Rural living - what is there to do?

December 21, 2016 10:09 AM

Finally moving back to the countryside after spending my adult life living in cities. As a kid I ran around in dirt and climbed trees but now I'm an adult, what awesome things can I fill my life with?

We're moving to south west Vermont. I plan on keeping bees and doing a lot of gardening, including vegetable gardening. What hobbies can I pick up? We're going to have land, wooded and grass. We have a small dog and will be getting another big dog so we'll get into hiking.
What joys of country living am I forgetting?

posted by shesbenevolent to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (36 answers total)

mountain bike?

(you don't need mountains - just tracks / trails).
posted by andrewcooke at 10:19 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

Find an area with clear sky and mark meteor shower dates on your calendar. (Or stargaze other clear nights.)
posted by rewil at 10:22 AM on December 21, 2016 [15 favorites]

I'm a country person at heart (VT/Maine family) who has been living in the city by necessity but will be moving back to the country next year. Here's what I'm looking forward to:

-TRAIL RUNNING
-having enough space (since we'll have a house, not a teeny apartment) to have several ongoing projects (painting/drawing, weaving, electronics tinkering)
-being able to play music (either by playing my instrument or by stereo) whenever I want to without upsetting neighbors
-having my regular hiking spots that I hike in all weather and all seasons
-having enough space to host people; I mean both hosting friends for overnights or longer without being cramped, and hosting groups of people for dinners, musical get-togethers, etc.
-getting to know the local birds (train them to eat out of your hand) and wildlife
-STARGAZING
posted by Cygnet at 10:22 AM on December 21, 2016 [6 favorites]

In the summer, I'd drag a big tub outside and get to moonbathing.
posted by mochapickle at 10:27 AM on December 21, 2016 [8 favorites]

Photography
Painting
Get involved in local stuff: government, volunteering, garden clubs, library, fundraising
posted by cecic at 10:28 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

Birdwatching! I spent just a single weekend with a group of friends in a cabin in northern New York, and there was a field guide to local birds. We had a great time trying to identify the birds who stopped by the porch. This is a sentence I never in a million years thought I would have said before that weekend.
posted by Liesl at 10:32 AM on December 21, 2016 [19 favorites]

Cross-country skiing, or snowshoeing. Just requires a trail and some snow.
TREEHOUSE—okay, that's not exactly a hobby, but I would totally build one.
Canning/pickling <> Plant fruit trees as part of your garden!
Mushrooming <—pairs well with hiking
posted by the_blizz at 10:41 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

If you have any sugar maples, tap a few (or a lot) and make some syrup. You can also gather wild berries, hunt for wild apple trees with good apples, visit pick-your-own berry farms or apple orchards, learn to identify animal tracks and follow them in the snow, put up a game camera on your property and see if it catches any interesting animals, check out the good swimming holes in streams and rivers near you, go fishing, canoe or kayak, put up a bird feeder, put up houses for bluebirds or bats, keep chickens or ducks, maybe ice skate on a frozen pond, lake or flooded field.
posted by Redstart at 10:46 AM on December 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

POND. Build a pond, ideally with a dock, so you can swim in the buff (priceless). They need a bit of maintenance but are so worth it.
posted by veery at 11:04 AM on December 21, 2016

Join the local fire department, or the Green Mountain Club.
posted by zamboni at 11:05 AM on December 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Get to know your neighbors! Walk around your town and meet everyone. Find a place to become a regular. Have a cocktail party and invite your neighbors or other people from town. Get involved in local government or charities or community projects. Have kids so you can watch them play in the dirt and climb trees. Pitch a tent in your own woods and camp :) Dress up and hand out candy on Halloween. Put up crazy Christmas decorations! You could brew beer or even set up your own distillery and make some moonshine! Nap with the windows open. Set up a hammock! Play croquet or badminton. So many things!
posted by greta simone at 11:05 AM on December 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

Find an interesting spot on your property to observe and do so everyday (or as often as possible). The changes with the seasons are astounding if you start paying attention. Birds, insects, flowers, weather. It's amazing.
posted by lydhre at 11:07 AM on December 21, 2016 [4 favorites]

Stargazing, birdwatching. Pick a particular bush or stump or something and keep a daily scientific journal where you record observations and sketch what you see and record temperature and weather etc. This starts out feeling a bit silly but a month in you're noticing the change in bee population based on temperature and curious about how the baby rabbits will affect the grass and your sketches are already improving in quality.

