Rural Roots Sunday - Why we decided to live in Rural Elk Grove

“…The Rural Area is valued in our community for its aesthetic and cultural significance, as well as the economic and educational opportunities that agriculture provides. Our commitment to maintaining the Rural Area is clear and codified in core planning documents…”

Elk Grove General Plan, December 2023

There’s a reason people choose to live out here, and it usually has nothing to do with policy language or planning maps.

For me, it started earlier in life, working on my grandparents’ farm in a small town in East Texas. Just land, animals, and work that needed to get done. Nothing fancy, but it stuck with me. The work ethic. The ability to provide for your family with the land and the knowledge.

Later in life, we found Rural Elk Grove and made it our home because it felt different. The pace slowed down. The noise faded. There was real space, not just a fence line. You step outside and hear birds instead of sirens, see stars instead of streetlights, and actually notice the moon at night.

Out here, you can have land. Enough to garden, raise animals, and live a life that feels separate from the constant noise of news and social media.

That’s how it started for us. A few chickens. Then a few more. A lot of trial and error, figuring out what worked and what didn’t. Now it’s more chickens than we can count, crazy goats, loud sheep, and a few stinky pigs we’ve made part of the family.

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It hasn’t been perfect. A lot of learning, a lot of adjusting, and more than a few things breaking along the way. That’s part of it.

That space changes things. The stress drops. The noise from everything else softens when you turn onto roads without sidewalks or streetlights, where people take care of their property and help their neighbors when needed.

Day to day, I work in a fast-paced world. Technology, meetings, emails, travel, always pushing to do more with less. This life balances that. It slows things down and brings you back to what’s in front of you and what matters.

At night, it gets quiet in a way that’s hard to explain. No engines. No constant hum. Just stillness and the sense that you can breathe again. Maybe a few frogs or a donkey in the background.

What makes this place special is the balance.

You can live this way and still be 15 or 20 minutes from everything you need. You can step into the high energy of Sacramento when you want to, then come back to something quieter and more grounded.

We have small town stores in the Sheldon area. Places where people know you, not because they have to, but because that’s how it works out here.

This didn’t happen by accident.

People made choices to keep parts of this area rural, and most of us don’t think about all they’ve done. We just live it.

That’s why people love Rural Elk Grove.

Not because it stopped time, but because it gives you space from it. Helps you stay grounded.

This way of life isn’t for everyone, but for those who choose it, it matters.

Matt
Rural Elk Grove resident