Candice Bakx Freisen in Canada: Rural Life on a Chicken Farm

You don't have to cross an ocean to become an expat - you could just move to Canada! Think the slow life on a rural chicken farm in the quiet outskirts of Manitoba sounds like a dream? You should definitely check out this episode!

In Episode 7, Season 2 of Creating Your Happy Place, we talk with Candice Bakx-Freisen about what it's like to live in rural Manitoba, and the difference between buying real estate (and living in) Canada versus in the United States. 

Professionally, Candice is a Real Estate Agent & Real Estate Investor who's passionate about helping people reach their financial dreams. She coaches, trains, and offers mentorship on money topics ranging from basic budgeting to real estate investing. 

Her candid approach to business, and ability to get past the fluff and dig into the root of each challenge for her clients so that they get more of the important stuff done has led to her becoming a highly sought-after coach within the finance and real estate industries.

As a mother of 4, top performing realtor, entrepreneur, money coach, and speaker, Candice is the very definition of what it means to be a highly motivated woman, and she has a passion for helping others succeed in life and business. Candice has had many opportunities to speak in front of large crowds and enjoys teaching others and helping people reach their financial dreams.

- - Where to find Candice - -

Instagram: @candice.bakx.friesen
Facebook: @candicebakxfriesen
Website: candicebakxfriesen.com

- - About the host - -

Rebecca West is a business coach for ambitious residential interior designers who are determined to become the only designer their clients and contractors call.

She's also obsessed with creating happy homes, so if you need some advice for your home you can check out her book Happy Starts at Home or sign up for a via-Zoom Design Helpline. 

Rebecca can't resist a costume party or a cat video, and has a weakness for Oreos, Taco Bell, and Scotch whiskey. 😁

🙏 If you like this podcast, make sure to review, subscribe, or share! 

Transcript

Rebecca: 0:01

Welcome to Creating Your Happy Place, a podcast that explores what it takes to create your happy place and then empowers you to do whatever it takes to make sure that your home makes you seriously happy. I'm Rebecca West, host of Creating your Happy Place and author of the book, Happy Starts At Home and I'm so glad you're here today. This season we're having fun exploring the idea of becoming an expat and setting up a home outside of the United States. It might sound like a great adventure to set up a home in another country, but it comes with its own unique set of challenges. Here in the United States we have not just a remarkable amount of choice, we're also used to being able to get pretty much whatever we want, whenever we want it, and it's not necessarily the same everywhere around the world. Today we're chatting with Candice Bakx Friesen, a real estate agent, real estate investor, and home stager who lives in a rural area on a chicken farm just outside of Winnipeg, Canada, in the province of Manitoba. In case Canada is just one big blur to y'all, let me help you get oriented. Canada is made up of 10 provinces. Manitoba is just north of North Dakota and Minnesota right in the middle of Canada, bordered on the east by Ontario and on the west by Saskatchewan, and the city of Winnipeg is about 70 miles north of the US border. Candice is here to chat with us about the difference between buying real estate in Canada versus in the United States, and she's also gonna share her experience moving from a small family home to living bigger on that rural chicken farm with her husband, four children, two dogs and two cats. I'm so excited to welcome her to the show today. Hello Candice!

Candice: 1:40

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

Rebecca: 1:42

Let's see if we can Give our Listeners a little bit of orientation, help them picture where you live. Tell me about this farm you live on, what it's like, where you moved from, and why you made that move.

Candice: 1:53

So Manitoba is mostly flat. We don't have mountains. So what people comment about the Midwest, I guess, of sort of being a little bit boring. That's kind of Manitoba too. But there's something about having a quiet lifestyle I think that just brings a lot of peace. There's not the same keeping up with the neighbors as there is in major cities and all the competition. and Yeah, there's something to just the quiet lifestyle, that's what we love and that's why we live in rural Manitoba. Why we moved there, it was more business decision than anything. Um, we were actually in the process of... we were looking to build a house, so we already called the trades to start digging the basement when this business transaction came about. The farm came with the house that we purchased, and so then we decided, okay, well I guess we are kiboshing our home building plan. We were gonna build a house that would it would've been like a good upgrade, but this was a lot larger than we ever thought we would live in, a bigger upgrade than we expected it to be, and that's been interesting for family dynamics.

