From: de5@ORNL.GOV (Dave Sill)
Subject: Re: Rural Life?
Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, TN
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 18:05:57 GMT

In article <1av2sdINNjfq@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, ag301@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Tricia Schmidt) writes:
>
>1)  There are no city services - which means that no nice people 
>come out here and pick up our garbage every week.

If you *really* want someone to do that, hire it out.  There are plenty of
folks in most areas with pickup trucks that wouldn't mind making a couple
quick bucks.  Personally, I don't mind the weekly haul--it beats paying
someone else to do it for me twice a week whether it needs it or not.  Saves
me money, too.

>I've heard talk about "compost piles" though.  What is a compost pile?  How
>do you make and maintain one?  

It's a way to turn organic garbage (food, yard, some paper waste) into a rich
(for an organic) fertilizer and soil conditioner.  Basically you just pile
your waste somehwere and let it rot.  There are books about it, the best I've
seen is _Let it Rot_.  If you want/need more info, I'm sure you can get it
here, too.  If you're a gardener, or just want to minimize your waste stream,
I'd highly recommend composting.

>2)  There are no city services here - which means our water comes
>from a well.  The farm is surrounded by about 60 acres of feed corn,
>which is treated with chemicals in the spring.  Is the water safe?

Don't know.  Have it tested.  It can always be filtered if it's not safe.

>Also, we've got a septic on the other side of the house from the
>well.  I've heard about chemicals for it, but am not sure what they
>are or how they should be used?

Don't bother--just have the tank pumped out periodically (2 years or so).
Additives just interfere with the septic processes.

>3)  There are no city laws here.  Which means that people can wander
>around with guns and shoot small animals.  A few days ago I saw
>some hunters walking down the road with dead squirrels.  Since then
>I haven't seen our squirrel, George.  Is there anything I can do?

Buy another squirrel and keep it caged up.  :-)  Live with, I'd say.  People
eat animals.  I realize that's a shock to city-reared people, but it's the
truth.

>Any help anyone can offer on these questions will be greatly 
>appreciated.  The best help would be if about a million or so people
>moved in around here and turned it into a city though :)

God, no!  If you really feel that way, you should move back to the city. 

>I never realized how much I depended on City Services.  One time the well
>stopped running, and to my surprise no city services people came rushing out
>to help us.  We had to wait until the next day when the well repair person
>came.

That's the way rural life is.  You can try to fight it, but that'll only
frustrate you and those subjected to your fight.  The alternative is to accept
it as a challenge and an opportunity to gain a level of independence you've
never imagined before.

-- 
Dave Sill (de5@ornl.gov)           For every Bill Joy there is a Kirk McKusick.
Martin Marietta Energy Systems     For every Bill Gates there is a Richard
Workstation Support                Stallman.                     --Paul Graham
Newsgroups: misc.rural