r/interesting • u/SuspiciousLow3062 • May 13 '26

NATURE Would you trade city life for this?

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u/Aethermancer May 13 '26

If there weren't more drawbacks than "simply choose to live here" then it would t look like this for much longer. Obviously immigration is hard, but there are always some big tradeoffs that account for why a place doesn't look "average".

I live in a very scenic area. The property next to me is literally the focus of world famous paintings. It's great... But. Very few affordable homes enter the market. Most are purchased by wealthy neighbors. The infrastructure is limited (partially to preserve the area's style, part because why fix a bridge that only services three cars a day. Taxes are reasonable, but home repairs are insane due to the wealth in the area and permitting requirements.

The roads near me all point in the "wrong" direction for the nearest city because they followed old trade routes to mills that haven't operated for 150 years. Picturesque but it really makes a commute bad. One section in my township literally has no roads to it that are in-state. I can't imagine how annoying that is for maintenance.

I can't get natural gas at my house because the pipeline can't cross the scenic landscape. I'm ok with that, because I'm here for the scenic landscape but it does add cost.

Lots and lots of little things that aren't as obvious of problems, but it does help explain why some of the green areas remain green.

(Oh and a blight/pest is killing all my trees so I have to pay $100/tree/yr if I want to keep my property looking the same. Unfortunately I think I'm just going to let them die and convert to a native plant meadow. The trees were native too, but blights don't care)

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u/AlltheBent May 13 '26

Yeah shit, as far as the blight goes, really sorry to hear that. Its so frustrating watching trees or shrubs or whatever plant succumb to something you can't control!

Native plant meadow sounds awesome, what would you plant?

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u/Aethermancer May 14 '26

I actually don't know. The stste has a program where they are sending "meadow starter" kits and I signed up. I was just going to start with that, and I also have a few lbs of native wildflower seeds and a couple of bags of milkweed pods I was just going to let my kids play with for a few days :p

The area I live is less Switzerland and more Hobbiton. (I even live on a river called the Brandywine so it fits ;) So if I can end up with an English garden front yard I'll be happy.

(The trees in my yard were mostly elm and ash, so it's going to be a big change in looks. I even bought a house that was older so I didn't contribute to the sprawl, so it just saddens me to see them dying out. They are pretty much going to go extinct across the state in a generation or two.)

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u/AlltheBent May 14 '26

welp, if you're ever in the market for a tree in the future, it probably can't hurt to plant an oak or a maple tree native to your area!