You're not alone if you ever dream of a fresh start in the country. Hear what it's like from 3 households who actually made the leap.
Who hasn't dreamed of ditching city life and transferring to the country? Maybe you've invested weekend vacations scanning the local property listings, baffled by how far a dollar can extend: A farmhouse (with acreage!) for what a walkup studio would cost in the city?
In 2012, I made the jump, moving from Seattle to a small summertime town in Maine. I started photographing these people and interviewing them about their victories and challenges in transitioning to nation living. The project took flight immediately-- clearly I wasn't the only one thinking about getting away the city.
Do not take it from me, though. Hear it from these three households who left the city behind for a new beginning.
Photography by Alissa Hessler. You can read more profiles like these on Urban Exodus and in her book Ditch the City and Go Country.
Kenzie and Shawn Fields
When a family of New Yorkers discovered an eccentric home in the Berkshires at a 3rd the expense of their city cage, they figured it was fate.
Moved from: New York City City, pop. 8.5 million
Kenzie and Shawn Fields were living in what many New York families would think about a dream circumstance-- a three-bedroom cage apartment or condo in a desirable Brooklyn community. To manage living in the city, though, both Kenzie and Shawn had to work long hours.
When Kenzie's moms and dads relocated to the Berkshires, an innovative center in the mountains of Massachusetts, the Fields family came for a visit and began imagining leaving the city behind. The couple wished to provide their kids a youth immersed in nature and access to great public schools. "It seemed like an inspired concept," remembers Shawn. "However when I believed about all the worries and unknowns, logically it was a bad idea given that what we had in the city was really fantastic." When they stumbled throughout their storybook 1756 cottage while casually taking a look at property listings, though, they felt that fate was pressing their hand. "On what I thought was a lark, we looked at a home in a town with a great little school," says Shawn. "The home loan on the home had to do with a third of our house's home loan. That check out sealed the offer."
Transferred to: New Marlborough, Mass., pop. 1,509
Shawn and Kenzie took a leap of faith and moved their family to New Marlborough. "Living in a village in the country was a great answer for us," says Kenzie. "We're steps from a post workplace, library, cars and truck mechanic and a general store. We live throughout from a hurrying creek, which is soothing. There's no deafening rural silence. Rural does not have to imply empty and huge."
Rather of continuing to work hard to even more the careers of other artists, the couple chose to focus their efforts on structure Shawn's fine-art business. Offering up their steady city earnings while handling the costs of winter season heating and taking care of an old house hasn't been a cakewalk, but they can't imagine returning to the confined confines of city living.
Entering their house is like walking into among Shawn's narrative paintings. On a typical day, their child, Honey, may welcome you in the lawn with a family pet rabbit, their kid Peter might follow you around with his brass trumpet, and their other child Odie might offer to perform a magic technique. They have gotten crafty-- repurposing wood, windows and thrifted treasures to transform their home into a cozy, wacky wonderland.
The kids have far more freedom to explore now-- they spend hours playing in the creek by their home and offering at the library down the street. And they have actually all seen, says Kenzie, that "the opportunity to care is more present when you're out of the overwhelming scale of a city. When my mother passed away, people we didn't know well left whole meals on our patio."
They like the natural setting of their brand-new life, states Kenzie. However that's just the start. "Playing charades with our neighbors, heating with wood, the animals, library pie sales, town hall meetings. Our buddies down the roadway invite people over to sing traditional music every Sunday night, actually standing around the piano after supper."
Richard Blanco
A Cuban-American poet discovered the peaceful he needs to compose-- plus a sense of belonging-- in a small Maine town.
Moved from: San Antonio, Texas
At President Obama's 2nd inauguration in 2013, Richard Blanco's reading of his poem One Today motivated the country. What the majority of people do not know is that, recalling, he's not sure he would have been able to compose the poem if he had not been confined to his composing desk, surrounded by pine forests piled high with snow, up on a mountainside in his new home in St Louis, Missouri.