Around here people with rural properties often host a big event once a year ... A bonfire, or fireworks (with pros to set them off), or a big barbecue or something, that the whole town is invited to.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:16 AM on December 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

Swim, kayak or canoe, snowshoe, birdwatch, stargaze, garden, hunt for wild edibles, paint, shoot photographs, target shoot, bow sports, set up a wildlife web cam.

Please join a civic group -- these areas need participants!
posted by jgirl at 11:17 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

What you call hiking I just call walking and I would do it for ten hours a day if I lived in the country again and my schedule allowed.
posted by 256 at 11:18 AM on December 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

Firepit.

(Assuming your local bylaws permit a firepit.)
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:19 AM on December 21, 2016 [4 favorites]

Another one, you can get in touch with a nearby college and ask if their students will organize an art show at a local church of community center or library or even your house. It's good experience for the kids to put on and curate a show, and nice for the community to have an exhibit to visit. Similarly you can hire college music ensembles to come play you chamber music concerts and things. Also lots of profs come do talks in small communities. You could run a whole culture series!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:20 AM on December 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Camping!
posted by Cranialtorque at 11:20 AM on December 21, 2016

Set up an agility course for your dogs and teach them to run it.
XC skiing!
posted by BoscosMom at 11:53 AM on December 21, 2016

Use noisy toys like off-road vehicles and motorcycles. Park a broken-down car or tractor beside the house. Host a barn raising. Build a smoker and cook BBQ. Build a pond. Raise livestock. Ride horses. Fly drones. Play golf. Ski cross country. Let Boy Scouts camp on your property. Look for evidence of pre-Columbian life. Gather minerals.
posted by SemiSalt at 12:06 PM on December 21, 2016 [6 favorites]

Get a wood stove, chain saw and ax. Learn to cut, split, and stack firewood, and to recognize when it's dry enough to use. Good exercise, and it dovetails with maintaining trails through the woods.
posted by jon1270 at 12:11 PM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

nthing bird watching and getting/building a pond for swimming.

we spend 5-6 weeks every summer in the country, and most weekends form march to September, and one of the things I enjoy most is watching the birds: ealry in the morning, and at dusk, when they come to use the bird bath. They are so used to me sitting there by now they come and bathe just 2 meters away. it is so much fun to watch. I started out using binoculars but now I hrdly bother because if you sit very still they hop up really closely. We don't feed them but keep plants with fruit they like to eat in winter (wild vines - they love the berries in fall and winter, apple trees are great also for them in winter we leave some dead apples in fall for the birds).

the other lovely thing is the pond, it was built by my parents some 25 years ago, and is just large enough / deep enough for swimming. But mostly I sit by the pond, and watch the newts and swimming insects, and hatching dragin flies, so peaceful. My husband prefers to not have frogs or fish in it so we don't have them (they gross him out when swimming) but if it was only mine I would keep at least some frogs there too.

Some years we have had hedge hogs too, they love the compost heaps my husband tends.

Vegetables - we grow tomatoes, and egg plant and zuccini and pumpkin, chili, bell peppers, potatoes. And some flowers for the bees.

One year we had a hornets nest in the shed, so cool to watch too (and unlike wasps they are not aggressive unless you disturb them).
posted by 15L06 at 12:11 PM on December 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

PS -my husband loves tending his compost heaps and turned it into a regular science, and with super results. It needs space if you want to do it right but he finds it really rewarding.
posted by 15L06 at 12:13 PM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

Southwestern Vermont has a lot going for it. I'd add road cycling to the list of ideas you've already gotten. There are lot of lightly traveled roads, both paved and gravel, and excellent views. There are plenty of hills, so you'll get a workout, but you'll also get strong!
posted by brianogilvie at 1:11 PM on December 21, 2016

You'll also be relatively close to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, and to Mass MoCA in North Adams. So you'll have culture nearby too. Also Bennington College, for that matter.
posted by brianogilvie at 1:12 PM on December 21, 2016

Sit in the shade on a lawn chair on a hot day, take drink of something cold, let out a sigh, sink deeper in the chair and listen to the birds.
posted by 445supermag at 1:30 PM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

Folks have mentioned birdwatching, but the thing I came realize as I aged was that the stuff you and I both did as kids in the country dovetails really nicely into being a naturalist of sorts, or at least a fan of natural history. So maybe see if you can pick up some guides to local trees, plants, birds, rocks/geology, etc - and then be watching for them when you hike.