Rebecca: 3:01

Because you moved from a smaller home. Right? It sounds like you were living in a smaller place and you didn't have all the land either, so now you have both a bigger home and a bunch of land?

Candice: 3:09

Yeah, exactly. I think people always are like, well, I want a big house. Right? Let's keep striving to have a bigger house and a bigger house and a bigger house. But, you know, my kids, it was an interesting statement, we had gone to a, a little cabin, it was like 700 square feet and uh, stayed there for the weekend and they were, you know, a little bit younger at the time, but my son had just said, this is so nice that we're all in one room together. So when you have a large house automatically, you do sort of spread out a lot. Right? Now that they're teenagers, uh, they're happy to have their own space and not be next to us, but, but yeah, when I think back to my fondest memories with my grandparents, staying with my grandparents for sleepovers, and what do I remember? Being in the kitchen when my grandma was baking and being in the living room and watching hockey or wrestling or whatever with my grandpa, right? So I. Yeah, it's, it's that time together. I think that brings the happiness, that's where the memories are. It's not really the house. Um, yes, there's sentimental things to homes, but when you really think about it and you break it down to what is important in this house, it's the people that are in it, right.

Rebecca: 4:18

Right, and identifying the lifestyle that you wanna live so that the house you're choosing supports it. So if you're looking for a lot of together time, if the house is too compartmentalized, gives everybody too much freedom, it might actually be fighting a. The togetherness or the lifestyle that you want. Or vice versa. If your teenagers are always fighting with each other, maybe a little bit of room to separate is a positive thing, and the house affects all of those dynamics.

Candice: 4:43

Yeah, yeah. And the location. So we wanted to, we were in a small town, so about 1500 people, which in and of itself is really rural. But now we moved about seven miles out of town. That was something that we wanted, because my husband and I both grew up that way, and you have a little bit more control as parents too. If kids pop by and they're like, Hey, you know, I wanna go to Johnny's. It's really hard to say anything when they can just go, right. But when they're in the country, they're probably not, you know, biking seven miles to go see their friends. So there's a little bit more control over, you know, who are you hanging out with? How much are you home or not home? Because we really wanted our family unit to be the most important thing in the kids' lives.

Rebecca: 5:24

It's a interesting balance of more control in terms of kind of knowing where your kids are at. But I also would think that there's also almost less control, cuz you can literally just send them outside to play. Just like in the before times when things were a little bit more spread out.

Candice: 5:39

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. There's something to country life like, no, it's not always the most convenient. you know, If you're used to walking or driving two blocks to the nearest Starbucks, no, we don't have Starbucks... Again, you're really thinking and considering and being a little bit mindful about like, Is this worth it? Is this trip actually something that I want? Obviously like Amazon's the same. We don't get parcels the same day, it takes maybe two or three days. And um, yeah. So things like that are a little bit different, but overall, um, it's good.

Rebecca: 6:11

How old were your kids? How long have you been living on the farm? How old were they when you moved there and how old are they now?

Candice: 6:17

So my youngest, I was, expecting her. That's how things go. I was expecting a child, we were buying a new business, uh, I'm a realtor, so you know what the hours are like. We've been there about nine years now. She's a little over nine.

Rebecca: 6:29

Yeah, long time.

Candice: 6:30

Yeah, And then, so the oldest would've been also about nine years old.

Rebecca: 6:34

And as a real estate agent, I imagine that you, especially living rural, do you have like a really wide territory? You just constantly driving all over Manitoba, like how far do you have to drive given that the houses are pretty spread out.

Candice: 6:49

Yeah. Yeah. Some days that can be a few hours in my car.

