Now it has become quite popular to change our place of residence from city to village, six years ago, when my husband and I moved from Novosibirsk to a village 170 kilometers away, not only our city friends twisted their fingers to their temples, but also the villagers. Relatives took it more calmly, if you don't get along, you will return.
Many displaced bloggers position the move from city to village as a very difficult event that requires enormous effort and preparation. In our case, everything went not only easily, but also successfully. I would like to hope that our personal experience will help someone make the right decision and will be useful in some way.
Pros and cons of moving to a village.
Much has already been said and written on this topic. In fact, all the disadvantages are either far-fetched or easily surmountable. For example, a favorite argument is the lack of cultural life. In the villages on all holidays, festive events are held, on weekends in the KFOR they show movies and hold discos, I note that all this is either free or for a symbolic price. If you wish, you can even take part in an amateur team. New Year in the village If amateur performance is not to your liking, then no one forbids you to get on a car and drive to the city.
Schools, kindergartens, libraries and first-aid posts are almost everywhere, and where, for example, there is no school, a free school bus comes every morning, which then brings the students home. Education in schools is often almost individual due to the small number of students, and teachers are much more responsible towards their students. There are some circles and sections at the school and the KFOR, and the rest will definitely be found in the nearest regional center. In our village, for example, in addition to children's there is also a needlework club for adults (free), so you will also be taught to knit, spin, sew, weave from a vine, and so on.
By the way, an ambulance will travel 20 kilometers on an empty road much faster than 10 stops in traffic jams.
As you understand, you can debunk any minus of living in a village, but there are a lot of obvious pluses. That only is fresh air, nature, natural products and complete freedom of action.
Choosing a place to move.
Here everyone has their own, I can give only some recommendations.
A good road should lead to the village, no need to go into the wilderness. In winter, no one will clean the roads in the backwoods, and in spring and autumn it is not possible to drive everywhere.
It is best to move to "your" area. A sharp change in climate is not good for everyone's health, and if you want to sell any of your products, your friends and acquaintances will become your first buyers.
Too close to the city is not a good option. Ecology does not shine with cleanliness, but from summer residents and vacationers - neither peace nor freedom. Garbage in the forest after vacationers
Developed infrastructure.
It is best to choose a dead-end village, about a hundred kilometers from a major city. As mentioned above, we climbed 170 kilometers from Novosibirsk, 100 of which is a federal highway, 50 with a tail is an asphalt road connecting two regional centers, and the last 13 are good crushed stone, which is constantly cleaned in winter, since three times in a day there is a bus from the regional center. we move to the village
The village has a school, a kindergarten, a first-aid post, a library, a shop, a village club and even a memorial to the participants in the war. A river with a lot of fish flows throughout the village, the roads are asphalted. cellular - with antennas, satellite and digital television, the Internet is stable, for some reason only here. Nature is beauty! To our surprise, after moving, right outside the village, we found a waterfall
How to choose a country house.
Of course, ideally, a house in a village is a three-story mansion with a well-tended garden, but this is only a dream. Even if such a "miracle" can be found on sale, then for a very tidy sum.
Before choosing a house, you need to decide on your type of activity, if it is a gardening with a small number of livestock, then you can buy a house in the middle of the village. If you intend to breed a lot of living creatures, take a house on the outskirts, there are more plots there, and you and your pets will not interfere with anyone.
Shine. It must be carried out in the house, sometimes there are difficulties with the connection.
Water. If it is not even brought into the house, then it should be possible to connect it centrally. The column is even two hundred meters away, in winter it is very far, especially if you need to water the animals. Not every area will be able to make a well due to the features of the relief.
Of course, the less repairs and investments the house requires, the better.
It is ideal to buy a house in the winter. First, you will really see whether the road is being cleaned. Secondly, after spending a small amount of time in the house, you will understand where the cold comes from and you will have the opportunity to eliminate this before the first wintering.
Heating. Better independent, central in the village can be difficult. If at least there is gas nearby - very good, many problems with firewood and coal will disappear.
Bath. Well, you will not wash in a basin.
It is easier to bring water into the house, to make heating and sewerage in the village than in a private city house. The locals will help to dig a trench and weld a stove, and they will give old wheels from tractors cheaply for a drain hole, the main thing is to find a common language with them. Even if initially there are no amenities in the house, then soon, if you wish, you can do everything, including hot water and shower.
Some tips for settling in a new place.
It is best to move in the spring - you can do a lot before winter and successfully winter in a new place for the first time.
Immediately after the move, there will be a lot of work, the main thing is not to spray. Of course, first you need to bring the house into a living condition, sort things out and get to know the neighbors. To prioritize further actions, perhaps the following tips will help.
When moving in the spring, plant a vegetable garden first.
