Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Country Life and Creativity

There are creative people everywhere, but it seems to me that there is more opportunity to appreciate creativity when one lives out in the country. This is certainly true in Floyd County, Virginia.

Notice, I did not say there was more time to enjoy the creativity of others. There just seems to be more opportunity to see that it is happening all around you.

In the past few weeks, I have been too busy framing pictures to write blog posts and upload pictures, but I have been able to capture some of the creative activities that make life in Floyd so interesting.

 We went to Sweet Providence Farm Market & Bakery for some produce and we reaped the additional benefit of an impromptu concert by the Houston children, Amy, Cora and John.

Later we attended a reception at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts. The entries in this "On the Edge" exhibit ranged from humorous to poignant to simply stunning.

A few nights later I saw Bob Rogers of Architectural Alternatives at the Jacksonville Center. I admire his continuing efforts to integrate architecture and life.

I am still trying to organize the various aspects of my life so I can appreciate more of this creative corner of Southwest Virginia.

I may not have free time to write, but I can still stop occasionally to appreciate the beauty of the country roads I travel.

Economics in a tightly-connected community

The Community as social network

In this county people get to know each other and while we may not be one big happy family, we share a lot of information on how people are doing, who needs help, and who can provide help. You also know who is out of work and can help you out on tasks where you need help

A few minutes of conversation in any spot where people gather will garner you enough information to buy or sell almost anything and can lead you to find employment or a helping hand when all else fails. This rural telegraph also carries news of illnesses and other hardships where you might lend a helping hand.

I lived for many years in communities where we did not know the last names of our immediate neighbors and had no meaningful contact with them. We rarely did business with or exchanged help with these neighbors.

Living in Floyd Virginia for the past 4 years has been a welcome change. This county has a network of people who expect to work with each other and look after each other in times of need. It adds a new dimension to life when you have someone to turn to other than immediate family.

The economics of a connected community

No community can support itself without exchanging labor and goods with the outside world, but buying local and hiring local talent provides positive feedback that can energize a community in many ways. Buying local is not just a nice concept, it aids the economic survival of the county and enhances one's own financial security. Money that is spend on local purchases increases the amount of money that is put in circulation in the local community.

My framing business exists because word-of-mouth recommendations keep sending customers to me. I was eventually forced to develop sophisticated framing techniques to keep up with expanding business volume and more complex requirements. Even so, I find that I am working longer hours than I ever expected.

As my framing workload increases, I need to hire others to do some of the chores that I used to do. Some of these chores are physical challenges that I am not able to deal with yet and other chores can be done better and faster by others who need the work.

When I can hire some one to help with repairs and minor construction projects, this frees me up to do work that I cannot outsource. The end result is that I can reduce my stress level and provide employment for others. We all benefit.

The circle gets completed. My business grows from recommendations by clients and their friends. As my workload increases, I can share in the economic benefits by hiring others who need employment and we all benefit to the extent that we can contribute to each other.

People who are helpful

Some people have been very helpful in many different ways. Here are a few whom I recommend highly:

Glenn Givens, small engine repairs, welding, household projects, just about any repair job I can think of. He does not require direction and has solved some really annoying problems that I could not find time to tackle. (745-4380)  He repaired a mower deck that I had completely trashed when I drove it over rocks one day.

Ann and Rodger Bower, they have helped us out whenever we needed a helping hand. They run a farm near us and have many different skills. Ann is an Avon Distributor and works for several businesses in Floyd. (745-3020)

Bob Eich is the contractor who built my workshop with its pine-paneled interior and finished off our modular home.  I have recommended him to others for challenging renovations and he does a great job. (651-3180)

Michael Shortt, Shortt's Excavating (745-2817),  was an incredible source of advice and encouragement when we were building our modular home. He cleared our land and put in our septic system and most importantly, he introduced us to the contractors who put the finishing touches on our home.

He also handled the takedown of a dangerous and crumbling silo at the Jacksonville Center.

I am sure that many of you know of others in the Floyd Community who are in a position to provide help to those of us who cannot always do for ourselves what we used to. Feel free to add your recommendations in the comments.

