How it all started

It was the Summer of 2016, the temperature in Seattle was rising, and the money from the newly resurgent Microsoft stock was burning a hole in my pockets. Also, I badly needed exercise. My day job includes a lot sitting, and sitting on butt is not good for anyone's health.

So I thought - global warming is real, no one is going to do anything about it, it would be nice to get a bit of agricultural land. For investment. Also, to get off my butt and do something that resembles physical exercise.

So I started looking. I was stunned by how cheap land was just a couple of hours outside Seattle.

The idea of having a "point of presence" in the middle of nowhere for a few tens of thousands dollars was intriguing, so we started looking - as far south as Shasta, and as far north as Canadian border.

We visited a few places around Marblemont, but the family complained that west of the mountains the weather is just as gloomy as in Seattle, and they wanted sun.

We've moved our search to Eastern Washington and within a couple of visits to Methow Valley settled on a beautiful property on Benson Creek - 20 acres of land with a beautiful house, pasture crossed by the creek, two barns, an equipment shed, and a studio where the previous owner - an artist - used to paint. It cost as approximately as much as one bedroom condo would in Seattle.

Since then we have been spending almost all our weekends there - learning how to live rural lives. It was an eye-opening experience. We've learned a lot of things that a normal city resident never will in the course of their normal life.

This blog is about the things we learned.

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