Rebecca: 6:52

Yeah. How does, um, thinking about home and the fact that you're very aware that it's not the house that makes the memories, it's the memories that make the home. How does that affect the conversations that you have with people when you're helping them find a home to buy?

Candice: 7:07

Yeah, so I think that what people often probably expect is that the realtor kind of helps guide people. And yes, I do guide them, but really it's like listening to what they want and helping them find what they want, knowing that you're not gonna usually get everything from your wishlist, right? So helping them prioritize and things like that. Um, but yeah, asking the question, right, like, do you have a family pet? Do you have kids? Like, is a fenced yard critical or not? You know, do you need public transportation or do you have to be a certain distance from schools or work. Uh, because again, like I drive a lot, you know, but the next person might not wanna drive at all because they wanna be home as soon as they can. Uh, to have the most amount of family time. Um, and then again, like features in the home that are important. So when we were looking to build our house before we moved, uh, we wanted to, we waited till we found the place that had a creek cuz we wanted to have a creek in our backyard. And we wanted to have a fireplace. Um, my oldest daughter has a disability, so we had to do some modifications for her. So there was kind of like two or three sort of, these were really important. So having a fireplace was really important cuz I just wanted to have that cozy feel. Right. It was about the, the feel again. And we love, we love to entertain, so we need to have a place where we could spread out and have 20 people down and that's no big deal on a Sunday afternoon, right. So I think it's really thinking about like, how are we living in this house? What's important to us? And again, the next person might be like, no, I never really wanna be home. I wanna be traveling, I wanna be going to the park. And, um, just having a very active lifestyle. So what's important to you?

Rebecca: 8:52

Do you find that you ever have to help them be creative about how they might get something, like, they might be thinking, I want a fireplace, but if their purpose is to be cozy, maybe there's a house that feels super cozy but doesn't happen to have a fireplace. Like understanding the why behind the wishlist item. Is that an important part of the conversation?

Candice: 9:10

Yeah, definitely. And it's not the same as when, you know, people bought their first house in the seventies or the eighties, right? Housing was more affordable. Um, you kind of maybe saved up for a bit and then built your dream home and you stayed there for 40 years, right? Now you know it's not the same, right? Usually you're starting with a house, or a condo, that you are like, Hey, this is okay for now, but you've got a three to five year plan where you're hoping to upgrade, so again, just having that conversation of like, you're not gonna find, you know, your parents' home as your first home. Because they've worked their way up to that house. And so, sort of setting expectations, and that goes to parents as well who are helping their kids because, any parent wants their kid to have the best place for the best price, but it just doesn't work that way. So kind of getting them up to speed on this is what pricing is now, you know, it's changed even from two, three years ago. And setting those expectations. We wanna find a house that's safe, doesn't need a lot of repair, it's in a good neighborhood, you know, those kinds of things.

Rebecca: 10:12

The fundamentals.

Candice: 10:13

Yeah, exactly.

Rebecca: 10:14

So it sounds like you help people from the US buy relatively frequently. What are some of the things that people might be assuming about, differences between their experience in the US and Canada that either turn out to be true or are completely off base and you have to reeducate them a little bit?

Candice: 10:31

Yeah, I think anytime you're buying in a different country, there's gonna be a lot of differences. So figuring out what the legal system is. Just how land is transferred from the seller to the buyer, that system alone can be different within Canada, every province is a little bit different, yeah. You guys will have the same thing in the States where between states, all kinds of things can be different. So it's really getting to know the area that you want to be in um, and using those local experts I think is really important. So once you connect to a real estate agent, you know, and, and they give you three trusted lawyers as referrals, let's say, ask the question, see who you're most comfortable with, and that you have a really good fit. You know, so it's not only...

Rebecca: 11:15

Okay, so. Let's actually pause right there. So getting a lawyer involved is not something that is the standard part of having a real estate deal here in the States. I know when I was interviewing somebody about England, that was one of the first things they brought up. You're gonna get yourself a lawyer. And I'm like, what? Tell me more. So your real estate team, if you're buying in Canada, will include an agent first, and then the second partner is gonna be a lawyer, it sounds like?