Good intentions are not enough

The recent storm drove home the fact that good intentions are no substitute for actual preparedness.

Country living is a great laboratory for testing ones ideas about life and patterns of behavior without the awful finality of mistakes made on the open sea or while airborne. It puts you to the test and usually shows up your lack of preparedness without causing you irreparable damage.

Sunday's storm left us without electrical power from 3:30 AM on and 8 inches of snow with drifts several feet deep in spots.

Morning broke bright and clear with temperatures in the low 20's and a wind chill in the single digits. We had no water pressure and we had not stocked water in anticipation of power failure from the storm. The only bright spot was that our wood stove was keeping the entire house warm and we could cook on it if necessary.

I went out to start the emergency generator and the ever faithful Honda engine would not respond. The electrical starter worked fine but I had failed to inspect and test the generator after its last use.

I had intended to do this several times but other tasks seemed to be more urgent and the generator sat uninspected for more than a year under a tarp in the side yard.

So, I found myself removing a spark plug to find that it was so badly fouled that I could not clean it enough to get the engine running. After several more futile efforts, I set about locating a supplier who might have a spark plug that would fit this engine.

Power was still out in much of Floyd county and most of the businesses were closed. After many calls to auto part and small engine repair shops, I located a supply of this vital spark plug at Protocol Automotive in Floyd.

Protocol Automotive is Floyd's newest and most modern automobile and truck repair shop and owner Joey Kaylor came through big time. He had an entire carton of these plugs and I told him to hold two for me.

Getting into town on unplowed roads was dicey, but our Subaru made it, leaving undercarriage tracks where the snow was deepest. I am not sure we would have made it if the snow was any deeper. By this time it was almost noon.

I picked up the spark plugs and we drove into downtown Floyd to have breakfast. Almost every business and restaurant was closed, except for Farmers Supply, our wonderful all-purpose hardware store. They had suet for our birds, but they don't serve breakfast, so we decided to head on home.

I had called the Cafe del Sol earlier and they had been open, but they had finally closed up because none of their customers were able to make it into town!

On the way home, our neighbor Tom King called to let us know that power had been restored.

We went home to our home with its 21st Century conveniences restored and I went out and got the generator running in preparation for the next storm.

Our level of preparedness needs to be kicked up another notch. I think we will do better next time. It is an ongoing process.

Stormy Sunday report from Floyd

Large flakes of Global Warming continue to fall and the trees on our south side look like a caricature forest. March 2009 is off to a good start.

The snow is four inches deep in our locality and more is scheduled to fall and that is enough to make traveling extremely risky. It is quiet outside with only the whisper of falling snow, but tonight's dinner with friends has been postponed for more favorable weather.

I am puttering around trying to get my desk organized and Gretchen is watching Steven King's Storm of the Century while knitting socks for a good friend.

The Steven King movie is a perfect complement to this kind of weather and I catch enough snatches of it to give me chills. Just one glimpse of the movie and I am tempted to put additional wood in the stove. This movie shows King's uncanny skill at portraying people being helpless against evil.

Here in our corner of Floyd County, our house and workshop are snug and warm with enough firewood and food to carry us through until warmer weather. We are safe inside and one of us is happily oblivious to all that is going on outside.

Perhaps we should all chill out for awhile. On the other hand, I have chores to be done and articles to write, so I must tear myself away and get back to business.

A good day to be working at home

Here in our corner of Floyd, Virginia, we are enjoying this last day of November from our vantage point near the woodstove.

It has been raining and freezing all night. As you can see from the weather map, we will probably have more of the same for the rest of the day.

This winter storm also means that the astronauts now in orbit will not be landing at Canaveral today where their families are waiting. They are expected to land in California instead. We hope that all goes well.

We are cloud-bound at this moment and our visibility is less than 75 feet. The wind is blowing from the east and the ice-covered trees are creaking in unison. The tinkling sound of falling ice continues unabated.

I put out some seed to see if I could attract some feathered visitors and the birds acted like shoppers on Black Friday. The freezing rain did not slow them down at all.

As you can see on this feeder, icicles continued to form even though the temperature is above freezing.