Get the first animals - chickens, pigs. By autumn, the piglets will grow up and you will have meat, the chickens will supply you with eggs. You can also get other animals. To begin with, we took six piglets, a dozen layers and two dozen goslings and ducklings each.
Make contacts with local people, most likely you will need their help.
Be sure to get a dog and a cat. The first will inform about the approach of strangers, the cat will save you from the invasion of mice, which in the first winter will not bypass you. Personally, we decided that we can do without a cat - in winter we crushed mice with slippers and literally caught them with our hands.
Take up the preparation of firewood for the winter. Coal can be bought in the fall, and the wood must have time to dry out. Believe me, melting the stove with raw wood is still a pleasure.
Don't expect cold snaps - get your house ready for winter.
Also in the summer you need to worry about wintering and winter food for livestock.
Until you develop your household, do not start building a new house. Large-scale construction takes a lot of time and money.
Do not take loans - it will only worsen your financial problems.
I just want to say to many - do you need it? And this article “6 reasons not go from town to village”Is addressed primarily to those dreamers and romantics who are regularly visited by an impulsive desire to quickly change the environment and leave. Yes, not just leave, but run, get out of this shaded city \u200b\u200bto village, to freedom, where there is open space, meadows and rivers. Dear citizens, townspeople! Packing things up early, grabbing the handles of suitcases, dragging, straining, heavy boxes of belongings and putting them with difficulty in a crowded car. Better sit down, rest and read this article. What if this village life is not your dream? Why think about this life with the smell of fresh dung, broken roads and smoke coming from the chimneys of an old and very dilapidated rural house?
Image reason.
You are used to flaunting every day in a beautiful suit and chic high-heeled shoes along the spacious city streets, showering the surrounding city dwellers with your wonderful smile, dousing them with the scent of expensive perfume. Constantly catching the envious and playful glances of passers-by, you are in the spotlight, beautiful and charming. The world is at your feet!
In the village, the opposite is true. Every day you will not be able to surprise fellow villagers with your splendor. At best, barely pulling on your feet rubber bootswalk through the grimy village streets as you take your weekly promenade to the village shop to shop. Or once a month, make a memorable, magnificent voyage to the regional center. You will definitely be deprived of close and gentle attention. Disappointment will overtake. Do you need it? Where is the respect and recognition from others?
Financial reason.
You work in an office from 9 am to 6 pm and you are free. The main thing is to sit from Monday to Friday, to withstand this time. A little more, a little more. And now they are the long-awaited weekend. I endured and won. Well done what. Now I'll sleep, take a walk, lie on the sofa with a newspaper, fall asleep to the murmuring and sweet sound of the TV. I'll run and play bowling, throw balls at pins, swallow the famous Big Mac with Pepsi at McDonald's. How pleasant this life is.
Where is the salary? Here she is long-awaited, waited. And the premium in the envelope is just right. I counted the money. How pleasant these bills are, new, they smell of printing ink and from their rustling comes joy and real bliss, from which suddenly you suddenly take your breath away and you want to melt with happiness. How good and glorious it is to live! We'll pay off the credits and have enough for beer and fish. Isn't it a holiday of life?
What about the village? What work? To plow on a farm or in a field, on a hot day and cold cold, but for a penny, for 7,000 - 10,000 rubles a month, and even in work clothes. Dig in the mud in the garden, clean the sheds daily. And the smell ... Oh, what a smell there is in these sheds. Impregnates clothing with its fetid aroma. Pierces hair and skin. Do not wash off. You are constantly in worries and thoughts about where to make money and, moreover, more, so that there is enough for everything. And what to live on? What a prospect! Where is the career growth? What is life for? Is this my life purpose?
Vacation reason.
Vacation. How many pleasant memories, dizzying adventures and events are in this magic word. Unforgettable discoveries of new places, travel around the world, vacation at sea. And the warm sea and clean sand. Oh, what wonderful memorable moments of life!
Stop. Wait. And what about the holiday in the countryside? It is unlikely that you will succeed in a village with a vacation, especially if you have your own farm and garden. After all, lying on the shore of a large ocean, on the warm sand, when you have a half-milked cow mooing and suffering from hunger. And winter is coming soon. It is advisable to prepare firewood ... It will definitely not work.
Is there really no vacation, living in the country? Is it possible to forget about vacation and rest? Nowhere, never go? How so? And dreams of walking along the Champs Elysees, seeing Venice, visiting Hawaii…. How to deal with this? How can you survive this? In honor of what holiday to refuse all this? Why is this life in the country to me?
Educational reason.