Candice: 11:40

Yeah. Lawyer and your Banker. Yep.

Rebecca: 11:43

Okay. And is the, so the mortgage broker is separate from the banker. It's also a team player here?

Candice: 11:48

Um, yeah, either one. Mortgage broker, banker. Yep. And, uh, appraiser if you need, right? Yeah. And home inspection. And then obviously Canada's always on sale to Americans, you get a little further in Canada than us buying in in America.

Rebecca: 12:03

Speaking of money, here in the United States your buyer agent and your seller agent will both get 3% of the sale, mostly paid by the seller. Is that the same in Canada?

Candice: 12:15

Yep. So the seller pays the commission. Uh, again, every province is a little bit different, every market's a little bit different, so sometimes they'll pay, let's say, uh, 3% to one of the agents on the first a hundred thousand, and then after that it's a smaller split. Sometimes it's just a flat, 2% or 3% per agent. It just depends what's negotiated.

Rebecca: 12:36

You have many companies, one of them is staging, so is staging, there's actually two questions here. One, is staging homes just as common there as it is here for selling a home. And are homes usually sold empty or are they sold furnished like we see a lot in Europe?

Candice: 12:54

Uh, so we don't sell, yeah, we don't sell homes furnished, but appliances usually will stay.

Rebecca: 12:58

And staging is pretty common as part of selling a house there?

Candice: 13:01

Yeah, it depends on, again, on the person, on the client. I offer all of my clients some type of staging. So even if it's like decluttering, moving things around a little bit, maybe somebody doesn't have any art in their house or they don't have a coffee table. So we're just bringing in certain pieces all the way to a full stage if it's an empty house. We've been doing that for our clients for about 10 to 12 years. And then more recently we've been starting to just stage for other realtors as well. There's also something called virtual staging now, which, you will see sometimes, so what people do is they'll take the picture and then they'll put in furniture that's just images. So the issue with that in my books, it, it's good, it's, it's efficient, some people don't want furniture coming into their house so it's really nice that way. But ultimately when a person comes into a house, they really want it to feel like home. That's the whole point of the staging. So you can get somebody who stages the house, you know, on pictures and that'll maybe draw the person in, but when they get they're they're like, oh, this is an empty house. Like, why is it empty? What's going on?

Rebecca: 14:07

It can create a disconnect?

Candice: 14:09

Yeah. It becomes a distraction, right? Because they're like, what's going on? Like, why did they move already? Uh, was it an old person? Like, did someone die in here? Like, all the things kind of come up, right? So,

Rebecca: 14:19

Is that a question you get a lot, if people died in a house?

Candice: 14:23

Uh, if it's an estate, yeah. And again, if the decor is like older where you could kind of tell it was a older person and it's empty, then sometimes people ask. Depends if they're, you know, superstitious, I guess

Rebecca: 14:36

A lot of people are guided by the energy of a house, the past energy, current energy, and so those things are actually very important to their decision to buy. Things that if it's not part of your decision matrix are sometimes surprising to hear

Candice: 14:49

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, like I, I've sold a duplex before and it's, so each side right, is a, an attached home and they're on different titles. So you, somebody builds it and then they sell it to two different owners. And, you know, I'll have people walk through both sides because then like, they might just feel different. Nine times outta 10 people prefer one side to the other. It's just something about like, it just feels more comfortable to go into the house, to the right or to the left. That even though the layout's exactly the same, just a mirror image.

Rebecca: 15:20

it's, yeah, it's reminding them of their childhood home or something about it that just feels right. feels familiar, huh?

Candice: 15:26

Yeah. It's interesting.

Rebecca: 15:27

I actually feel silly asking this question because I've been up to Vancouver so many times that I feel like, first of all, I should know more about Canada than I clearly do, cause I've never paid attention. And Vancouver could be different from the other provinces. So are there differences in the kinds of plugs that are used in the United States versus Canada? Um, how the utilities work, garbage, recycling, all those things.