This year, I was better prepared in terms of an adequate firewood supply. I found someone who needed firewood and we worked out a deal where they cut up logs and took home half of what they cut. I am not as well stocked as blogger Fred First, but I have enough well-seasoned firewood for several months. A tractor and an electric log splitter makes preparing more firewood an easy chore.

We now have electric heat, but there is nothing like a wood stove for comfort on a day of freezing rain.

On the other hand, I need to get back into the workshop this afternoon because our custom framing business seems to have picked up again and I have a project to complete for a local musician.

With a pellet stove to keep the shop warm and a CD player keeping the beat, it is a grand way to spend my working hours.

I hear that other small businesses are also seeing an upturn and I hope that it continues for a while.

Like so many other business owners, I have been working to create bargains for those customers who are looking for something different. I think I have found something that is quite appropriate for the uncertain times we find ourselves in.

In this part of the country, recycled materials are viewed favorably when incorporated into new designs. I have found that customers appreciate opportunities to purchase custom frames at huge savings. Cutting down existing frames and refinishing them opens the door to offering superb designs at unusual prices.

I haven't had a chance to update the website yet with the newest product offerings, but I am very pleased at the opportunity to work with local artist Karen Sewell on a line of custom etched mirrors.

Interfering with the natural order of things

A number of years ago when we first moved to the country side, I wanted to see more of our local wildlife without mucking about in the woods with binoculars.

I set up a tray on an old stump and periodically filled it with corn and birdseed to see what would happen.

Within a very short time, we had some of the fattest squirrels I had ever seen and the drought-ravaged deer lost their hollow appearance and started having fawns like there was a race on to see who could have the most babies.

We accumulated a herd of 20 whitetail deer visitors and got to know every one of them by sight and by behavior. We learned more about deer social behavior than we ever expected. There is a lot of interaction and it isn't just a simple pecking order.

The image above shows deer and squirrels peacefully eating together. Some times there were chipmunks and birds sharing the food with the deer.

The deer exhibited all sorts of social groupings including a threesome consisting of one female with two bucks in her entourage.

There were several troop leader moms who had evidently adopted straggler fawns who followed them as one big family.

There were even bitter old females who belonged to no groups, but would follow and savagely attack younger females who were popular with others.

Some of the matriarchs would drive off bucks who sought to lead young does off into the woods.

There were flirty young does who would literally bounce around with tails held high when strange deer arrived on the scene.

There were even "hobo" deer, probably young bucks, who showed up tattered and dirty and slunk around the periphery looking for an opportunity to be recognized by the other deer. They were almost never allowed to eat with the others and strangely enough they never ate after the others left. They would tag along when the others left as if they didn't want to miss anything.

We enjoyed an an ongoing show for almost four years without personally interacting with the deer or other animals. It was extremely educational and worth every bag of corn I put out there. This was a non-hunting area so we didn't worry that hunters would stake out our backyard feeder.

The deer ranged over a wide area so the hunters got the benefit of a well-fed herd when hunting season rolled around.

Eventually, some local "wildlife authorities" instigated a campaign to prohibit deer feeding because their flowers were being eaten, but I don't think they got the results they wanted.

I could have told them that the deer ate fewer flowers when there was corn and birdseed available.

Making a living in the country: You’re here, now what?

Curtis Seltzer, land consultant and country philosopher, provides an insightful account of what to expect in post-corporate life in the country. Regular readers will recognize some familiar ideas, but Curtis has added some twists I had not thought of. This is an article to cut out and hang on the refrigerator.

With his permission, I am publishing his latest newsletter in its entirety. Check out his website for more sage advice on country living.

BLUE GRASS, VA—People who live in the country are either “been-heres” or “come-heres.” Both choose to live here—and often it’s a hard choice.

         The story of America’s countryside since the 1930s is for the born-heres to go to the city for jobs and a different life. Beginning in the l960s, the counter story has been for come-heres to leave the city for a different life out here.

         While it’s cheaper to live in the country, newcomers find that lifestyle living takes money, and it’s hard to find the same job income in a rural economy.  Here, then, are some ways that come-heres find cash.

