WELCOME!

[MuseRider]

I thought it might be nice to start with some introductions and perhaps a little bit about why we are interested in this group.

I live just outside the city limits but I own 53 acres of Brome Hay 10 miles south. I also have 7 horses. It is something I had always wanted to do but had no idea what I was doing when I started. I do it alone so I have had to rely on neighbors, the extension office, the feed store guys (my best buddies) and other farmers to learn this. I have never been sorry, I have questioned my sanity at times but have never been sorry. We should be building a house out there soon so my driving out there 2x per day will soon come to an end and by being there all the time I will hopefully be more successful. I have learned much about rural life and I think I have some insight into some of the problems our party has with rural voters. I really became interested in this during the primaries when we all were discussing these issues. Some people here have many resources and knowledge about it and I hope by putting our heads together we can come up with some useful plans and ideas. Welcome in, lets get going. :hi:

[Eureka]

1. Hi MuseRider

I have 40 acres on the Sunshine Coast, which is 1 hours drive north of Brisbane, Australia.

We have 10 horses (Spanish), 4 dogs (Schnauzer) and about 100 chickens (chooks, in Australian)

Do you have a rural background, or are you just learning?

I hope this particular forum helps open some eyes( and minds) In my opinion most of the differences between urban and rural folk are artificial divisions created as part of some sort of weird wedge politicing that drives us apart to make us easier to control.

Let me waffle a little by way of example... in Aus there seems to be a bunch of city people who think rural folk (farmers in particular) are terrible for the environment, but in reality, most farmers I know (many) recycle all their grey water (I do), plant trees to improve the soil and therefore profits (I do), use alternative energy sources (often because there is no alternative, I do), collect and conserve water wherever possible (I do) etc etc. The planet would do well if more city folk did the same. Farmers tend to take care of the soil because their lives and livelihoods depend on it. On the flip side, some farmers think that environmentalists are a bunch of pot smoking hippies that do bugger all except whine about farmers, whereas there are many many contributing environmentalists in the cities. (There are negative examples from both sides of this argument of course)

So there is some force (politics) which finds it useful to keep these two groups separate, however in reality they are much closer aligned than they may realise.

Thinking people, no matter where they live, need to see beyond the stereotypes portrayed and go to each others respective environments and find out the real deal, not what we are taught for someone elses expedience.

[MuseRider]

4. WOW

nice to be joined by an Aussie farmer! We have lots to learn from each other.

I am just learning, been doing it for a little over or around 10 years. I have made some huge mistakes but have learned from them. That is what it is all about.

Our divisions are much the same. I know both types of farmers, some who don't care about the polluting of the land because it is the easiest way to do things. Some here have gone away to the Universities and come back and taught much to the older farmers. One thing I can think of in particular are the big groups who are now doing no till farming. It has saved so much soil and given that the last 10 years we here in Kansas have been in a pretty strong drought (this year has been very wet) it was very important with the constant wind to not till up the earth. I think our main problem here with all of this is the loss of the family farm to Agri Business. Very bad problem and we all know their bottom line is not to protect the land or grow their product in a manner that is healthy for the consumer.

There is much to do here in this group I hope and the most important thing I think we could do is understand the differences and plan ways to bring all parties (Dems and rural voters) together.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

2. sage advice to women thinking about moving out into the country...

1 you can mess around, but, never mess around with a married man

2 always keep your front room pick-up (the rest of the house can go to hell)

3 never stay in your PJ's after 10 AM

:hi:

i live on 23 acres in upstate NY surrounded by thousands of acres of state land on a mountaintop (2,700 feet), i raise chickens, garden, make maple syrup, and i gather wild herbs and edible plants for both food and medicinal use, hunt for wild mushrooms every fall(yummy)...i hope someday write a book about "altitude gardening" i have yet to get a red tomato :(

my friends up the road one way have all the horses and down the road the other way is the dairy farm. my best friend elisabeth breeds horses, labadors, sheep and rabbits.

my children are barefoot and brillant!

[MuseRider]

5. Boy is that true!

You need to come to Kansas in the summer, I can give you the reddest, best tasting tomatoes in the world! I can't wait to live out there and get some chickens and start a big garden and can etc. We hunt mushrooms in the spring here. Do you by any chance know how to dry can? It is something I want to learn but have not really looked into it too much yet. Your place sounds beautiful.

[murielm99]

7. I have found that it is best not to be in PJs after 7:00 a.m.

Farmers have a habit of visiting their neighbors early.

And, if you mess around, don't mess around with someone from the same town if you want it to be private. If you don't care who knows, it is okay, then.