Candice: 15:52

Yeah, I don't think that there's any major differences. Like, uh, I've done a lot of traveling to the US as well, and I wouldn't say that there's anything super different that we, yeah, I think everything would be pretty familiar. Um, in Europe they have a very different electrical system, but yeah, here we use the same, you know, appliances and stuff.

Rebecca: 16:11

That must be why it's never crossed my mind.

Candice: 16:14

Yeah, yeah, everything's the same that way. So, yeah. Um, in Manitoba it gets quite cold. Uh, so we have block heaters, which is a cord that comes out of your car. If you have to park outside, you wanna plug your car in just so that it starts the next day. So that's a little bit of a difference that people I forget about. Right.

Rebecca: 16:35

Really, it's not even a US-Canada difference. It's a Are you equipped to live in a snowy place, you know, do you really understand what winter living means and what it's going to do for your lifestyle?

Candice: 16:47

Yeah. And so obviously construction of homes will be different as well. Right? Our homes are way more insulated. We have triple pane windows and, things like that are different.

Rebecca: 16:56

Yeah. Did you ever watch that show Holmes on Homes? He's, he is based in Canada, and we would watch him build homes and I mean, you're buttoning up the hatches for some serious weather up there. You know, plumbing does not go on an exterior wall up there apparently, because everything will freeze. Things that we just don't have to consider in mild, um, milder climates.

Candice: 17:19

Yeah. Yeah. And it's not really related to a house necessarily, but we have to have way more types of clothes too. Right. Like we have to have our winter stuff, our spring stuff, our summer stuff, because it still gets warm here as well. Right. It's, it's a nice hot summer, but then we have the, the complete opposite six months later, so...

Rebecca: 17:37

And you gotta store the gear for that winter weather. And the mudroom actually is for mud as opposed to just for looking good on Instagram.

Candice: 17:45

Exactly.

Rebecca: 17:46

What about, um, especially being so rural, are you on a sewer system? Are you on septic? Is garbage picked up?

Candice: 17:53

We have a community, uh, landfill, I guess, that you can pay, like pretty minimal for. Um, you know, my husband, if he saves up all the garbage and he brings it there every couple months, you know, I think they charge 10 bucks. Like pretty minimal.

Rebecca: 18:07

Oh, wow. But you've gotta transport it yourself? Okay.

Candice: 18:10

you don't wanna do that, there are, uh, private companies, you just pay extra for that. Yep. And then in our small towns, it's all covered recycling and um, it's covered. it's just once you get to the rural areas.

Rebecca: 18:23

And then what about the plumbing? Is that septic? Is it on a city system?

Candice: 18:28

Yeah, so we have our own water well. If you're in a rural area where the lots are quite small, sometimes people will share a well. So it's a little bit less money upfront when there's, uh, developers putting in the lots and if something breaks, then people share the cost.

Rebecca: 18:43

Mm-hmm.

Candice: 18:44

But yeah, if you live quite far away from people, you'll just put in your own well. Um, it's charged by the depth of the well. So far as you have to go to get water is kind of what you're gonna pay for putting in a water system. And our septic, it depends how much land you have. So if you're in a rural area, but you're really close to a river, let's say, they're not gonna let you put in a field because then you're too close to water for contamination. But if you don't have a water source nearby then they'll let you put in a field so you only have to empty the septic tank solids every one or two years, depending how many people you have in your house.

Rebecca: 19:22

That's if you have a drainage field.

Candice: 19:24

Yeah, yeah. Otherwise, if you only have the tank, you're emptying it about every month.

Rebecca: 19:28

Wow. Quite a bit. And I'm guessing there's just services set up for this. There's your guy who will come and empty the septic tank. There's the person who'll pick up the garbage if you choose.

Candice: 19:38

Yep. Exactly. Our septic guy, he, uh, that's his job. So he just tracks everybody. So when he empties your tank, he knows he's gotta be back in a year or two years. So he's the one noting it, and then he just calls and says, Hey, it's time for your tank to be emptied. Perfect. Go ahead. It's really simple, so...

