RE: Pennsylvania
Posted by: rmatthews6196 <rmatthews6196@...>
Of course, I do not live in an industrialized area.
Here in north central PA, property is not expensive. Recently a 108
acre farm, complete with 4 bedroom home, two barns, a couple "garages" and
a milking parlor went for $108,000.00 That looks like a thousand an
acre and everything else was FREE.
We bought our own farm (45 acres) for $52,000.00. Home, barn, shed
and two car garage, sugar shack....not bad, I would say.
This is a farming community. There is a wonderful tax reduction
program that is called "Clean and Green". Basically, you state that you
won't build a factory or any business that is not farm related, and you have a
tax reduction.
Yes, the jobs are scarce but not impossible to find. Both my husband
and I are employed.
There are a lot of Amish people who have moved out of the Lancaster area
living here now. Here, where life is a bit more laid back and
homesteading is a norm, they did not appear to be quite so rigid. They
have not built a Church yet, so many can be found out on Sundays in our
Mennonite congregation.
Many of our roads are still dirt.
People walk in the evenings. Some stop by the neighbors and exchange
the latest news, plant clippings and any abundance of produce that they may
have. Of course, the neighbors live "a piece" down the road, so this is
good exercise.
The country store here burned down last month. Without that "meeting
place" (It also was our hardware store, restaurant and Post Office), you
find little bunches of people standing in driveways or on the sides of the road
talking more frequently.
If a vehicle is going by, I wave. I don't have to know the
occupant. It is our way of saying "Hi. You are a friend I haven't
met yet". If the occupant does not wave back, I know they don't live
here.
The major population here is Christian.
People still make deals by the shake of a hand.
I left a large city in Florida to live here. I don't mind the winters
as I am a cool weather fan (especially since the timing-controlled-heater
started up). Humidity is a Florida factor. I do not find it to be
humid here. Summers are not hot. Last year we had two days over 90
degrees and this yea we had seven.
I love it here and thank God every day for letting us get out of the rat
race and into a beautiful place like Pennsylvania..
Rose
----- Original Message -----
From:
To: homesteadheaven@welovegod.org
Sent: 9/30/01 7:42:05 PM
Subject: [HomeSteadHeaven]
Pennsylvania
As much as I'd love to have some wonderful chirstian neighbors,
Pennsylvania
doesn't sound like a state you'd like to live in. The taxes
are high (we
live in Daughin County, where the state capital is) land is extremely
expensive ( we are a mile outside of Hershey Pa, a big tourist
area.) The
homeschool laws seem to be much stricter than most states. We have to file
our objectives, get it notorized, have an evaluator check everything at the
end of the year, then start all over again, and if you have a special needs
child its even more complicated. We bought our land from my
inlaws or we'd
never been able to build in this area. Building lots go for
around $50,000
for just a lot (1/2 acre or less). There was a 100 acre farm
near us and
they wanted over 450,000.00 We live in an area that was mostly
farm land
thanks to Milton Hershey and the Milton Hershey School for orphans, but
after
they decided that the kids at the school could no longer work on the farms,
they've been sold off or built up or just abandoned The winters
don't get
too cold, and we don't get a lot of snow but the humitity in the summer is
bad. The spring and fall are the best. We do live
about an hours drive from
Lancaster, a large amish community, where there is more farms and land, but
its been overdeveloped for the sake of tourism.
Jodi.
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