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How did you wind up where you are living Survey
When I travel I sometimes wonder what brought the people to the areas that I am visiting.
In my case my maternal grandparents came to the US by boat arriving in New York City, raised their family and passed away all within a couple of miles from the boat they got off.
So far I have only gotten 60 miles from the boat  Must be that security collar on my ankle..just kidding..Or simply that thing called family!
Living in the NY metro area has its benefits and its costs. Used to be there was always significant opportunity for work.. not sure about that now. Certainly is the most ridiculously expensive place to live last months electric bill at 35 cents a kilowatt hr for example because of propane spot prices, expect to pay high property taxes 2% of house value annually.
Right now I would love to move someplace warmer and less costly... but have to wait and see where my kids wind up after college.
Anyway that is why I am stuck here in NJ for better or worse 
I have moved as far as one can get from NY City with still being able to get back and forth if needed, but a dreadful long commute I did for many years 5 hours round trip each day.
The population here is about 250 per square mile. Rural for the countries most densely populated state.
Please share your story of why and how you came to be where you are. I would love to hear about it.
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How did you wind up where you are living Survey
Dennis,
My great grandparents arrived here by wagon train, back in the late 1800s and early 1900 to 1906.......just after North Dakota gained statehood.
They came from Germany looking for an opportunity to start up their own farms. They arrived in Wisconsin, via the Great Lakes, where they hooked up with fellow countrymen from Germany, then began their trip out to the Dakota Territory.
They eventually settled in Mohall, North Dakota, which is 10 miles from the Canadian line, in central North Dakota. My grandmother was born in Mohall, as was my father. I was the first of the family to be born in a hospital, also in Mohall.
I've lived in North Dakota my entire life, with the exception of a few years that I spent in the Army, traveling about the country. When my time in the Army was up, I came back to North Dakota. I love the peace and quiet....the freedom....and the low cost of living here. Nothing like spending a day on the lake and rarely seeing another person.
I have 5 acres just outside of Cando, which is 120 miles east of where I was born. My property taxes are 260 dollars per year. Electricity is 10 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $3.22 per gallon, currently.
Propane prices....coupled with our very long winters, can make heating expenses very high, so I took it upon myself to install a wood-burning furnace in the basement. I heat my house and water with free firewood. We have a propane furnace which we use for those days when the wood-burner can't keep up with -30 temps and the wind blowing at 40mph.
We raise 100 chickens each summer, providing most of our meat for the winter. We purchase a whole hog from a local farmer each year, providing us with our pork. Beef is something we have to buy at the local butcher shop.
We also have a 1/3 acre garden, which provides all of our vegetables. We do a lot of canning and freezing. My wife is diligent about making sure we have enough on hand to last through the winter.
I look forward to seeing the stories written by our other members. It's a great way to get to know our members better, and what a great topic for discussion!
Joel
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How did you wind up where you are living Survey
That is an interesting question Dennis. I was looking on line at various properties for sale and came across a farm that had been foreclosed upon. The wife and I decided to drive out and take a look.
The place was MUCH more rural and isolated than we expected. The more the better in my opinion. Long story short we bought the farm and a number of other places nearby and moved to the area.
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How did you wind up where you are living Survey
My ancestors settled here from Germany in 1857. Sold the farmland around it but still own 1 3/4 acres of the original homestead. It gets passed down from generation to generation. My daughter is currently living in the home that was built in 1970 but is relocating for a job about 90 miles away. Don't know long term if we will keep it. Also own another parcel of farmland a mile down the road that has been in the family for 100 years. I live 10 miles away in town but may move back in the next couple of weeks. About a mile away, one road carries the family name.
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How did you wind up where you are living Survey
Grew up a few miles south of where I am. Moved up where my mother was living in 67. Spent 20+ years traveling around country and world courtsey of Uncle Sam. Getting ready to retire and moved in near the inlaws. the Finger Lakes is a beautiful area.
Now we are kinda of stuck here with 4 granddaughters and their families all with in a 4 mile radius.
Would love to leave this commie state, taxes suck, politics suck, the gun laws suck.
For the most part I can survive it.
But here I am and probably here I'll die.
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How did you wind up where you are living Survey
Wow- so many fellow folks from the old country. I'm a mere babe in comparison- came by plane(5 stops looks likea DC-3 from pics dad took) and train to Michigan in 1952. Dad looked at climate etc what was close to Germany and where sponsors locations were. It was either Michigan or someplace in Australia. Dad built a house, worked factory, mom was homemaker and me and brother(born here) grew up and still reside. My brother moved across the street of the folks place and I am about 20 miles away
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How did you wind up where you are living Survey
My Great Grandfather on my Dad's side and two of his brothers came to the US from Luxembourg in the 1840's. The story goes there was no new land left to farm over there and no industry so the hope of a better life over here drew them. To continue the story one brother stayed in Pensylvania,the remaining two continued on to East
Dubuque where there was not yet a bridge, only a ferry. They crossed the Mississippi and walked to Independence, Iowa about 75 miles west, My GGP heard of work in Benton county about 40 miles south of Independence, the third brother said he was going to the Dakota territory, they say none ever heard from the other again. About 99% of the people who settled in Eastern Benton county were Germans, there he found and married my GGM a purebred German girl born in Germany. On it goes, my Grandfather and Grandmother on my Mothers side were born in Germany, so my Mother and Dad being purebred Germans from that community produced me another purebred German, not many of us purebreds left. None of my GGF's offspring hardly left the borders of Benton County, My Grandfather and his brothers and sisters didn't go much farther. By the third generation, my Dad and his eleven brothers and sisters began to fan out a bit for lack of farmland in the immediate areia. Growing up here I liked it, so I found some farmland and stayed. The winters are sometimes bad, the summers are sometimes hot, but usually there was a reward in the fall. After 50+ years of married life we have gone south in the winter a couple times, hated every minute of it and came back home to the snow and cold.
Enuf of that.
Frank.
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How did you wind up where you are living Survey
My Grandpa came from Italy to New York City when he was 17 and then sent back to Italy telling the family to come on over. I have his passport where he was described as having a BIG nose. He bought an apple farm without knowing anything about farming in the Hudson Valley. He died early - my Dad took over and married a WASP wife with roots back to the Mayflower.
As a result I am a mutt, as are my sisters. And now our kids are all super mutts. I had a chance to go to other places when I was younger but like the Mid Hudson Valley. However, taxes will get the best of me before long. If it was me alone I would go to Tennessee. Unfortunately, my wife has other plans for me.
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How did you wind up where you are living Survey
The more I think about this topic, more resurfaces in my crappy memory. In fact what got me to looking for a place was a post on this forum WAAAAAAAAAAAAY back MANY years ago that posted a link to the website landandfarm.com.
I got to looking around on this website and found some BEAUTIFUL places for sale. We drove out to take a look and fell in love with it. After over 6 months of haggling with the idiots at Regions back who had foreclosed on it as well as some other deed complications, we were able to close on the place. We found another place very close by that was in legal complications that took another 6 months to straighten out but it had a pretty nice house on it that would do until we could build or find a nicer home in the area. We still are living in it but once we get the kids through college, we will probably build a home.
I wish I could find this thread posted many years ago and link to it. I have been looking and see a lot of familiar names that have moved on.
If I find the thread, I will post the link to it. Dennis, would you take a look and see if you remember what thread this was?
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How did you wind up where you are living Survey
Chief you have a great memory !!!
Here is the link to the post from 2005...
Link:
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