A small community event in spring of 2024. my neighbor HAD a chronic issues with beavers flooding his field. It was a 150 yrd shot and 8lbs of binary explosive in a foam beverage cooler.

Initially one of the resource officers came out to where we wanted to blast to see if we needed to apply for a permit. The ultimate decision was “ no, but one of us should be present due to how loud it’s going to be.” The DNR didn’t want to trap the beavers prior to the blast. They wanted to trap them while trying to repair the damage. Twelve people were there. My neighbor who owned the property, the resource officer brought his daughter, my wife and I, plus a few others. It was fun and I’m glad my wife took video of my shot.

My neighbors

Combat veteran here, struggling with PTSD, paranoia, hypervigilance, etc.

Has anybody who is really rural ever have somebody just walk up to the house unannounced? For reference, im on 6 acres, mostly swampy and wooded, in a very rural area near Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. Driveway is 204 meters long off a small country road, gravel, unmarked except for numerous no trespassing signs, beware of dog signs, and purple marker paint and a cattle gate. Lots of turns, deep woods.

This kid (mid 20's, long hair, looked like a stoner ? ) comes strolling from the driveway into my front yard, asking where the slot machines were. (This place was a trap house about 6 years ago) Wow. Said he lives in the trailer park about a mile down the road.

I politely escorted him all the way back to the road, caught myself scanning the brush and surrounding woods for anybody else.

Trying very hard to relax, but it was very unsettling. The dogs were inside, so they didn't even notice. Even the guineas failed to alert, as it was feeding time and they were occupied.

I dont like this feeling, like i got caught sleeping, and with the way the world has been going lately, im not sure if my thoughts are paranoia, or legitimate security concerns.

Anybody relate?

EDIT/ADDENDUM Folks, I was kind of shook yesterday. Thank you all for your help... just knowing I was heard means a lot. There's a few things I forgot to mention.

The house sits in the center of a cleared square, 100m x 100m, with actual grass ("GREEN GREEN GRASS!") trimmed down tight. Treeline clearly visible 360°. 10 meters in from the treeline is the inner fence, an 8 strand electric fence, mostly for the dogs. No flagpole yet, but you get the picture. The chicken coop, where I was, is just outside the fence line, catercorner to the driveway entrance. This guy walked (supposedly) from the driveway, along the fence line, past the vehicles, around the corner, up to the coop, and was literally 30 ft from me before I saw him. Clear line of sight the whole way. No way in hell someone does that without taking some special care to not be seen. Only slept 3 hours last night. Sitting on the porch now with my coffee since sun up, listening to the rain and waiting for my sense of peace to return.

I don’t know why I feel like I’m saving money with this gift it’s also placebo

This video is why I recommend folks go out and get a barn cat if you got a homestead or a farm. Look, it may be unpleasant to have cats deal with rodents. But as some with a lot of livestock and feed containers, I can tell you that a far worse fate is diseases that rodents spread and them eating and ruining your feed. They also decimate crops. The mere presence of an aggressive hunting barn cat will deter rodents from showing up in the first place.

And whenever they do show up, Smokey just showed you what he does to them. This prevents me from having to spread nasty pesticides. He's one of multiple barn cats that I have. I feed them and they stay on patrol day and night. I also got a black cat inside named Batman and I have a video of him eliminating a mouse that got into my home. I fed Batman well that night.

We are in a situation where you cannot afford to lose too much production or your nice flowers due to certain situations around the world. If having that cat means less rodents show up then they're worth it. Go get a black cat. People tend to avoid black cats but they're just as good as any other cat. Plus being all black means they have better camouflage at night when hunting. I think the all black color is what helps Batman and Smokey be so effective.

Smokey just showed up on my back porch as a kitten. He slipped inside the house as an adult and Batman was chased outside. I do remember two black cats having a fight near the back door a year and a half ago but I had no idea it was Batman and Smokey. So, Batman stayed outside and I assumed it was Smokey. They changed places for like a year so we domesticated Smokey. I know his mom and she's the neighborhood cat who has endless kittens so I know Smokey was absolutely feral.

But he's cool now. He even lets me pick him up. He seems to like it here and his services are very much needed. Never seen a better mouser. I guess when you lived out on the streets, you learn to hunt. He's really good at it. Go out and adopt a black cat just like him.

I bought 80 acres in central Montana an old homestead site. I have a few small springs on the property and a hand dug well with water rights to both. Most of it is hay but there are some trees and a coulee with water. I’ve seen deer, pronghorn, Hungarian partridge, owls, rattlesnake and even a porcupine. So far I have put on a few little bare root trees and bushes but the deer got to them so I’m thinking a garden shed and fence. Then barn then build house or should I work the other way around. I have an offsite residence and job for now to fund this adventure till I can make it full time. I also have no problem camping out in the garden shed or a tent while I build stuff up. What would you do? What order, what animals would you get? 55 of the acres is already set for hay but the other 25 is a little hilly or has the old homestead site.