Children. Little pretty kids. But, they will grow up very soon. We must give them a decent education, no worse than others. They will not live in the village and be shepherds and milkmaids all their lives. No, my own children deserve and deserve much more. And science and knowledge are expensive at present. And to dress up adult children, give them good food in student canteens, cafes ... Money is needed for entertainment, discos. One rental housing is worth it. The costs are simply unbearable and even what. Will I pull it while living in the country? There is something to think about! Assess your capabilities, prospects and strengths.
Everyday reason.
Housing and communal services. In the village everything is on his own. Clean the snow, mow the grass. Plumbing fix, house fix. What kind of chaos is this?
Prepare hay, firewood. This oven smokes again. And its daily cleaning, kindling. Feed the animals, milk the cow. The house was whitewashed and painted. And so every day from year to year, constantly. I was hired to do this? Why harnessed to such a life?
Or maybe his this village? There are janitors and plumbers at every step in the city. Less worries and problems. The apartment is always warm, hot water runs from the tap. The toilet is warm in the apartment. Sit down and read the magazine. And you don't need to do anything, zero extra movements, the real paradise life of a modern person. What else do you need for a happy and contented life? Life without worries. Why should I lose my comfort when moving to the countryside?
Age reason.
You are retired. They have been waiting for this for a long time and now this happiness came in an instant. Incredible joy. Now a new life begins, you can only think about yourself and your dream - moving from city to village. Get together and change your place of residence. But for some reason it's hard in the village, my back hurts, and I can't move much, I don't have enough strength, shortness of breath. Disease prevails. And the hospital is far away and transport does not go. Is old age approaching? And then what? What to do? The years go on and on. How can an old, sick person live in a country house? It's hard, and the children are far away. Who will help? What are these tests of life for? Who needs them?
If you don't care about all of the above, then it's another matter, continue to pack your bags. Start the car and go ahead to your dream. Welcome to the modern Russian village. With the arrival of the gentlemen !!!
This article was written thanks to you, dear readers of the site, and is my answer to your many questions about the doubts you have that still keep you from living in the city at the moment. But you never stop dreaming of country life. You are looking for advice, lifesavers. You are constantly in indecision and looking for an opportunity to decide on a desperate step towards change and a new turn in your life. Much still stops.
It is up to you to decide about moving from city to village, and no one, in general, no person has the right to impose on you their personal, individual, sometimes erroneous opinion. Further life is your personal step, your decision. Think with your head, take the right steps, act wisely and correctly.
While the article was being written.
Another family failed the test of the village. The escape back to the city is being undertaken by newly arrived people. There will be two fewer people in the village.
Met my neighbor Vera. She is very talkative and knows everything about everyone.
“So what if they came to the village like a year. Maria's husband does not like it here, said not this country life. The city is better. She accuses her of being the one to blame for their move. He has already left. And Maria is selling the house. She has placed her ads, is waiting for buyers and will go to the city for her husband. "
“Only now she really regrets that they sold an apartment in Barnaul a year ago. We spent the money, bought a car, a house in the village, a whole new environment. Now throw it away. It's a shame. And nowhere to live. And these were their dreams and hopes. "
“Where does her husband live? Yes, while my daughter. So what if they are retired, he has already found a job, is working. And she has no regrets. "
If you do not live alone. Find out from your other half if she or he is ready for this desperate step in a radical change in life. Whether rural life is interesting to this person, and not only to you. The main thing is not to regret after.
“Every moment is priceless, there is no stop-tap.
It's a pity we don't understand this right away.
On the train that is called "Earth Life"
They don't sell a return ticket ... "
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How it all began now and I don’t remember, but the thought from childhood was present about my site: with chickens, a goat, bees. My mother's ancestors are from the Smolensk region, so this land pulled me. My condition worsened in the spring of 2011, i.e. to the Moscow region near Rublevka has become simply unbearable because of the comrade president. When he leaves, the roads are blocked for a long time after he appears, and it affects all nearby directions. Life stops. And the daughter is already 12 years old, you will not have time to look back, how she will have to improve her personal life, let them live separately and build their own family. That's how they began to travel with her husband across the open spaces in search of a future life, since there is a car, and this is a great help. Everything that looked left indifferent not only us, but also of our friends, who lived there not far from March to October, because they are already retired. They helped us in every possible way in our search. There were really options, but as always, something outweighed, interfered and broke down. As it is, it was so pleasing to the Lord God. We drove in like then to friends after a long search, and then something skipped a beat. The weather was cloudy, but to my surprise, the joy did not diminish, but rather, on the contrary, it grew more and more. Walking around their site, I, like my husband, could not understand what happened our lungs, because the notion of breathing deeply at home has never visited me. To tell the truth, this is already becoming problematic even in the Moscow region. The thought flashed through my head that I would gladly stay here to live forever. I exhausted negative emotions at the end. The place turned out to be next to them, with grass on top (feeling like a midget) abandoned for years and a running river that you look at from the top down. Hilly landscapes and without extreme space returned to my childhood, from which I could no longer yes and did not want to be released. Wasn't this place waiting for us? Joy and at the same time fear settled in our soul. We went to meet the chairman, but of course to find out if our dream is free. That's the truth they say that where should a person be there about And it turned out. Everything began to advance rapidly. For these half a year I "flew" decently. I even had to visit the hero-city of Smolensk a couple of times alone, because I was only sent there to assess the land. To my surprise, even the fear did not arise that I was going Alone behind the wheel. My husband really let me know by phone on the road. Although he knows me for 18 years in marriage, but sometimes I still shock. But it's hard to stop the snowball (that's how I felt then), which flies and even and to your dream. FINISH was such that they bought this land through an auction and on December 29, 2011. received documents for the property It was the most luxurious gift from Santa Claus called life.