Rebecca: 19:57

Now, not everybody's gonna picture the right thing when we say"well," I mean we're not talking a bucket that you have to dip into the well to get your water. It's pumped and the experience of living in your house is just like as if you were on a city system. Is that right?

Candice: 20:11

Yep, definitely. You've got a little bit of extra equipment in your house, so you'll have a pump, uh, in your basement or utility room, if you don't have a basement, um, that will you, you know, you turn on the faucet and the pump will draw the water out. It's just equipment that's in your house, so it's really not a big deal. Yeah, same as being in a

Rebecca: 20:31

And if that well were to break, and if it's shared, you said everybody chips in together. Is there like, association or a covenant or something that spells out what everybody's responsible for?

Candice: 20:41

Yep, exactly. There's a shared well agreement and it's registered on the title of the property. So it's not an agreement between the owners. It's not that you can really get out of it. As soon as it's registered on the land then even if you sell your house and somebody else takes over they just have to assume that unless there's some type of change and everybody signs off and re registers a new agreement on title.

Rebecca: 21:02

Of course. That makes sense. What about when it comes to making a house pretty in that area? Do you have tons of furniture stores? Are you doing a lot of online shopping? What are the resources for personalizing your home?

Candice: 21:14

Yeah, a lot of people will drive if they wanna look around at products, then they'll drive usually to the major city, which is Winnipeg. Um, we're at about a million people or so. So even our major city is not huge.

Rebecca: 21:26

But big enough to have stores.

Candice: 21:28

Yeah! We've got like IKEA and yeah, obviously, you know, Amazon's a big one for people, and all the usual stuff that's online that people order from. So yeah, no different really.

Rebecca: 21:40

Do you have what we would consider some of the usual furniture store suspects like Pottery Barn, maybe Crate and Barrel. Those are all available up there.

Candice: 21:48

Yeah. Not Crate and Barrel, Not Pottery barn... it's a little bit of a smaller city, so if there's not enough of demand, sometimes we lose some of those stores. Um, and then obviously like all the make your own furniture or where you can get custom furniture made by people, there's always those options as well.

Rebecca: 22:04

Seems like there are a lot more people, like call them makers in rural areas, and therefore that's available as a resource, which in the cities you'd be paying a serious premium for.

Candice: 22:14

Right. Yeah. Yep, definitely.

Rebecca: 22:17

So having made the move to the farm, like, okay, you, you said it was a chicken farm. Are you raising chickens?

Candice: 22:24

Yeah. So this is a commercial farm, so uh, we're supplying grocery stores.

Rebecca: 22:28

Wow.

Candice: 22:30

So there's a lot of chickens. Yeah. My husband runs that. I don't really get involved with it. I run my own business and he runs his, and obviously we talk about it, but we're not kind of intermingled in each other's businesses that much.

Rebecca: 22:43

It's really nice to be married to another business person because you understand the challenges of being in business because those are universal from business to business.

Candice: 22:52

Yeah, definitely. I think if we were running everything together, you have to be careful as couples, not every couple can run a business together.

Rebecca: 22:59

I'd say most can't.

Candice: 23:01

Yeah. Because you have too many cooks in the kitchen, right? I come from an entrepreneurial background, my grandparents and my parents, everyone's been self-employed... Sometimes they'd be emailing each other more than they'd even be talking because work just takes you in different places throughout the day. But really critical to still come together at the end of the day and be able to talk about different struggles you have in your business and um, ways to support each other, bounce ideas off of each other.

Rebecca: 23:26

It's also good to not spend every waking moment together. It's good to have different roles, even if you are working together you want something to talk about. At the end of the day!