People come to the back door around here, so I have to keep my kitchen picked up.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

9. yuppers....where i live in east jewett - ya can't fart....

without it being heard in Texas

and backdoor friends are the best :7

[MuseRider]

12. Back door

friends are always the best. I can't wait to live out there. It is funny, if I have anything to do in the mornings and don't get out to my farm until 10AM I get frowns and shaking heads, cracks me up. When I first bought the place they all took bets and had a pool on how long I would last. After I made it through the first year without killing myself out there they decided I was OK.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

14. LOL yuppers they did the same with me...been here 20 years and still only

rate chipmunk status

[Tweed]

3. Thank you for getting this started

I look forward to posting here often. I live in Chicago, but I use to live in Springfield, IL and I lived across the street from a corn field (Before that I lived in Elmhurst, IL, so I've done Urban, Suburban and Rural). I continue to keep a special interest in rural issues and rural dwellers despite my urban environment.

The Democratic party started out as the party of the farmers and rural citizens and I would like to see us return to that. It's time to get harsh on corporate farms, make sure our countryside is kept free of pollution and raise the minimum wage for all workers. Rural citizens are most likely to get paid minimum wage or less than any other area.

These voters should be our strongest base but they have become one of our weakest. Hopefully this forum can do its part to change that.

[MuseRider]

6. YES!

That is exactly what we need to figure out. Why has this changed and what can we do to change it back? There are lots of false things that have become prevalent in thought in the rural areas regarding democrats.
I think we need to first figure out exactly what things are important to rural people and then figure out what it is about the Democratic party they do not like and put it all together.

[murielm99]

8. I live in rural Northern Illinois, about two miles from a

farming community of 2500.

We came here 26 years ago, when my husband used to farm for his father. His father has since died, and the farm property has been split up.

We own farm property in Lee County, Illinois, and Grundy County, Iowa. We rent it to other farmers. We both work at outside jobs, because being a family farmer is very difficult financially.

[MuseRider]

10. Hi murielm99!

Yes it is hard, almost impossible these days if you don't have thousands of acres and a bazzilion bucks to keep it going. What do they farm on your land?

[Eureka]

11. Indeed

I heard a call in on radio the other day and the host asked the caller what he did for a living. The caller replied "Well, I was a farmer, but I had to practice as a dentist for forty years to pay for it"

[MuseRider]

13. The truth.

My farm would probably be considered a hobby farm since the horses are for my enjoyment and 53 acres is not large but I use my crop so I have to care for it. Manure spreader broke today, 2 days after I paid about $200.00 to fix it. It broke somewhere else and since I can't weld it has to go back. Tractor battery was dead this spring. Fence repairs were done yesterday, I do most of that but sometimes I need help. It is always something.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

15. organic farming is the wave of the future...you can find a market for it

anywhere ...lots of co-ops and green markets and organic resturants springing up everwhere...big agri farms are going to die because within 10/15 years there will be no fuel to run them

[MuseRider]

16. I wish I had known

before I bought this land what I know now. Brome is non native and requires fertilizing. Native grass is not as rich, takes more to feed but it needs no fertilizer, does not go dormant early and can take the drought better. I simply can't afford to kill it out and replant, it would take about 3 years with no crop. Since Brome is invasive to the native grass it would require about $10,000.00 to do it. I could just beat myself up over that. I tried to go totally organic but the Brome crop just won't grow and I need to feed my horses so I now use their manure and fertilize chemically as little as possible and I hand spray for weeds (lots of fun in 53 acres!). I am so excited to start an organic garden though.

[murielm99]

22. They grow corn and beans.

Very Midwestern crops!

When we farmed ourselves, we used to plant a little winter wheat, and some oats now and then. But now it is just corn and beans.

[MuseRider]

23. We still have beans

in the fields here. It has been too wet to get them out.

[Tweed]

17. So you have Denny representing you in the House?

That has to suck. Zamora did decently considering he was going after the speaker of the House. Are you very active with the Lee County Democrats?

[murielm99]

21. No, not Denny. Someone even worse: That stupid Manzullo.

He was one of the people responsible for bringing Keyes here to run.

The good Mr. Manzullo is such a great Christian. He, or rather his wife, home school all their kids. They are perfect and wonderful.

I wish we could get someone good to run against the guy. I talked to someone here about it, who is a county board member with a political future. He says Manzullo is unbeatable, and that it would take a great deal of money to even run a credible campaign against him.

Anyway, I do not live in Lee County. I live in Ogle County. I am a precinct committeeman, and treasurer of our county Democratic organization.

[Tweed]

24. Thank you for being so involved

Is Northern Illinois University in your district? Does that help or hurt? Manzullo looks pretty old. Perhaps we could "Bean" him in a couple of years. Kutsch didn't seem to run a very good campaign. I'm sure he didn't get that much funding.

