Move to the Country... And Have the City Move to the Country

Ah...  Good ol' country living!  We moved out to the country in 2001 when we built our home underneath some big live oak trees that had been an old homestead. Although we have neighbors, it is quiet.  Directly across from us is a big field that was planted repeatedly in soybeans after we moved here, but lately it has been fallow.  On the outside levee of this field is where dewberries grow each spring, allowing us to pick gallons of berries that we turn into jelly and smoothies.  I always comment that this is a crop that we never have to plant or tend to!  Here is a shot of the land standing in one location looking north east...

Then directly north...

And then northwest.

When we first moved in, we considered purchasing some of the acreage to fence off and put some cattle grazing.  We approached the landowner about buying a few acres from him and he let us know that he was not splitting up the land.  If we wanted it, we had to purchase it all and he had already been offered a nice sum of money for it, so if we were interested, we'd need to beat the current bid price. Needless to say, the amount of money to buy the land was way outside of our budget.

However, as the years passed and the land lay dormant, we have enjoyed the rural, quiet life.  The other day, however, we noticed a change.  The land was being plowed.  Trackhoes cleaned up the brush and most of the trees, stacking them in large piles where they would be splashed with diesel and set ablaze.  The field that had grown up in grass now looked like it was being worked up to put in a crop. It is late to be doing that for rice, but perhaps for soybeans...

Saturday morning two Versatile 875 tractors with discs were parked directly across from the house. As the men greased the bearings on the gangs, Tricia and I walked over with cups of coffee to talk to the gentlemen to see what was going on.  One of the guys built our house back in 2001.  I had not seen him or talked to him in probably 15 years.  I joked with him and told him that he plowed up my dewberry crop!  He laughed and said that I was the second person that told him that.  He told me that he had just purchased the land.  So I asked him: Is this going to still be farmland?

"No," he answered.  He was going to develop it into an exclusive subdivided neighborhood.  He told us that many people are interested in getting out of the city and like the small rural school out here that has good academics. They are clamoring to move and this land is the perfect place for them to build, he said. Tricia and I are both disappointed. Obviously, WE moved out to the country, so it is a bit disingenuous for us to complain when others do.  We liked the wide open spaces and serenity that country life affords. I guess I'll soak up the view from the front porch of a wide open field while I still can.

Now things are going to be different and we'll just have to get used to it.  I guess the first thing we need to do is plant some dewberries in our yard to make up for the ones we lost in the ditch across the road!