Candice: 23:33

Oh yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah. And of course, being Canadian, uh, my kids are into hockey, so, uh, three outta the four play hockey. My job is very much evenings and weekends so my husband's doing most of the hockey stuff, so we're a little bit untraditional, I guess, in roles. It's kind of like whoever's at home is making dinner, you know? It's not like it's his role or my role. We just kind of tackle the household stuff together and who needs to go where with the kids, and everyone's fed and clothed and has transportation. We've kind of won the day, so...

Rebecca: 24:03

It's a low bar and yet a high bar at the same time.

Candice: 24:06

Yeah, exactly.

Rebecca: 24:07

So going back to your work, um, is there anything that you wish people knew before they decided to take on a move from the United States to Canada?

Candice: 24:17

That's a tough one. Um, if you're like, yeah, you know, I wanna experience something different, Canada's a great place. Uh, it's safe. People overall I think are pretty friendly. I think anytime you move, it's really about knowing the why behind it. It's, it's no different than when we wanna travel somewhere. You know, my husband finds a group in Europe on Facebook that's a travel group to hear what other experiences are. So I think if you're gonna make a move, it's sort of the same thing, right? Get to know some of the local people. Maybe go visit a few times for us, you know, check it out seasonally to make sure you're okay with winter. Um, yeah. So a lot of times people will know Canada for the fishing and the lakes and sort of that outdoorsy stuff. Um, but obviously in winter it's very different. It's,

Rebecca: 25:08

Living it is different from vacationing it.

Candice: 25:11

Yeah, exactly. So if you've come up during the summer and you're like, oh, I just wanna live on the lake, you know, it's so quiet and peaceful and, um, environmentally very clean. Right. But then if you're not prepared for the winter, you know, you could be disappointed, right? So, yeah, I think just making those informed decisions, no matter if you're moving to the next neighborhood or across the world, uh, is very important.

Rebecca: 25:33

I imagine that in the winter, because it is real weather, that there's a real sense of community, like you'll help each other out. You would never leave somebody stranded. Is there a a place where people go like, are y'all on Facebook together? Do you have a bunch of text chains? What does that community support look like? How do you stay connected?

Candice: 25:52

Yeah, I think, um, in rural areas you'll get to know the neighbor or you'll see somebody new. Not always, but you'll see somebody new and be like, oh, hey, you know, are you new to town? I just, um, helped to a couple move to the rural area where I live and they've never lived outside of the city. And they're like, I met so-and-so and they're the relative of so-and-so, and you know, that's a whole small town thing, right? I always say, you know, small towns sometimes can feel like everybody sort of knows your business, you know, everyone sort of knows everyone, but in times of crisis people are there for you, right? They're, I've had people say, why did the neighbor bring me a pie? Well, that's just kind of the nice country thing to do. You know, in cities you don't necessarily meet your neighbor. You're just like I don't know who you are, but Stay over on your side of the fence and don't talk.

Rebecca: 26:40

And you could live by that person for five, 10 years and maybe wave once a year.

Candice: 26:45

Yeah. I tell the story of when my daughter was in grade six, um, this girl went missing. And so on a Facebook chat, you know, so-and-so's like, uh, has anyone seen my daughter? People are like, okay, well let's meet at the local gas station and we gotta start looking for this girl. Right? Yeah. So everyone kind of made a plan And who's going where? And reconnect on that Facebook group or come back to this gas station in an hour and let's see what we know. Right. And you know, it wasn't a sad story, like she just ended up being at some friend's house, um, but the mom was outta town and you just, you know, you put yourself in her shoes and everyone's like, I don't know who this kid is necessarily, but this is a need. I gotta step up. Right.

Rebecca: 27:30

And it's what you'd want for your own family if your own family was in crisis. So you do it for each other.

Candice: 27:35

A hundred percent. Yeah.

Rebecca: 27:37

Yeah. What do you think is the most important thing for somebody moving out there? Because it can sort of feel a little bit like you're breaking into a secret club when you move to a small town.

Candice: 27:45

Yeah.

Rebecca: 27:46

What do you think the most important thing is so that you don't stay an outsider?

