The internet is a wondrous place. It is also a dumpster fire. On the one hand I am able to get exposure for my writing here. On the other anonymous critics are rarely evenhanded. A recent trip down that road was with a troll who wanted to "no true countryman" me. As if the place I live and the way I live my life are not rural enough. I am not in the habit of letting people I do not know define me. But it brings to mind the hazy nature of what it means to be country.
In a way my life is Green Acres. New York lawyer Oliver Wendell Douglas longs for a simpler way of life. So, he buys a farm sight unseen and moves to the small town of Hooterville to live off of the land. Where his city ways cause comedic interactions with locals. I moved from a metropolitan area in the Midwest to a rural village in New England. But I did not bring a bunch of urban ways with me. I came to be a good neighbor, hold to the local culture, and integrate into the community.
But I am not a farmer, or homesteader, or even crunchy. Not even on Instagram. I work remote in financial services. Most rural people are not involved in agriculture. Farm and ranch families are less than 2% of the U.S. population. Even 84% of those households earn the majority of their income off the land. Using outside income to cover some of the expenses. But a man does not have to derive his income from agricultural workings to care about them. Or be born of a place to hold to the local ways, and to oppose destruction of its culture.
1 in 4 Americans lived in the country in 1970, and by 2022 that was down to 1 in 8. It is not hard to imagine a future which is 95% urban. Over half of households describe themselves as suburban. But 60% of Americans live in metropolitan areas over a million people. That does not leave a lot of people to take up for rural America. So, when people want to engage in purity tests, about who is and is not rural I do not have a lot of time for that. They never seem to come from those who are doing more than you.
Farming and foraging and homesteading are all normal here. I am learning about them and moving in that direction. People do not seem to understand the idea of a country gentlemen. If you are not a redneck, or hillbilly, or some other box they can put you into you are not rural to them. But "ruralness" is a spiritual state. That comes from knowing places where there is more land than people. From loving disappearing traditions and ways of life. Sharing a sense of place and taking responsibility for what happens there. It is more than a census question.
I live in a place where there are more cattle than people. It’s not about being a cowboy, it’s about respecting the people and traditions of the place you are.
The best things I’ve done is to establish myself are (1) have my signature dish that I bring to events and (2) show up to help when there’s a wildfire.
Rural people judge you based on your character, the desire to not change the things that made you want to move there in the first place.