Residents of small towns and villages often move to Moscow, hoping to find here good work and settle down for a long time. But there is another tendency - to leave the capital for the countryside. The Village spoke with those who deliberately decided to give up living in a big city.
Elizaveta Mokeeva
Doula (Birth Assistant), 34 Moved to the village three years ago
located 600 kilometers from Moscow.
My husband and I are from the military town of Vlasikha, Odintsovo district. We met in childhood, and studied and worked, of course, in Moscow.
I am a marketer by education, graduated from the University of Natalia Nesterova.
In the capital, we rented an apartment, and everything suited us, until in 2011 we learned that we were expecting a third child. Then it became clear that we needed our own housing.
We studied the real estate market and came to the conclusion that we could not afford a large apartment in Moscow. To buy it, we will have to pay the mortgage for 40 years and live in constant financial stress, so we decided to build a large house in the village.
Plots in the Moscow region also turned out to be expensive, and then the husband remembered that he had land inherited from his relatives in one of the villages of the Nizhny Novgorod region. We drove 600 kilometers and saw a nice section with an old wooden house. Soon we demolished it and started building a new two-story house.
Because of our work in Moscow, we could not participate in the construction site, so we had to hire people from neighboring villages. Fortunately, the prices for building materials and labor are several times lower here than in Moscow. As a result, in two years we spent almost all our money on construction - about 1.5 million rubles. Construction was completed by the fall of 2013, my husband and I quit our jobs and started planning the move. However, the house was ready outside, but not inside, and we had to move into an almost empty room - life began without furniture, without money, without work.
Immediately after the move, we began to look for work in the regional center, which is 10 kilometers from us. In Moscow, I worked part-time photographing weddings and thought that I could easily get a job here as a wedding photographer - like a person from the capital with a cool camera. However, it turned out that the sphere of wedding photography was well developed in the regional center, and no one needed me.
Before moving, I also worked as a doula, that is, I helped pregnant women. I have attended many workshops and courses for doulas in my time, so I can advise on breastfeeding and natural childbirth. I decided to use my knowledge and started a thematic blog on Instagram. Six months later, I held the first childbirth seminar in Moscow, which brought a good income, and I began to develop in this direction. At the same time, my husband was given the position of head of the rural House of Culture, and we got a stable income.
There are about 50 houses in our village, and more than half of them are abandoned. There are only four new good houses like ours. The village is empty because there is no gas installed in it, and heating with electricity is quite expensive. In addition, at minus 30, no electricity will heat the house - you have to heat it with wood. Our neighbors are mostly aged people who are engaged in agriculture and drink well. Young people come here only to visit for the summer.
The land here is fertile, and farming is not difficult: for example, this year I planted seedlings and did not even weed the beds - the tomatoes and cucumbers grew by themselves. But my husband does not support the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating his own garden, and I am often busy with a small child, so we do not grow anything for sale yet. Earning money from agriculture requires large investments in equipment and infrastructure, and we have neither the means nor the desire for this.
There are about 50 houses in our village, and more than half of them are abandoned. There are only four new good houses like ours
There is no shop or school in the village, so due to frequent trips to the regional center, most of the earnings go to gasoline. But still, living in your own house is several times cheaper than renting an apartment in Moscow. In the village I pay only for electricity: in winter - 20 thousand rubles a month, and in summer only 600 rubles. There are, of course, force majeure: for example, it can demolish the roof of a house, sometimes the water pipe breaks, but no one is immune from this.
After living in the city, it was hard to get used to the fact that no one owes you anything in the village. The first year and a half we lived without an electricity generator, and one day our village was covered with snow and the wires were cut off: there was no light or heat in the house, and in the yard there was snow to the waist. As a result, we cleaned the road to the highway for six hours in order to at least go to the store. Another time there was a hurricane, we lost electricity, and the roof of the house was blown off right onto the car. If in the city you blow the roof, you just call the housing and communal services. If a car breaks down in the city, you call a tow truck. And in the village no one will help you, here you can rely only on yourself.