Don’t look for it. The best way to fund a country lifestyle is don’t work for it. Moving to the country with sufficient income to live how you want voids the question of how to earn it. I highly recommend this approach.

Live off your mailbox.  Some retirees patch together monthly pension checks to live pretty well in small towns and rural areas. Pension income, of course, is determined by the individual’s career, job and pay. Do not plan on Social Security acting as a Golden Parachute.

Get a job. It’s hard to find a country job that pays like a city job. Adjust your expectations. Professionals -- doctors, lawyers, engineers, businesspersons -- may earn half their urban salaries, but they can still live on what they make.

         Public employment -- teachers, administrators, social workers, law enforcement -- provides jobs for those with urban skills. Real estate, banking, small business and non-profits are common second acts for come-heres

Get your spouse a job. This is an even better idea than getting yourself one. Two incomes are better than one, for many reasons.

Repackage yourself. Many urban migrants have skills that can be adapted to country economies. An engineer who designed bridges may redeploy as a designer of septic systems or a draftsman.  A computer programmer may be reinvented as a troubleshooter—a welcome addition.

Bring a new skill. Plan ahead. If you know that what you do now will not work in the country, get a credential that will.

Make a living off there from here. The Internet has created opportunities for individuals to make money without being where the money is. Consulting is one way, eBay another. Websites enable country residents to market food, art, crafts, knowledge, products and services.

Start something. Job openings are scarce in rural America, and existing business niches are usually filled. Some arrivals come with a thought-through plan for creating a small business--B&Bs are the clichés. It’s best to do something you know more than just a little something about. The other rule is, don’t run out of money. People who have the wherewithal to make something out of nothing should be recruited by every economic-development agency in rural America

Bring a business with you. Businesses have traditionally located in the country because that’s where natural resources are and labor is cheap. Both are still true. Local government and businesses welcome brought-in-enterprises that don’t compete with existing ones. Job-generating ventures are particularly welcome.

Farming. My wife, Melissa, has kept a journal of all the stupid things I’ve said and done for the 25 years of our marriage. She makes daily entries, sometimes hourly. The small-print edition is now as big as an SUV. Topping the list is my pre-marital statement: “If the economy goes into the tank, we can always make a living from the farm.”

         Money can be made in farming if the operation is large, and you’re not paying off the land. Most small farmers survive on non-farm income, and the majority of America’s farms are now small, lifestyle or hobby enterprises.

         For-profit small farms generate some cash and many tax benefits—livelihoods are a different matter if your definition includes health insurance, retirement, middle-class income, children and meat once a week.

         Small farms will generate small incomes; consider them supplements to other sources.

Land.  The source of rural wealth from Colonial times to today has been land. The trick has always been to acquire it without burying yourself in debt.

         One common strategy has been to buy a big tract with borrowed money, divide it and flip the parcels for a profit. As division and zoning regulations have tightened, this is often harder than it sounds.

         Another idea is to buy an option to buy land. A few dollars put at risk gives the option-holder a chance to sell for a large profit.

         A third idea is to buy land and sell one or more severable assets—like an unwanted house, merchantable timber or a few lots. A good deal is achieved if you buy 250 acres and sell 200 in 50-acre parcels, leaving 50 acres for free.

Diversify. Many out-heres depend on several jobs or businesses to float our boats. A conventional job provides a weekly paycheck and benefits, which we might pad out with farm income and self-employment, such as tutoring, craft sales, catering, antique-dealing, consulting, tax preparation, daycare or handy-personing. Don’t lay all of your eggs from one hen, which is country-speak for: Think conglomerate.

Curtis Seltzer, Ph.D.,  Land Consultant, curtisseltzer@htcnet.org, www.curtis-seltzer.com

What if your deer repellent attracts deer?

We have been warned that we should take steps to prevent deer from eating our vegetables.

Gretchen did all that was recommended and here are the results:

Gretchen had this to say:

So, I make up this really potent hot pepper spray in the blender, put it in a spray bottle and carefully apply to all our vegetables and flowers that the deer are starting to feast on. and then....two hours later, who should appear....

