Living In The Backwoods

Living in the Backwoods
by Kat Yares

Living in the backwoods has many advantages and very few disadvantages once you get used to the way of life here. It's quiet and peaceful, except during deer season when the population swells to the thousands instead of the six or seven who live on our road. Our nearest full time neighbors are over a mile away on either side of us.

We have, or could have, all the amenities that city folks do. It tickles me sometimes, when we meet someone new and we tell them we live eight miles up a dirt road, their first question is: Do you have an indoor toilet? Of course we do. We also have phone and Internet service, electricity and running water. If our well wasn't so good, we could also have 'city' water.

With the advent of online shopping, we can buy most anything we want and have it delivered right to our door. The mailman and the UPS truck run everyday by our house. Granted that another big delivery service does seem to have a problem delivering to us, but we've managed to work around that.

The only disadvantage is the distance to town. There is no running down to the corner store for bread or milk; the closest store is thirty miles away. With the high cost of fuel these days, we do plan those trips for maximum benefit, buying what we need to last at least several weeks.

Is living in the backwoods for everyone? No. I'm glad it's not. I like it here and if it got crowded, well then, I'd have to move.