dbd33

Our neighbours have proper, though fairly small, farms; maybe 200 cows, 100 acres of crops, and they have regular jobs. A colleague is married to a proper farmer, many 100s of acres, lots of cows, $15,000/year in seed purchases, spending $100,000+ this year for a new shed to park the combines, and he has a regular job. My neighbour at the old place had about 500 acres of potatoes and a regular job.

Farming's an addiction, it takes a special kind of thinking to work at a desk all day looking forward to driving a tractor late into the night but that's what most farmers have to do.

izzi81

We are a bit further out than Wolfville, towards the Bay of Fundy, and just renting at the moment. Yes, Wolfville is too expensive! We want to get a bit of land and build on it, but finding a bit of land we can afford (and afford to build a house on it) that's also not too far to travel to the gym is proving tricky. Now if we were prepared to commute from Digby...!

I think there are business opportunities here in NS for people who want to start their own, but yes it's difficult to decide which is best, and also which does not require too much start-up capital.

confused_uk

I don't know an hour & a half commute is not too bad . I've always thought land was quite cheap, you can usually pick up a an acre or two for $15k, I supposed it depends on how rural you go though. I thought about a self build but figured it's probably much cheaper to buy an existing house, tradesmen are expensive so I imagine build costs could be astronomical.

izzi81

Problem is my OH grew up on a farm and has notions of 50 acres rather than 5! I don't need 50 but I would like a bit of space

Re. house building, I was very keen on the idea, then did what you did and started to think it would be cheaper just to buy a house, but have now switched back to wanting to build. Our plan is to do a lot of the manual labour ourselves - with the assistance of a builder friend and tradesmen for the serious stuff like plumbing and electrical - and save money that way.

Rachelanna

This is all makes interesting reading even though I am an Australian! It reminded me of a recent prime time TV show here which featured a family who were proud of their level of self-sufficiency. They had paid off their mortgage, and lived a semi-rural existence with their two teenage girls, grew vegetables, kept chickens, were highly efficient with food expenditure, bought minimal clothes etc. They lived quite comfortably on an income of $40 000 a year. From what I can see, the average family incomes in Canada and Australia are quite similar and 40k is probably about half the average family income here and way below a comfortable middle-class income. I seem to remember that they worked about three days a week between them but their daughters also had part-time jobs which paid for their mobile phones, extra clothes etc. Also, although heating and airconditioning are desirable here they are not essential. Our clothing costs are also low because of the climate. I remember this family had a rule that only two lights could be on in the house at once.
Also as far as not wanting to use an ipad, that was one item that these parents in the story provided as they are compulsory here at many schools.
I would hazard a guess that the original poster could need to at least double what they have in mind to provide a safe level of some degree of self sufficiency for a family.

Andie8

Ok. This is a bit too extreme. I grew up in rural NS, went to university in NS, and, at the age of 22, came to London.

School: excellent. Graduated 4th in my class. Played flute and then trombone in school bands. Went to university. Obtained degree. Now have professional qualification in the UK. My sister, who went to the very same school and university, has 2 PhD's.

Friends: Many. Still in touch today. Graduated 1995. I organised our 20 year reunion!

Diversity: Never an issue. I moved to London fresh out of university and made friends of all races & cultures immediately. Was breaking the Ramadan fast with a new friend within 6 weeks of arriving here. Knew 1 Muslim family in NS.

*IF* the children graduate from high school? Seriously?

I am a 41 year old living in London with zero debt (unless you count my mortgage) a Burmese husband (diversity?) and an excellent job that pays me an excellent salary. Our household income is higher than 97% of the UK (source: The Institute for Fiscal Studies, UK).

Wow! A rural NS upbringing really didn't prepare me at all from a life out there in the big bad world!!!

Now, moving to rural NS in May 2015. Cashing out of the rat race to go live the good life. In rural NS.

dbd33

Firstly, congratulations, it seems you've done well.

You make a convincing case that someone from the backwoods can, if transplated to an urban environment, learn about diversity and, perhaps, find a rich husband. Great, but we know this happens to people; Dolly Parton, Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus are people from nowhere who became rich and household names despite their backgrounds.

However this doesn't make the case that it's a good choice for the child to be beyond the black stump in the first place, nor does it deal with the balance of probabilities, which child is more likely to be the doctor; the one from the one room school house or the one from the urban comprehensive? I suggest the latter is more likely to know of the possibility of being a doctor and so more likely to become one.

I'm bound to ask, not knowing many small town girls, did you attend Band Camp?

Jingsamichty

Cap doffed, sir!

Rachelanna

I am an outsider looking into this interesting discussion, being an Aussie in Sydney Australia and my husband being the expat, being Sicilian. I have actually been to NS and although, I believe, it is not an island, it reminds me of two islands, Sicily and Tasmania.
Both produce highly educated and successful people; eg Princess Mary of Denmark who was brought up in Tassie and no doubt the many graduates of the University of Tasmania. Among my husband's circle in Sicily there are two senators and a Professor of Geology just as a starter.
Nevertheless, both Sicily and Tassie suffer from very high unemployment rates compared to other regions of their respective countries and a have a disproportionate amount of social disadvantage. Both places are scenically beautiful and cheaper to live than their mainlands. It seems NS has similar characteristics.
Whether it is a good thing to move young kids to any of these places is, I guess, an individual and difficult decision.