There are plenty of poor people in some parts of rural USA , particularly the South and Appalachia. There’s a hell of a lot of rural besides those areas, though. In many rural areas, there’s a wide mixture of wealthy (not necessarily ‘gentleman farmers’), doing okay, and poor. Just like cities, but more spread out.
Poverty is a rural issue with challenges somewhat different than those of urban poverty. That doesn’t mean everyone in rural areas are either wealthy or poor. Okay?
I am poor, by USA standards; and so are some of my friends and peers.
But it’s not a matter of living in
What we’ve got around here is old farmhouses sized to fit the largest family that ever lived in them, because people kept putting on additions over the last hundred years or two. Yes, some of those rooms get shut off for the winter, or run cold even if in use, to save on the fuel bills; but we have the option of being comfortable by the wood stove. City people who can’t afford the heating bill often don’t have that option; any heat they can get they have to pay for.
And from what I read there are lots of poor people in the cities; most of whom don’t have the option to grow their own produce.
And there are also different definitions of “city” - it can mean a very dense urban area, or it can mean an incorporated area that operates differently from a village or town and there are probably other definitions as well. I’m sure there are many villages that are rural , but the villages that border NYC ( such as Lawrence and Floral Park ) are not at all rural.
When I owned a rural house in Santa Clara county, propane was about 10x the price of natural gas, and the price tracked NG prices closely. NG goes up and so does propane. Heating the house was quite expensive, but luckily I wasn’t in a cold weather state.
The OP kind of poisoned the well a bit with the way they asked the question. Then it sort of turned into a poor v rich rural vs true rural debate.
It’s a tough question to answer because there are all sorts of versions of “rural” in the USA just as there are all sorts of definitions of “urban”. New York is different from Boston which is different from Las Vegas. Similarly rural Rust Belt is different from rural Kansas or rural Arizona.
And no matter where you are, most places tend to be pretty nice when you have money and suck when you don’t
The ramshackle hut thing was hyperbole. I’d like to point out that there are a lot of poor rural people that don’t/can’t grow produce of any kind either.
I had a paragraph or two that explained my reasoning in my first post but I cut it because of TLDR. I’ll try to cut it down here.
I grew up rural poor. Nine kids and my parents, although my dad was away for long periods of time because he was a farm/ranch hand. If we had a car, he took it because my mom couldn’t drive. The biggest place we ever lived was 3 bedrooms, one bath. We even did the walk to school both ways thru the snow thing.
But none of that is exclusively rural, it could apply to anyone, anywhere. What made us rural was planting our own crops, hunting for food,(even illegally sometimes), having chickens for eggs and a food source occasionally when the hunting didn’t work out. You don’t have to do all that to be rural, but I would expect you to do some of it. You can also be a teacher, priest, mechanic, bar owner or hardware store owner because you are part of the community. I don’t consider just having a house outside city limits to be living rural. I don’t suddenly switch from being a city dweller to a rural person when I go to my lake cabin.
Holy crap! Really? I guess that explains why propane theft is such a big problem. And think of all those people that have those decorative patio propane heaters. I know a few city dwellers that heat with natural gas or electricity but have a propane tank for cooking. Don’t ask me why, it’s one of those foodie things I don’t understand.
Money may not solve all problems, but it’s a better consolation prize than poverty.
OK; and I see what you’re saying. But in the context of your previous post was this:
which reads as if the only reason to get pissed off at posts such as those with the thread title is if somebody’s not living in the fashion you describe as “rural”. Seems to me that the people who are “rural” by your definition are at least as likely to get pissed off at such posts; quite possibly more so.
And yes, a lot of people who do meet your definition have internet access, these days. Not to mention that most of them have had television since maybe around 1960 if not earlier. And many have at least one family member who works, and may well shop, in a city.
You are right, I should have went with the TLDR post for a better explanation. The only reason I quoted enipla was because he is seemingly the one that always posts back against stuff that, IMHO, is not meant to be about him. I like him as a poster and think he lives a great life. He has a great wife, a job he loves and lives where he is happy. I was happy for him when he pushed to have his job switched to work from home so he didn’t have to drive to town five days a week in crappy weather. He just doesn’t fit my perception of a typical rural dweller.
@enipla , I’m sorry that my posts came across as insulting to you, I sincerely did not mean it that way. I’ve read your posts for so many years here and it’s obvious to me you are nothing like what some people are saying in this thread about rural people. Not even close. Again, my apologies.
The farmer we get our horses’ hay from works “in the city” four days a week in order to be able to afford to farm.
His corn mazes are amazing. He has shown me drone footage of his mazes, which are cut using a computer design program.
The Gearhard farm, the oldest continuously worked farm in Westmoreland County, dates to the late 1760s, and marks its 250th anniversary this year. On April 3, 1769, Robert Hays paid 45 pounds, two shillings and sixpence for 339 and one-half acres in what would shortly become Franklin Township.
Hays and his son were once captured by Native Americans and held captive for three years.
I do.
Others in this thread have. Quite a few of them.
Yeah. There’s a lot of that.
Some people do pull it off just farming. But a lot can’t.
Accepted.
I used to live in real farm country when I was a kid. I know what kind of work and skills are needed to farm. It’s mostly reliance on oneself to get a job done (and mother nature can be a problem). That really should be applauded.
The same applies to city living though. You need skills to navigate life in Manhattan, just as you need skills to navigate Kansas or mountain living.
I try (it’s hard) to not pigeon hole folks. I’ve found brilliant people in all environments. Plenty of assholes too.
Don’t edit my posts so you can reply to them out of context, please. The second half of the sentence explains why he was different from others posting. The reason I didn’t mention people like you is that you do live rural.
Sure, same as living in a city or a suburb. You can’t make a go with your main job, so you have a second one. Or run a business online selling gadgets. Again, that’s not just a rural thing.
Thank you, I really mean it. I’d hate to think you have bad thoughts about me as I quite enjoy your posts. While we may disagree on whether you live rural or not, that’s probably the only difference that I can see. To me, you are already living your dream life. You’re where you want to be with the ones you want to be with. What more can someone ask for?
Me too. I’ll try to lessen my brush strokes in the future. Again, thanks for accepting my apology.
There’s a tiny little “city” in Georgia called White, with a population of less than 700. IIRC, the closest real city is Cartersville, about ten miles away. Some of the people who work in White are poor (as in no POV) and live in Cartersville. They end up walking to and from work because there’s no public transportation system. Of couse the residents of White have their own vehicles and thus are not compelled to leave for their jobs three hours or more earlier than it starts, so, of course, they don’t see the pedestrian commuters.