In general, my husband and I calmly accepted new life, but the move was hard for the older children. They studied in the third grade, all their friends remained in Moscow, and here, in fact, the only person with whom you can go out for a walk is your brother. We put them in a rural school five kilometers from their home, and they plunged into an environment where children do not know what a touchscreen phone and a PSP are, where the school has strict control over the implementation of tasks, because there are two or three people in each class ... In the first year, the school did not have a decent toilet, there was just a hole in the street and a washbasin without running water. Therefore, it is not surprising that two months later, when grandmother and grandfather came to visit us, the children began to complain and ask to go to Moscow.
Of course, no one let them leave. They graduated from the primary rural school, and in the fifth grade went to another school in the district center. But she did not suit us even more than the previous one: classmates of our children smoked, drank energy drinks and beer, actively skipped classes, and this was considered the norm. Neither the parents of these children, nor the teachers did anything to stop this, so I decided to take the children for home schooling.
With the help of textbooks and the Internet, my husband and I began to teach children on our own. I made a schedule and soon realized that it is quite difficult to study different subjects every day. The child jumps from one discipline to another and does not delve deeply into any one. Therefore, we deal with one subject during the week. The child fully immerses himself in the topic, watches additional videos from the Internet, and his knowledge becomes streamlined.
In order for the children to receive a certificate in the future, we have connected to an online school, where, in order to transfer to the next class, you need to pass exams annually. In addition to the school curriculum, our children also learn what they are interested in. For example, Sasha loves to draw, so he has already completed an online drawing course and is now completing a web design course. At the age of 11, he will receive a web designer certificate and will be prepared for his future profession. Now children no longer ask to go to the city, but, of course, they like to come to Moscow for several weeks to see their grandparents. I call us “the family of the future”, in which children come for their holidays not to the countryside, but to the city.
During the day I have practically no free time: I do household chores, children's education and upbringing, I take the children to sports classes. In addition, I work - I have my blog and online courses on preparing for childbirth. However, it is easy to find time to rest: I took a step into the yard - and you can already grill a barbecue, swing on a swing, jump on a trampoline. By the way, you get enough sleep in the village. Many guests say that we sleep very well. Maybe it's because of the air, or maybe because of the calm atmosphere.
In the city, everyone is chasing the best: everyone needs a good car, a good job, good things. And here dress as you please - no one cares.
Last year in Cyprus I wanted to buy an Armani bag, but I realized that in the village this bag would look like a regular bag from the market. For three years I have changed and realized that the value of life is not in things and status, but in your freedom, in the fresh air around.
Time passes more slowly in the village. Here, less time is spent on the road and empty talk, so you do more in a day than in the city. Here no one distracts you from business, does not invite you to numerous weddings and birthdays.
Our move was a gamble. We left for emptiness, friends laughed at us, and I thought that we could not live long in the village. And now I'm happy with my life. I live stable, without strain, and earn more than before the move. Most of our acquaintances do not understand us: they think that we are suffering here, and they persuade us to come back. But I don't want to live in the city anymore.
Miron Dementyev
Farmer, 26 years old. In 2015 he moved to a farm located 100 kilometers from Moscow.
I was born and raised in Moscow, graduated from the RSUFKSMiT with a degree in sports doctor. After studying at the university, he worked as the head of the aikido school. The story of moving to the village began with the appearance of a girl in my life. I began to think about my family and realized that the quality of the food that my family will eat is important to me.
After some time, I learned that the parents of one of my friends are farmers.
In May 2015, I came to visit them. Valery Ivanovich, the head of the farm, showed his possessions and told about real life on earth. At that moment I realized that I wanted to be engaged in agriculture. As a result, we agreed on cooperation: I move to the farm and help with the housework, and Valery Ivanovich teaches me everything he knows.
In two weeks I decided everything in Moscow, quit my job and went to the farm with my wife. Our family was settled in a two-story guest house. The main reason for my move is food safety. Of course, I could live in the city and buy farm products, but I like country life, the state of mind and body is different here.
In Moscow I lived in a rented apartment and I can say that maintaining a house in the countryside is much more expensive. Living in an apartment was greatly simplified from the outset: all living conditions were created in advance, you just have to pay for rent, rent and others domestic services... And in a village house you constantly have to do something: fix plumbing, dig a well, nail something, build, improve, and so on. But the pleasure of village life compensates for these worries: the neighbors do not shout outside the wall, there is an open field in the yard, nature is around. For me this is real life.
