cable TV, only satellite. Internet is via satellite, broadband if you have line of site (small % of people can do this) or dial-up. Electricity is not pervasive and is expensive to bring in. Phone lines managed to touch most property lines, but the phone service (appropriately called Frontier BTW) does not have a voicemail service! Oh, and there is no cell service or texting service here. You have to go to town to see if anyone has called or to call out and don't break down on the way as you cannot call for a tow.
There is only one paved road and that is the main road up
most of the valley floor before becoming a gravel road. If you live where you travel on dirt roads, you can expect regular vehicle repair bills for suspension, wear and tear, vibration damage, dirt contamination, slamming into a small boulder in the road because the car slid or it was hidden, tire repair for flats and wearing out tires faster. Everyone's car is the same color, dirt brown.
Jobs are scarce with no city around. Most jobs have to do with construction, animals or health. Shipping rates are high and delivery times long as we are so far out.
Did I mention no indoor plumbing? We have hauled our water for years. Lots of fun driving a couple miles at 5 miles an hour to fill up 55 gallon drums, in a truck missing a back window and very stiff suspension, and trying to empty them before the hoses freeze because the temp is under 10 degrees F and the wind is blowing and your face is tingling from the cold. We are now able to use an outdoor faucet for ourselves and the animals. Still darn cold in the winter!
Everyone waves at each other. Whether you know the person or not, it is cultural here to wave as you drive by or others drive by. Love it. Unlike the city where people do not want to deal with others, people here interact with strangers more often and more comfortably. People stop to see if someone needs help when parked along the road . . . no reason to be there unless something is not normal.
Where else can you watch a herd of wild horses run by, or stop and eat a while? It is just my kind of place.
Welcome to my world,
Frontier Woman @ frontierlivingtoday.blogspot.com
<< Taken last summer. This is the same wild horse herd that we fed on Monday night.
