Homebuyers beware: Farms will fill the senses (ROFL ---- DUH Alert)

St. Cloud Times ^ | 12/22/03 | Kirsti Marohn

[coder2]

Someday, prospective Stearns County rural homeowners may get a scratch-and-sniff lesson on farm life.

For now, Stearns will use a brochure to inform people thinking about building a home in a rural area about the sights, sounds and odors associated with farming.

[coder2]

ROFL... When my hubby read this article to me yesterday, I couldn't stop laughing ----

Where do I start ?? Are people today so dumb that they need a "scratch & sniff cowpie" to know that rural areas have their own particular aroma ???

Leave it to the gubment to find a solution for these nansy-pansy whiners...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !!!

[Vermonter]

Are people today so dumb that they need a "scratch & sniff cowpie" to know that rural areas have their own particular aroma ???

YES!

The people who move to the country to escape the noise and traffic of the city are just exposing themselves to a new set of things to complain about.

Unfortunately, the farmers usually lose the resulting battles and are eventually forced out of business (mostly due to economics)

[sarasota]

I've often wondered about the viability of building a home on formerly cultivated land--the pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and so on that build up in the soil.

[sarasota]

Many farmers in the Midwest are getting boatloads of money for selling out to real estate developers.

[Desdemona]

And then there's the landfills....

MERRY CHRISTMAS

[tamikamaria]

A freshly cut alfalfa field or just-tilled soil might cause odors.

Huh? Those are the good smells. Hate to think what they would do if they smelled something really stinky, like a pig barn that hasn't been cleaned in a while. Now that will knock your socks off.

[Vermonter]

Yeah, they gain the money, but lose the heritage and lifestyle. For some this is not a tradeoff they want

[sarasota]

I know. Yet it seems that they don't have kids who want to take over the family farm so they hold on as long as it's profitable or they die. And when they die, these farms are sold so fast you get whiplash.

[Jim Cane]

A freshly cut alfalfa field or just-tilled soil might cause odors.

[Huh? Those are the good smells.]

Amen to that. As close to heaven as the human nose can know in life - add a little honeysuckle in the breeze and your there.

[Vermonter]

they don't have kids who want to take over the family farm

Sad, but true

[baltodog]

I used to live just outside of Ottawa County.
I can recall a long drawn-out battle between a pig farmer and some people who had built a house adjacent to his property. I don't know what the outcome was.
Personally, I think that it would do alot people good to shovel sh*t on a Saturday afternoon.

[bigfootbob]

The area around my farm is growing rapidly. We had several "newbie" neighbors inquire about the smells and the noise from the peacock and pheasant aviary my kids have. The peacocks call freaks the city folks out. I see battles looming.

[RebelBanker]

The county I live in has "right to farm" laws on the books to prevent people from suing farmers over such things. Sadly, they have to do that to protect the farmers.

The only exception was some dumba$$ farmer who brought in a whole load of chicken manure to use as fertilizer. Problem was that the manure was chock full of fly eggs and larvae - the whole county had a plague of biting black flies for an entire season. The county smacked him for creating a public health hazard.

[William Terrell]

The brochure is modeled after a similar one in Ottawa County, Mich. Eventually, Stearns officials also hope to copy a "scratch-and-sniff" picture of a cowpie.

I grew up in rural Alabama, where cow pastures abound. To smell a cow patty you have to get on your knees and put your nose right down to it. Even a fresh one hardens over in a day and you don't smell it at all.

Now, around a large cattle operation, the accumulated smell may be detectable, but even the most sensitive newly-moved gets used to it in one summer. In the winter there is no smell.

[rintense]

I happen to know a lot about Ottawa County, Michigan. And the whole pull to get people to move to farmland is a joke- its noting more than a well designed ploy to destroy farmland and build cookie cutter subdivisions. I once marveled at the number of farms and old, pristine farmhouses in Ottawa County. Now, I only shake my head in disappointment as one of the most charming counties in Michigan falls victim to 'progress'. Whatever. It just depresses me to see so many farms disappear.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

I moved from a downtown apartment to a house in the country across the road from a farm this Spring - and I love it, smells and all!

[e_engineer]

I've often wondered about the viability of building a home on formerly cultivated land--the pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and so on that build up in the soil.

If they build up in the soil, and remain there, you don't have much to worry about unless you like to eat dirt. The ones to worry about are the chemicals that leach into the ground water. Testing well water for nitrates is pretty common here in Maryland, but if you want to test for pesticides, the test is much more expensive.

There are several water test labs that can be found online, and if you are really worried, you can have them test for almost everything. (expect to pay several hundred dollars for an extensive pesticide test.)

We recently had our well water tested by Etrlabs.com, and were pleased by the rapid response. They email the results in a pdf file within 48 hours of sample receipt IIRC.

[rintense]

There is a pig farm on one of the most developed streets in Ottawa County- just less than a half mile from me. The smell is absolutely horrible. But I laugh because I know it pisses off the folks who built their 'dream homes' around the pig farm.

[1Old Pro]

It amazes me how many people move next to farms and then complain about the sounds and smell and the tractor noise etc. The very same idiots are pushing the "open space" concept where farms are preserved, as long as it's not next door.

People's behaivor is sometimes all too predictible.

[LisaMalia]

Amen to that. As close to heaven as the human nose can know in life - add a little honeysuckle in the breeze and your there.

Ahhhhh, honeysuckle. And being able to walk outside of your home and night, and hear only the faint sounds of crickets chirping........