Before moving, I did not know anything about agriculture, and now, after a year and a half, I can work with livestock and equipment, I independently produce and sell dairy products. At first, it was hard for me because of the large amount of physical work and isolation from society, because all friends and relatives remained in Moscow. However, over time, it became easier: volunteers began to come to us, and my friends Vladimir and Alevtina moved to permanent residence, who now work with us on the farm.
Our farm consists of two houses, it is not tied to any settlement and is located 100 kilometers from Moscow. It takes about 10 kilometers from the farm to the nearest store. It takes an hour to walk around our entire site - we have 50 hectares of land, most of which is used for mowing for livestock feed. We have all the basic food products: potatoes, bread, eggs, vegetables, meat, pickles, jam, apples and pears. In the shop we buy only sweets, cereals and pasta. For a year and a half, I have become so used to natural products that the food from the store seems fake and plastic.
Everything here is subject to common sense: one day feeds another, there are no concepts of "existential crisis", "Psychological problems", you do not ask the question "Why am I doing this?" In the village I breathe deeply and feel the "salt of the earth"
For sale we produce milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, cheese and butter... Most of our clients are mothers from Sergiev Posad, for whom it is important to feed their children good food. They find us through acquaintances, thanks to group in "VKontakte" or get acquainted at environmental and farm exhibitions. Our products are of very high quality and are sold quickly - the demand exceeds the supply by about two times.
Dairy production is seasonal work, so income is unstable. From six cows, I earn from 50 to 100 thousand a month without deducting taxes. Part of the income goes to livestock. The remaining money is enough to provide for my family and to pay Vova and Alevtina's salaries, but funds are sorely lacking for the development of the economy. In general, the main problem of agriculture in Russia is prices. Everything in this area is very expensive. For example, to create a farm like the one in which we now live, you need to have a start-up capital of at least 10 million. Livestock also costs a lot: a normal cow will cost from 100 to 150 thousand rubles.
Over time, we began to cover the activities of the economy in social networks, and this gave a result: the media began to write about us, people from Moscow reached out to us. Last summer, we organized a labor camp for volunteers: more than 30 assistants came to us for two weeks, for whom we prepared a historical and cultural program with trips to Sergiev Posad. The volunteers helped us with the farm and at the construction site: with their help we built the frame of the barn and changed the roof in the apartment building.
In addition, a month after the move, we started collecting money through a crowdfunding platform. During the month, they raised 450 thousand rubles for the purchase of sheep and building materials. Soon, we launched a second fundraising project - this time we raised 900 thousand rubles and bought six cows, a tractor and other equipment. As a reward, donors were sent dairy products or handmade gifts: wooden dolls, paintings, watches, and other handicrafts. There was also a third project - we received a million two hundred for the construction of three guest houses so that volunteers could live comfortably at any time of the year.
Life in the village is always orderly. For example, in the summer, the daily routine is as follows: at 5 am - the rise and morning milking of cows. Women handle milk, men deal with cattle: give water, feed, clean. After milking, you can have breakfast yourself. Then work on the farm begins: either on machinery in the fields, or on a construction site, which, by the way, never ends here. Recently, for example, a garage was assembled and an extension to the barn was made. Lunch at 15:00, after which there is again housework until 19:00, that is, before dinner. In the evenings, I work on the Internet or chat with guests and farmers. We love to sit with delicious pies by the fire, play the guitar.
For a year and a half in the village, I have never regretted moving. Here everything is subject to common sense: one day feeds another, there are no concepts of "existential crisis", "psychological problems", you do not ask the question "Why am I doing this?" In the village I breathe deeply and feel the "salt of the earth." I am sure that my children and grandchildren will grow up in love for the land and share my life values.
Vitaly Boltinov
Brewer, 49 years old. Moved to the village four years ago
located 100 kilometers from Moscow.
I am a third generation Muscovite. He studied to be an electrician, worked in his specialty for a year before being drafted into the army. Then he took up free business: he was employed in the construction industry, produced confectionery and sold clothes. As a child, my father constantly took me with him on country trips to visit relatives, together with him I visited the villages of many Russian regions and Ukraine.
My father had a plot in the suburbs, and as a teenager I spent my free time there. I was interested in everything that is on and in the earth. I put the site in order, was engaged in draining the land and other matters. In a word, I have known chicken droppings since childhood. Even in the army, I did something similar. I was so bored there that I organized a small subsidiary farm. He started with one rabbit, and after a year and three months he left behind 500 rabbits, two rams and two goats. Throughout my life, like my father, I spent a lot of time outside the city. Every weekend my wife and children and I left Moscow far away. Sometimes I got so tired of the city that I left on a weekday evening and came back in the morning.