[murielm99]

25. Northern Illinois University is in another district close to me.

We work with their county Democrats. The very eastern part of my county is in the Dekalb district. We helped a candidate from there. He did not win, but he came very close.

Kutsch was a lousy candidate. He did not run much of a campaign. He does not have much personality, either.

I am very active, and know most of the Democrats in this area. He never visited our headquarters. If he had come to us, and attended some of our events, we would have helped him financially. We have a good fundraiser every year, and we always support our candidates financially. I felt personally insulted that Kutsch never even showed his face.

We work with the 17th District Committee, too. We used to be part of the 17th District, before redistricting. They are Quad City Area.
Next year, I am planning on getting to know some of the Democrats in Lee and Whiteside Counties, too. They have very active groups.

The guy who coordinated the Obama campaign came to all of our events and several of our monthly meetings. The Obama campaign kept in touch with all parts of the state. Our membership chairman was active in his campaign. That will help us keep his attention in the days to come.

I have no doubt that Obama will represent all of us, and not just Chicago. That is another thing that irks farmers. Too many politicians seem to spend all their time working with the urban populations. Obama was smart enough to figure out that there are lots of rural portions of this state. More Democrats should pay attention to what he does.

[Township75]

18. Hi all! I have lived almost all of my life in Appalachia...

spent most of my life in rural PA and now live in rural VA.

I went to college in the city to get a taste of it, and I don't miss it one bit.

Rural is where it's at...but don't tell anyone, because we want to keep it rural.

[MuseRider]

19. It is getting

very hard to get out far enough to keep anything rural these days. I have to laugh at the folks I see moving into their huge houses on the acre of "what used to be country". I laugh so I don't cry. Have you seen this? http://www.tidepool.org/original_content.cfm?articleid=128975

[Township75]

20. It rings true with me...

nothing worse than some city A-hole buying and building on top of a mountain for everyone to see.

Then they criticize a culture which respects guns and hunting. And all I can think of is why would they want to move to a place like this...they clearly just want the city life.

[DemBones DemBones]

31. That was a good laugh! My pet peeve with new people

moving out here is their damn "security" lights.


"And what's with all the lights? It's starting to look like a Wal-Mart parking lot over there at night. Why did you move away from town if you're afraid of the dark? I'm afraid that pretty soon all your house lights and porch lights and garage lights and yard lights will prevent me from being able to see the Milky Way or blot out the rare displays of the northern lights."

The world needs more dark places, not less.

[democratreformed]

26. Hi to everyone! Arkansas hillbilly here.

I was born and raised in the "foothills" of the Ozarks.

I only have 1 acre (bought from my uncle). But, my dad owns the surrounding 160 acres that once belonged to my grandpa. On my measly little acre, I have chickens, ducks, a horse, and one dog. Oh, and my daughter's house trailer in one corner.

We just got the horse this year. It's a miniature we bought for my son. The horse pen took up my garden spot, but, Oh Well.

My dad and mom fenced in 80 acres about six years ago and started a "deer farm". My dad (since my mom died in '99) now has about 65 deer in the pen. One of our favorite things to do is ride our four-wheelers in the "deer pen" and observe nature at its finest. I especially love it in the spring when there are babies.

[Nikia]

27. Semi rural

I think that where I live would be considered rural even though I live in a "city". The city where I grew up was larger but also considered rural. I remember learning about urban, surburban, and rural in second grade and being shocked that our city was considered rural. We had everything that a city should have, except maybe public transportation (which they do have now) and a professional sports team (although they did in the past). It wasn't like it was possible to know everyone or easily walk every street in town in one day. Now that I am older, I realize that the area that I grew up in and areas that I live now aren't exactly urban. I think that the people here and there do have more of a rural view though.

[Padraig18]

28. East-central Illinois checking in.

I live in the middle of the most productive farmland on the face of the earth in a town of 2900 people. It's a largely 'red' area, although we are spared the freeper/PNAC types, for the most part. Life is very closely connected to the soil here, and anything that positively or negatively affects agriculture and agro-business affects everybody.

I wanted this forum because the national Democratic party has largely and by default ceded rural America to the Republicans, and this need not be so. We have MUCH in common with rural Americans, as both Dr. Dean and Congressman Kucinich correctly pointed out, and it's long past time to begin reaching out into this fertile political soil. We've done it locally, with great success, and there is no reason the national party cannot do the same.

:)

[RiDuvessa]

29. Former Central Illinois

Hello all.

Grew up in a town of 4200. I always used to say I was a half and hour from anywhere that mattered. Still, it was a good place to grow up. I'm in the military now, but I still keep up with what's going on back home. I am glad to see this forum. Rural issues should matter to the Democratic party. We need middle America.

