I have been raised part in the city and part in the country. After living 10 adult years in the city I could not stand the stress anymore and decided to live the country way, think middle of the wood.

I have spent couple years in my new hometown (village really) and know a couple people really well now. They raise their own chickens, pork, beef, etc... But the geek in me always want to speak out and talk about various topics so advanced noone around me can relate. Topics like the evolution of engineering, world politics and god forbid the unexplained.

As much as I like my newfound lifestyle, this kind of situation can be difficult at times and the loneliness associated with it can be somewhat of a burden. However, the very many positives aspects of this life conterweight the stress of the city by orders of magnitudes. This post is mostly geared towards improving on what I have now, I would hate to see a bunch of replies telling me city is much better... City is great, but not for me.

I was wondering if any ATSers was living similar situations; and if so, how do you cope with it?

My husband and I did the same thing....We bailed out of a large metropolitan area and moved to the middle of nowhere (nearest neighbor is over a mile away). Oddly enough, I haven't had much trouble running into people out here who are aware of a whole host of things that we talk about here on ATS.

Most families are prepping. Many of them are Christian Fundamentalists, who believe that we are in the end times. Some are just out there, like the doc in town who built a device to attract UFOs to his yard. Some really cool people out here.

I was afraid that we would be the only types that are prepping and are "awake", but we found that most of the people out here are right up there with us.

You may be surprised as to how many people are thinking along the same lines as you. I even ran into a stranger at the local grocery store. We started talking about the high cost of food, and lo and behold, she and I started talking about other stuff, and it turns out she's a prepper. Her fear was a meteor shower. Mine is nuclear war....We've even had repair men come out who also are awake. I haven't ran into anybody over the age of 30 out here who isn't. This was not the case in the city......Start talking to people, and prepare to be amazed!

Dear repliers (all of you), thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated. Now that I think of it, what bothers me most is I know I am boring some dear friends with my stuff. I have to learn to tune it down more and sense when it's appropriate to make it surface. So far no-one got scared with my stuff, it is just they cant follow and learning curve is pretty steep ;-)

I also raised rabbits last year, all by myself, and will start to eat them soon. FYI, food alone got me around 9$/pound of eatable meat. No economies of scale here but I know what I eat.

A great way to break the ice is ask if they have any ghost stories. Usually they will laugh and play it off... and they will follow with..."Ya know, there was this one time..."

That gets the ball rolling. Everybody has a ghost story... then it will turn to strange lights. Old country folks here in NC call them "Jack-O-Lanterns" or fireballs... and as rural and agrarian as most country folks are, they are always outside, looking at the sky to check weather, looking at moon signs, and such... somebody has seen a UFO...

They just don't want to say so in mixed company because some will call them crazy. And just like pilots can't fly after saying so... they will not be able to sing in the choir after that... so they say nothing.

Another good way to break the ice is the Bible... most country folks go to church... me included... but few ever heard the preacher speak on Ezekiel's Wheel or Behemoth or Giants before and after the flood or that there were more than one giant named Goliath..

And being in the Bible, how can they refute...

As pointed out earlier, most country folks are tuned in.. they just keep up appearances so as not to be passed over at the next Nomination Committee meeting.

I'd be willing to bet there are some old hippies out there some where.

Congrats with the small livestock effort... time for chickens and eggs... I suppose you garden too. In the country, most people are preppers wether they know it or not.

While I live in Tokyo these days, I grew up in the mountains of West Virginia. Living in the woods is great and the lifestyle is much less stressful but I had the same issue you did. What I did was seek out like minded people in the mountains. It took a while but I did put together a cast of characters to talk about world politics and highly academic subject; as well as the far flung things from time to time. It is harder to find such folks in the woods but if you seek them out you will find them.

Try wearing a T-shirt which is thought provoking and see if it attracts the kind of people you are looking for.