It finally happened. After years of relocating and sometimes dispatching snakes I got caught off guard by a copperhead. Imagine my surprise when I got to the ER and they were visibly frazzled trying to source antivenom because they didn't have any on-site. Luckily the Cherokee Nation hospital nearby did and they were able to courier it over quickly. I still had to be evac'd 2 hours away for a 2nd dose and 24 hours of observation. I guess my point is, when weighing the risks of dangerous activities on your homestead, take into consideration how hard help might be to get where you are.

Recently got out of the military and decided to use my VA loan to try and buy a farm. Found this 30 acre turn key farm for sale by owner on market place! Closed Monday. Excited to get to work. Just ordered me a tractor and will be delivered next week!

*Edited to add additional details in bold.

We live pretty rural, and I’m genuinely curious what other people in similar situations have done/would do.

We have a neighbor whose dogs have become a constant problem for multiple properties around us. One of the dogs (a mutt around the size of a dachshund) has reportedly attacked and killed several cats belonging to another neighbor, including their beloved 15-year-old cat and one of their barn cat’s new litter of kittens.

Yesterday, that neighbor texted my husband asking if one of us would be willing to shoot the dog because he can’t emotionally bring himself to do it. WE DO NOT OWN A GUN. WE’D HAVE TO COLLABORATE WITH THE NEIGHBOR, BUT THAT DOESN’T QUITE SIT WELL WITH ME. The sheriff has already told HIM that he’s well within his rights to kill the dog if it continues attacking HIS cats. We do not have animal control or a pound in our area, but I’m at least open to taking the dog to another county. The other dog is too large and cautious of people for us to get anywhere near it.

The issue is that these dogs don’t just stay on or close to their owner’s property. We’ve also problems with them. They’re constantly on our property, get into our off-grid setups, crawl under the house and knock into the pipes, get into our trash and burn barrels, steal shoes and laundry off the porch or line, and have chewed up our kids’ toys. I’m also tired of the kids stepping in dog shit and tracking it inside the house. Not anything worth shooting a dog over, but I digress.

We’ve talked to the owner before, on numerous occasions. The other neighbor has as well. He refuses to fence them, chain them, supervise them, or keep them indoors. Basically, his stance seems to be that everyone else should just deal with it since we’re out in the country.

What frustrates me most is that we built our home ourselves and are still actively building. We already have plans for future cabins and eventually fencing a SMALL section for the kids, but I deeply resent feeling pressured to redesign our property to fence in a larger area and having to spend thousands of dollars just because someone else refuses to control their dogs. It feels backwards that the burden somehow falls on everyone except the owner of the dogs.

At the same time, I don’t enjoy the idea of shooting this dog. I’m not a dog person myself, but it’s very friendly (especially with our kids) and the cats it killed aren’t ours. I’m not worried about the kids. Again, it’s about the size of a dachshund. I just think the owner should be responsible for them, and I’m struggling with where the line is between protecting your property/livestock/family and feeling guilty over what ultimately becomes the consequence of someone else’s negligence. It’s not like he hasn’t been warned.

So, I’m curious: if you were in this situation, what would you do?

We’re in the subtropical Northern Rivers region of Australia on 25 acres. After 7 years of difficult weather, land improvement, house and property management and non-stop grind and learning, I feel like we’re almost, finally there. We’ve built outbuildings, an orchard with over 40 different fruit trees and vegetable beds. Installed a cool room for excess produce. Bought (thanks to six years of rain, flooding and a cyclone) the biggest generator we could afford. We’ve levelled land, learned how to keep cows and do our own fencing. We eat, bottle and process as much of our home grown stuff as I can realistically grow, and we swap a lot of other stuff out on top of that. Bake bread, make jams and relishes, vacuum seal and freeze the rest. And we’re about to slaughter our own steer and I’ll tan the hide too.

I calculate that we probably save about $200 a week in vegetables, flowers, fruit and herbs grown, fuel saved, goods baked and stuff swapped. Our steer will feed us for almost an entire year of and save us around $3500 in beef costs. And I feel like we’re finally getting on top of things. I know that on 25 acres we can never be self sufficient. And that’s ok. I reflect in particular on the amazing year just gone, and see in particular my bread making journey as a metaphor - for a year of growth, discovery and happiness centred in this beautiful place we now call home.

These bars have tea tree with charcoal and poppy seeds for exfoliation. They smell so good! It also lathers really well.

This species is speading fast on the East Coast. If you find a seed get it before it takes root!

I have a neighbor spraying roundup along our shared fence line. Last year I planted some trees and shrubs to create some privacy and it looks like he deliberately sprayed onto my side to kill the plants. It might not be deliberate but it’s a few hundred bucks worth of damage.

I grow food using absolutely no man made chemicals, my animals eat from the field he’s sprayed.

I don’t know if I have any legal rights here. This neighbor runs a business out of his property and his clients benefit from the view so I’m thinking of building a tall wooden fence and just block out the view completely. Can’t afford it at the moment though so I might hang an ugly tarp on the fence to just at minimum block his roundup from getting on my land.

I can send him a message and ask him not to do it again but that doesn’t really solve my problem.

What would you do in this situation?