[greendeerslayer]

30. howdy

I live in the backwoods, certified organic farmer, livestock breeder, and as my tag suggests, a dedicated deer shooter. I have a mule, donkey,dogs, horses, many hogs and a few cattle.

[DemBones DemBones]

32. My husband and I are a couple of city kids who ran away to the country

back in 1968. We don't farm, though we considered it once. Back in 1971 we could have bought 20 acres with a farmhouse and a barn, a tobacco allotment, a tractor and other farming equipment, for $20K total. This was in north central Florida, where they grow peanuts, watermelon, corn, cucumbers, and, obviously, tobacco. We'd lived in the area since 1968. Every now and then we wonder how that would have worked out, but we moved on to north Georgia a year later, continued teaching, bought a small piece of land with a house in 1975. We love living out in the boonies.

[Kali]

33. Howdy

Someone just told me about this group - I was kind of afraid to go looking at all the new groups - spend way too much time on the main page as it is but I was just asking a question about any DUers involved in ag so here I am.

I am the 4th generation of my family on this piece of Arizona, though I wasn't actually raised here. My kids are 5th gen. and one was even born in the old house that is over 100 years old (hey its Arizona - that's old out here - have some friends from Germany, talk about an unimpressed crowd! But man do the stucco dwellers that just moved to Tucson from back east seem awed)

Anyway land in this area is rated around 80 acres to the cow. Yes you read that right. We are a barely sustaining small family operation of around 150 to 200 mother cows. About 22 sections, aproximately 80% of which is leased from the State. Have some (too many) horses and chickens too. A half dosen old Pecan trees and recently started planting a few fruit trees for our use - just don't have reliable water for an orchard. Though at one time there was one.

My mother left the ranch to marry a college professor and I spent many summers here, always wanted to live here. Came in 86 to care for my Grandfather who was in his 80's and suffering with Alzhiemers then (great stories there! 80 year old cowboy with Alzhiemers and his gun) After he died I just stayed and they will have to use dynamite on me to get me out of here. And then I will still be here splattered all over the big granite boulders of Texas Canyon. Of course my kids just want to skateboard in town so I await the grandkids to return!

Glad to see an Australian on here I'm heading your way for my 50th birthday in a few more years and would love to visit some livestock operations. (and I want one of those funny looking saddles too!)

Ok enough yacking - I must read all the older posts!

[kineneb]

34. Rural northern California here!

And yes, there is a lot of rural California. We are in Lake Co. population around 65,000. My "zip code"/village is 2500 when all the summer people are here. The largest incorporated town is Clearlake (pop.~14,000). No big "industry" in the county except for tourism; wine grapes, walnuts and pears are our big thing.

When we moved, I wanted to live in a village where I could a walk or bicycle to the grocery and the post office. We have 1/4 acre w/"mfg. home" (on foundation).

[xmas74]

35. I live in

West Central Missouri-in a rural area. I used to live "in the country" but now live "in town". Still, my county is mostly farmland.
My dream someday is to have enough money to buy a small place in the country w/ a few acres-enough to put in a wonderful garden and freeze all my veggies for the rest of the year. I want go back to having a home that my daughter can run free through-instead of worrying about the cars whizzing by.
Someday, it will be mine (again).

[thinkingwoman]

36. Hello!

I grew up on 90 acres with horses. I still miss it!

Living "in town" (city of 4500 people) in south central Indiana now. My neighbors are all country folk who happen to live in town so it still feels like living out in the country only more crowded.

[pro_blue_guy]

37. Hi!

I am fairly new to DU and just discovered this forum. I grew up in a rural setting just outside of Norwalk, Ohio (population 17,000) and am moving away from home and going to school in January just west of Chicago (in a semi-rural part of Illinois). I don't mind living in a rural setting (especially at my parent's home where we are surrounded by farms, woodlands, and a nice river flowing through the area creating a beautiful valley setting with 100-foot cliffs and forested hills, and even a couple of small waterfalls. Yes, most people think my part of Ohio is all flat. But if you haven't been there, you have no idea!)

Anyway, enough of nature. I just wanted to say that this past election there were nearly just as many Kerry/Edwards signs as were Bush/Cheney signs on the rural roads around my parents' home. As a matter of fact, there were 3 Kerry signs compared to 0 Bush signs on my road alone (keep in mind there are only about 15 homes on that road). There are sensible people out here that do vote democratically. We just need to educate some more people through grassroots political action (if such a thing even exists in Ohio). I'm hoping to see some more Democrat signs for the 2006 Governor's race. I believe that if a Republican wins Ohio in 2006, the majority of voters are:

1) sheep, blindly following a misguided shepherd
2) ignorant, not realizing they are voting against their best interests
3) lazy, not taking the time to understand the issues at hand

-OR-

4) dumb; it's as simple as that!