Are country living folks.......

[QuilterMom]

relying too much on modern conveniences?


I hope this doesn't come across the wrong way, but I have been noticing some things my neighbors do that just make me . An example: One of our next door neighbors takes his trash to the road by putting it on the back of his 4-wheeler and driving it down. What happened to walking it down or walking and pulling the can alongside you? (Our trash cannot weigh over a certain amount or it will not be picked up so I'm assuming that he's not driving it down because it's heavy). I've seen more people around us taking their yard debris to the road using their trucks and SUV's. What's wrong with just dragging a big pile of it down to the road? It's good exercise!

We're all on approximately the same sized lots (acre and a half) so it's not like they've got an enormous distance to get to the road (and some people's houses sit closer to the road than others).

One thing I looked forward to once we moved was working on my land. I suppose I thought other people living in my area lived here because they felt the same way. I'm not really getting that vibe from anyone around here. (Side note: I've also noticed that hardly anyone around me has a garden).

Any comments?

[homesteadmamma]

I have to agree with you Kim. We see the same thing here, no one does any walking anymore, not even when mowing the lawn. They all have riding lawn mowers. We have seen quite a few gardens though, but very small.

Seldom do you see a clothesline with clothes on it. Usually the clothesline is falling over.

You seldom see kids outside playing, they are all in the house playing on their own computer or watching their own tv.

I do like some conveniences that I have though. I love my KA, my grain mill and my sewing machine. And I know dh relies on some of his tools that would have to be classified as conveniences.

I also noticed that farmers no longer have simple anything. Its all BIG TIME machinery that costs close to $500,000 for some pieces and yet they complain because they can't make ends meet.
Its interesting because just the other day, we seen a farmer on this old tractor, doing up his fields and I said to dh, I bet he isn't concerned about debt. It was so neat to see that he hadn't been consumed by consumerism or conveniences.

Great question!!

[mommy2many]

I see this where we live too. Many people do what you just described, drive the garbage to the end of the driveway. I don't understand why people don't just walk it there either. The effort they put forth to get it in the car trunk and drive it down takes twice as long as just walking it there. I also see the riding lawnmowers here and lawn care service people. I guess we just like to do it ourselves. Provoking question...

[Michele Annette]

My parents live in Georgia in the country. Their "neighborhood" consists of a row of 6 houses including theirs. They have to drive 20 minutes to get to any store or gas station. None of them have gardens, including my parents. My parents don't really practice anything close to frugality. My Mom doesn't want to be "bothered"...HER words, not mine. I sigh when I think of it, but we all have a choice in the way we want to live, so I don't give her a hard time...except recycling! They do not recycle in Georgia and it really burns me! I make it known that I'm not happy that they don't even try to find a recycling center or use less packaging or reuse packaging, etc. That is the only thing I gripe to them about!

[Ellise]

I am guilty of the riding lawnmower.
I do however walk my trashcan to the road.
I have a clothes line but do not use it as my dogs will ruin the clothes so I use a couple of racks indoors.
I have a garden but it only has flowers in it this year. DH wants to fix me an area out back for a veggie garden. (has to be fenced in because of the dogs).
They don't have a recycle pick up here but we do go to the recycle centers.