I realize this is basically a recommendation to be curious about the world around you. But in the country you'll have opportunities to observe nature in new and wonderful ways, so be watching for new ways to make that work.
posted by ldthomps at 1:34 PM on December 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Take up HAM radio as a hobby. It's another way to have contact with people and in a rural area you get the advantage of less interference and presumably an easier time putting up antennas.
posted by duoshao at 2:23 PM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

Things I routinely miss about living in the country:

- being able to light stuff on fire
- being able to shoot at stuff
- driving around on gravel roads
- getting drunk in the outdoors
- keeping animals (beyond the dog/cat spectrum)
- building ad hoc stuff on the property
- being able to play loud music outside
posted by brennen at 3:00 PM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

If you're looking to meet people/get involved in your community, then go to a contra dance!
posted by kalimac at 3:03 PM on December 21, 2016

A gazebo with screens. This has seen so much use in my yard -- sometimes with a little portable fire pit for s'mores -- that it turned into a verb ("Are you guys gazebing tonight, or...?") and attracts all sorts of neighbours and out-of-town guests. "Anti-gravity" chairs in it are terrific.

But the screens are critical because the country is full of bugs. Awful, biting, bugs.

Hopefully you will have some trees that are positioned well for a slackline and for a hammock.

Definitely plant things like raspberries that will keep returning every year. Having random berries in random places is nice.
posted by kmennie at 4:02 PM on December 21, 2016 [7 favorites]

Country living plus cold weather means power outages. So think positive preps in with your to-do list.
A wood stove or fireplace that can be used to cook food as well as provide heat. Lots of split logs. Cast iron pots and skillets. Maybe an outdoor fire ring or barbecue grill. Maybe a smoke house for hunting season.
Stock up on canned goods. Maybe a big chest freezer for venison and fish (yours or from neighbors). Maybe buy half a beef from a local rancher.
A big garden, maybe a greenhouse, and a good keyhole compost pile. Canning and preserving projects. Perhaps a root cellar for potatoes, etc. We have tornadoes, so the cellars get extra duty.
A propane tank or a gas generator. Maybe alternate energy sources, such as solar or wind power.
Alternate transportation, such as cross country skiing and four-wheelers. Checking cattle and fence lines have to be done regardless of the weather. Some use horses, but that is another area of responsibility and there are conditions where I would rather trust an engine instead of an animal.
How reliable is the communication system? Duoshao mentioned HAM radio. If the electricity goes out, some board games and crafts will pass the time. I would be all in with crochet, quilting and needle crafts.
Get to know the neighbors. People take care of each other in the country, particularly during harsh weather. Find out what brings them together (church, civic, school). Put a few rocking chairs on the front porch.
posted by TrishaU at 6:02 PM on December 21, 2016

If you have grassland in Vermont one of your major hobbies will be mowing it to kill the constant influx of little trees. That makes tractor maintenance a second time consuming hobby. Or you can get some horses and then you will have no free time and no money! Maybe get some cows instead. Don't get goats. As a newcomer people will try to give you their goats- it's a trap.

Seriously though if you have any free time volunteering is de rigeur in rural areas so that's probably going to be part of it. Then maintaining land is quite a bit of work especially if you want to keep it as is, if you are OK letting it go back to forest then it's obviously much easier. You may already be part of an informal trail network and creating or maintaining trails is actually pretty fun and you can ski them in the winter.
posted by fshgrl at 8:35 PM on December 21, 2016

Care for some hiking quickly with a strong sense of purpose, also known as orienteering? There are some groups in your state. Parent organization of orienteering clubs to help find one close to you:
Orienteering USA

(The Green Mountain one allows townies to join.)
posted by dlwr300 at 7:46 AM on December 22, 2016

Shooting, for sure, whether it's a gun, bow, slingshot, or potato cannon. That's one of the things I miss most about living in the country.
posted by pupsocket at 8:46 AM on December 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Overnight kayak/canoe camping trips.

My last visit to Vermont, in the Mt. Ascutney region, included a lot of walking up random creekbeds as far as I could go. I grew up in the country, much further south than Vermont, and "aimless walking along natural features" was something that I learned after moving to cities is about the same as "aimless walking through city streets."
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 9:50 AM on December 22, 2016 [1 favorite]