All my life I have been pursuing a dream - to live in a village. I set myself a goal - by the age of 50, to save up money and move with my family to my own house outside the city. In 2009, I began to make my dream come true and look for a suitable site in the south of the Moscow region. The main criterion when choosing a site was the view from the window. As a result, I bought one and a half hectares of land in the village of Sonino, 100 kilometers from Moscow. When I ask my city friends: "Where does your morning start?" - they answer that from nothing. And my morning begins with a beautiful landscape, with sunrise, with birdsong.
I organized a construction team and in July 2009 construction began. I wanted to build two houses, a bathhouse, a brewery, a technical room, a stable, and a small pond. By the way, the architecture and layout of the buildings was done by me personally. And I also actively worked at the construction site. In four months, the foundations of all buildings were laid, and in 2012 I fully moved to a two-story guest house. However, by that time, I had disagreements with my wife, with whom we had been married for 28 years. At first, she supported my desire to move, but then her opinion changed. As a result, we parted. Therefore, I did not finish building the master's house and did not make a pond.
There are only eight houses in my village, but I cannot say that I am missing something. For example, a ten-minute drive away is the village of Zaoksky with an excellent entertainment infrastructure: there are large gyms, a cinema, a theater, a spa and a shopping complex. By the way, I am an avid theater-goer: I attend about 40 performances a year, and the distance to Moscow is not a problem - an hour and a half by car, and I'm in the city.
I also love beer since my youth. During my life I have tried several thousand varieties, I learned to brew beer in Germany and the Czech Republic. I lived in breweries for several days, observing, asking questions, and generally mastering the craft. Therefore, in the village I decided to produce my own product. In 2011, I purchased the equipment and started cooking. On the sixth try I found the proportions I needed and settled on three beers: a light lager, a dark lager, and a blend of both - ruby. The brewing process is creativity and delicate work with ingredients. Only if you truly love beer can you make it well.
Initially, I brewed for myself, gave beer to friends and exchanged with farmers for their products. For example, I have not bought potatoes, beets and poultry in the store for a long time, but have exchanged them for beer from the neighbors. Another friend of mine makes a registration certificate for my car for a case of beer. Over time, people learned about my beer, and the year before last I got my first orders. Around the same time, my friend Sasha founded the Mark and Lev farm cooperative. Since then, my beer has been called a cooperative, and they help me with the sale. In 2014, I finally quit my business in Moscow and devoted myself to brewing beer.
My Moscow friends are getting old before our eyes i am frozen in time against their background. Despite my age, I have more energy: at 50 in the country I feel like at 35 in the city
In the summer I work every day from 07:00 to midnight and produce 2.5 tons of beer a month. Due to the large number of orders, sometimes you have to cook even at night. My record is three days of cooking without sleep. Now I supply beer to regional, Tula and Moscow restaurants. Also my beer can be bought through LavkaLavka and in Mark and Lev stores. My monthly income from the sale of beer is about 150 thousand rubles, and this is quite enough for me.
I love fishing, so I go fishing from four to seven in the morning before work. Where have you seen this in the city? People spend months going fishing, but I just walk 200 meters to the pond with crucians and tench. In the spring I like to hunt woodcock. I hunt not for shooting and killing, but just to be in nature. I take a chair with me, some brandy and sit at dusk. If I want mushrooms for dinner, I put on my sneakers, walk 100 meters and after half an hour I fry them in a pan.
In Moscow, you can eat right, drink water through 48 filters, but it will still be fake water and fake food. You can run in the morning, but you will still breathe in waste. You don't have to smoke or drink, but your health still deteriorates. My Moscow friends are getting old before our eyes, I am frozen in time against their background. Despite my age, I have more energy: at the age of 50 in the village I feel the same as at 35 in the city. Every day I walk from 3 to 20 kilometers, and I do not notice these distances. I don't go back and forth on purpose - I just do things and I am on the move.
In the village, I literally began a second life. When I come to Moscow, my friends ask me all the time why I smile so much. But because in the village there is rarely a bad mood, peace and tranquility reign there, there are no irritating factors, so I smile a hundred times a day. And if there is a bad mood, then it is very easy to raise it: he sat on the grass in the yard, drank coffee, stroked the cat - and that's it. There is no place to draw so much positive energy in the city. People smile little, constantly surf the Internet and are rude.
All city friends envy me. They come to visit and admire, but they themselves are afraid to move. Although in reality what do you have to lose? You can't make a career at 45 - sell Moscow living space, and buy yourself a house of 150 square meters for half of its cost. With the rest of the money, you can easily live out or do something. And you don't have to invent anything: all the information is in the palm of your hand, electricity is everywhere, and our cooperative will help you with land, installments, and infrastructure.