Prior to relocating to Maine, Richard lived the majority of his life in San Antonio. In 2012, he was working as a civil engineer and writing check over here in his extra time when his partner, Mark, got a job that required the couple to move to the small ski town of St Louis, Missouri. Although Richard was a little apprehensive initially, he was delighted at the possibility of leaving the traffic and sound of city life and having the opportunity to compose more.
And he now understands that living in the nation was a natural for him. "I think I have actually always desired to move to the country," he says. Most of my household is from rural areas in Cuba, and I felt extremely at house there."
Moved to: St Louis, Missouri
Richard and Mark didn't know how this town would receive them, however they have actually been happily amazed. St Louis has welcomed "the gay couple from San Antonio," as they were referred to for a while, with open arms. Richard is a respected member of the neighborhood and-- given that the inauguration-- a town star.
It's been an adjustment. "After that honeymoon stage, the very first thing that began to nag on me was having to drive everywhere," says Richard. And shopping is challenging: "I live in a resort town, so I can get sushi, but More Bonuses I can't get inkjet cartridges or underwear." To his surprise, he also missed heading out: "In some cases you simply want to dress up and feel wonderful-- and there is nowhere to do that. I have actually outgrown all my fits living here." He likewise misses out on the anonymity of city life: "There is no such thing as simply a waiter in St Louis. You know their whole life, and you know their kids, where they grew up ... and they know whatever about you. It's gorgeous, however occasionally Mark and I will want to head out to discuss something over dinner and ... the walls have ears."
In the house, he and Mark have actually constructed a private sanctuary, complete with bridges, ponds and streams, with their own hands. But there was a learning curve. "After a year of battling the elements, I had to make decisions about where to stop landscaping and let nature take over," says Richard. "I got a little carried away and made these mounds of work for myself and wound up not enjoying what I initially came here for. I had to take an action back and be okay with letting things just grow in."
After moving to the country, Richard initially continued to work from another location on agreement engineering jobs, however the cheaper cost of living in Maine allowed him to move focus and prioritize his poetry. And because 2013, he's been able to work nearly entirely as an author, leaving his engineering profession behind.
He gives the place where he lives a great deal of credit for all this. Life in the nation has given him space and time to concentrate on his writing. And possibly more importantly, it has finally provided him a location that seems like home.
Joe and Ashley Duggers
A surprise company difficulty turned these Silicon Valley business owners into a household of rural ranchers.
Moved from: Sacramento, California
A couple of years earlier, Joe and Ashley Duggers operated and owned 11 companies in the Silicon Valley city of Sacramento: a discovering center, a maker space, a flower designer store and a play space for toddlers, just among others. All this in addition to raising four girls under the age of 6. They valued their hectic, full lives but worried that the abundance of Silicon Valley would offer their children a skewed perspective on the world.
This led them to a new possible endeavor-- running an animals ranch that might provide meat to their restaurant. The home had two houses, one a historic Victorian in desperate need of repair and one a relaxing two-bedroom cabin. They jumped in and acquired the property in 2013, hoping to one day find a method to move to the cattle ranch full time.
Transferred to: Fort Jones, California, pop. 688
"We constantly had a desire to raise our kids in large open spaces in a more rural community," states Ashley. "Joe grew up on a farm and Bonuses hoped we 'd get back to the land sooner or later. We sold our companies and moved up the day our earliest child finished kindergarten and have actually been all-in ever considering that."
After 4 years of hard work, the Duggers have actually constructed a successful pasture-raised meat organisation. Looking for more ways to make a living off the land, this year they introduced 5 Ashley Retreats, where they host women at their hillside ranch camp for a weekend of farm tasks and cooking classes.
The Duggers do not have the benefits, tidy clothes or totally free time they had in their previous life, and have had to become more self-sufficient: "In the city, I might get anything done at the drop of a hat," states Ashley. Everything moves a bit more slowly, however living on a cattle ranch indicates you can develop anything you can imagine yourself, which is more satisfying than working with someone to do it."
Another reward is seeing their ladies grow into courageous, independent and hardworking free-range women. At the end of a long day, when the animals are fed, Ashley and Joe like to blend a cocktail, put a 5 Ashley roast in the oven and sit on their front deck to view their children run free in the lawn.