Ugh......

This buck was about twenty feet from the house and was eating the spiced vegetables with great relish. I think we need a different recipe.

Any suggestions?

(Photo by Gretchen St Lawrence using her new Canon SX100 IS with 10X zoom.)

Floyd, Virginia, a county full of good ideas

I fell in love with Floyd county on my first visit. It has a lot of scenic vistas, but it is the people that made me feel that I had finally arrived where I was meant to be.

There is a hospitality here that I have not found elsewhere. There is also a creative spirit here that inspires one to join in and do things that don't seem possible elsewhere. Talent is encouraged, rather than stifled.

Hard work is also encouraged and one finds many talented people holding several jobs and still managing to create with music, clay, fiber, or paints.

There are other people working harder than you could ever imagine to raise money for the local library, or food for disadvantaged children, or to provide art training for seniors and for children

There is an attitude here that it is OK to major in Art or to work instead of going to college, or to move to Alaska and homestead, or to spend a year volunteering in Africa.

Success for most is not measured by high paying jobs and extravagant lifestyles. There are some here who enjoy both, but you would not know it by their dress or by their speech.

This is supposedly one of the fifty poorest counties in the US, but it has a richness of spirit and a bounty of creative ideas that more pro$perou$ locales might envy.

This creativity attracts still more creative people who want to contribute to the motion. The lack of jobs and local industry seem to stimulate the ingenuity of those who see in Floyd the answers they have been seeking. They come and create small businesses and in the process they enrich the county with new ideas and new services.

Not all share in the bounty, but grumblers who resist change are to be found everywhere. In Floyd County, the grumblers can be heard if you listen hard enough, but their influence diminishes every year.

The people with positive ideas who are willing to work for the good of the county seem to be growing in numbers. I meet more of them every month. As I said at the beginning, Floyd Virginia is a county full of good ideas.

They even encouraged me to hang my photo of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Chamber of Commerce office. I am happy to contribute to the Floyd community and there were no barriers to my participation.

More localities could benefit from this approach.

Tale of the Ditch Witch

I had been struggling to dig drain pipe trenches for several weeks with very little progress. The task took exhausting pick and shovel work because of our stony clay soil up here on the Floyd County plateau.

Even with the help of my visiting relative, Jack Sharkey, our progress was nothing to write home about, so I decided to up the ante and employ a Ditch Witch or find someone who could use one to finish the trenches in one day.

I could not find a trenching contractor in the Floyd County area although several people told me that there were people they had used for years. These contractors have perfected the ability to stay below the radar and are not listed in the phone book and if there is phone number available from friends, it is answered by an anonymous answering machine that gives no information about the person you have called.

I called a regional equipment rental service and they had Ditch Witches to spare. I drove over to Christiansburg and the good guys from RCS offered me a choice of two walk-behind Ditch Witches after asking me questions about the terrain I would be trenching.

I chose the Ditch Witch that had the most rock teeth on the digging chain over the more powerful machine that was also steerable. This was probably a mistake as getting a Ditch Witch repositioned is a two man job at times.

The long and short of the story is that renting a Ditch Witch is a prudent investment. I dug 80 feet of 4 inch wide and 16 inch deep trench in about four hours in rocky clay soil. My rental cost was $159/day and that included the trailer it came on.

The downside for anyone who might want to do the same is that the Ditch Witch will not ditch up a grade. A five degree grade was too much for the machine I rented. On the level or downhill, the ditcher would dig the trench at a rate of about one foot every five minutes. This was because of the small size of the machine and the stony clay we were trenching.

There are larger machines available and if you have rocky soil, I suggest that you rent the largest machine available in your locality. If you are doing this by yourself, get a machine that steers.

The machine I was using was like a 400 pound Rototiller so getting it to change direction was a matter of rocking it back on its two back wheels and trying to get it to swivel around. Once I got it rocked back, I did not have enough traction to swing the machine around. I had Jack Sharkey heave on the handles to get the needed course changes.

Bottom line: Ditch Witches are invaluable tools. Get one that is large enough for the job and that steers.

(Photos by Pam Carlson)