I go to Moscow once a week for raw materials for cooking and I see that people cannot cope with the frantic city rhythm. The good mood in the city diminished, people began to get tired quickly: by the age of 40, they begin to get out of hand, their efficiency at work gradually decreases. Recently, I feel sorry for the townspeople, so on my own I try to help them: I always bring positive and beer with me.
Now I live in a guest house with a new life partner and her two children. However, I lack a kindred spirit, a like-minded person with whom I can fight side by side for a common cause. Soon my son will return from the army, and I hope that he will live with me in the village. Actually, I want to create a family nest, as many Americans do. So that my children and grandchildren live in neighboring houses. I hope this happens someday.
Today marks exactly one month since the day we arrived in the village for permanent residence. It was a really difficult decision, because we had a good job in the city, and uncertainty awaited in the countryside. We made this decision painfully, for a long 1.5 months, leaning first to one option (to leave), then to another (to stay).
I wrote many lists in which I listed the pros and cons of moving to the countryside. But each time, according to the number of pluses and minuses, either one or the other option turned out to be the leader. As a result, having waved his hand: "I was not," and judging that without trying, it was impossible to understand what was better in the end, they decided to make this village move.
Among the advantages of city life were obvious - a developed infrastructure and the possibility of earning money. In fact, it is an opportunity to earn and then spend money. Everything would be fine, but in recent years, according to my observations, Muscovites have started playing this game, and now it occupies all their thoughts and time. We also want to do something else, my husband - to be engaged in science (in Moscow there was not enough time for this), and I - in agriculture (in which I don’t understand anything at all))).
Only the lazy did not swear at the Moscow traffic jams and the crowd. I grew up and was born in this city, but recently, having driven from my mother's house to my own through the center, I realized that I did not recognize my native place. Billboards have already completely blocked the historic buildings, which are becoming less and less, now you can walk in the city center only early in the morning, when the majority of the population sleeps in multi-storey boxes, and cars line up for work by 6 am. And I realized that I still want to leave, this city has ceased to be mine.
The advantages that village life promised us were very shaky, because how can you hope for something that you do not yet know how it will be. Looking ahead, I will say that so far we have never regretted that we moved. And some of the cons that we drew in our minds turned out to be nothing more than myths.
So, the first myth is the lack of infrastructure. In fact, if we talk about shops, everything you need is within walking distance (we live on the outskirts of the village, and it takes about 20 minutes to walk to shops in the center). Yes, they do not have a huge selection of products, refrigerators or cabinets, but personally I was always frightened by hypermarkets and electronics stores with their gigantism and stupidity. Finally, you can get into the car, drive to the nearest large city (this is 100-130 km) and buy everything you need if you need a capital choice. By the way, I noticed that they are trying to sell things that combine good quality and reasonable price. In general, this transition from the 24-hour supermarket opposite to the selmag went almost unnoticed.
The second myth is the obsession of the local population. Not noticed yet. Of course, the conversation takes not 5 minutes, but at least 30 minutes, even if the neighbor just brought a can of milk, and we already saw each other this morning. But you quickly get used to it, besides, we stopped constantly rushing, and we finally have time for idle and not very idle conversations. People here are open and simple, so much so that you begin to suspect them of something bad. So far, none of our fears have come true.
The third myth - the village is hard work without raising your head from morning to evening. I can’t say anything yet, because we do not live in our own house, but in an apartment heated by a local boiler house. It is still too early to dig the garden, the snow has just melted. My husband works, as he did in the city, as a doctor, and I'm going to continue making money on the Internet as soon as the opportunity arises. In general, I would not say that we are struggling to feed ourselves. At least we do it no more and no less than in the city, while the main products are the same or even slightly cheaper.
Minus the fourth - there is no money in the village. If you go to work - yes, there will be very little money. Locals consider 7-10 thousand rubles a good salary. However, they spend much compared to the townspeople, for example, they buy only bread, butter, fruit and delicacies from food. At the same time, they drive cars, buy clothes, make repairs in their houses, etc. I would not say that the local population is on the verge of poverty. So far, unfortunately, I have not managed to get to know a single farmer or entrepreneur. I am sure that if you do not sit in one place, then business can be established here, moreover, the competition here is several times less than in the city, and you can also get a bonus in the form of support from the authorities.
As for the pluses, we get all of them in full. The air is clean, the forest next to the house, the rhythm of life is measured and unhurried (if we ourselves do not come up with adventures, and we are quite capable of it), food is natural, no aggression from people or the environment, better living conditions compared with what we had in the city, and many, many other pluses, which in general outweigh the minuses so far.
The plans for this month are an active search for a house in the village, the village has so far chosen the most distant one with a forest and a river, but there are other options, closer to the highway, and there are generally on the highway (a highway is a conditional concept). For now, I think how important this transport problem will be for me.