Candice: 27:49

Yeah, I think just getting involved in the community, like there's never a shortage in a town of ways that you can get involved, right? Like if you go and volunteer at the local nursing home and just go visit with older people. If you start something in town, so maybe you're really good at. Uh, maybe you're a singer, right? And you say, Hey, I'd like to offer singing lessons, or, Hey, I'd like to join a choir, or I wanna start a choir in this town for Christmas. Or, you know, whatever it is. Like, look at your, what your passions are and how you can fit that in. People are always excited when, when somebody steps up and wants to help out. So I think it's a really easy way to get involved, to meet people. And again, you know, just reaching out to your neighbor and saying, Hey, you want to come down for lunch? It's putting yourself out there but, I think that in today's world, we need connection more than ever.

Rebecca: 28:40

Absolutely. I'm curious, just to take a little side journey, you were living on this farm during the worst of Covid. Did that mean that was sort of a blip in your existence? Cause you're like, we're not going anywhere anyway. Or did it have a big impact on you guys living there?

Candice: 28:57

That's a great question. Um, the people that were in cities, you know, if you're in a condo building, you don't dare do anything cuz people are watching you. And so I had a lot of people who were like, I can't handle this. I need some space.

Rebecca: 29:08

Hmm.

Candice: 29:09

Because you know, my neighbors reporting me cuz they think someone's over at my house or whatever. All that kind of stuff, right? Um, You know, going to church and all that stuff obviously went online. Some of the sports for my kids shut down, school was suddenly, you know, at home just like in cities, for part of the time and then part-time back and forth and, you know, kind of a hybrid system there, right? so in some ways, yeah, that changed. But for the most part, you still kind of felt like you had your space and almost like, well, it's happening, but you know, we don't see a big effect of it. Agricultural jobs were essential. So there was a lot of people who weren't losing their jobs. Um, so for the most part, yeah, a lot of things stayed the same. And when we didn't, when we all didn't really know what was going on, you know, people were scared to go to the grocery stores. If you think of that alone, um, when I didn't know what was going on, I'm like, well, am I gonna go to my little rural grocery store where there's maybe two people in there? Or am I gonna go to a big grocery store where there be lots? Right. So all of those kinds of things just felt less risky, right, because we just didn't have the population. So even if things were spreading like wildfire in a busy area, well, obviously in rural areas you just don't feel it as much. It's not spreading as much cuz everyone else is more spread out. Right. So...

Rebecca: 30:28

Like you felt it, but it, didn't make you stir crazy the same way it might have if you were living in a thousand square foot apartment in a high rise with six people.

Candice: 30:37

Oh yeah, a hundred percent. People in condos were affected the most. If you had a loved one in a nursing home, you felt it the most. And then I think the third group would've been teenagers. Cause again, they depends so much on those social interactions, that they felt it a lot too.

Rebecca: 30:53

Yeah. Is there anything that you would like to leave our guests with today in terms of giving them advice for creating their own happy place in Canada or elsewhere?

Candice: 31:03

I think it really goes back to knowing what makes you happy yourself. For me, because I'm in the car a lot, it's not even my house necessarily, but I listen to a lot of podcasts and that's just a huge thing that really makes me happy, right? Like I'm learning new things. It's like I'm having a conversation with somebody that I never would otherwise. That really makes me happy, right? The next person, they want a bubble bath with a book. So I think it goes back to really thinking and having that quiet time in your life to really think, right? Like, what do I want right now? What are some goals that I'm working towards? And maybe that is, you know, moving to another country. Maybe you're happy where you are, you know, but, um, we, we all don't have that much time on this earth, you know? So really being intentional, I think, and not having regrets is important.

Rebecca: 31:51

That is a perfect place to leave it. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today. Obviously your contact information will be in the show notes, but where's the best place for people to find you?

Candice: 32:01

Yeah, if you wanna talk about real estate, money investing, any of those kinds of things, um, my website for that is investorsmarts.ca.

Rebecca: 32:10

Perfect. To our listeners, I hope you've enjoyed this episode of Creating Your Happy Place and that you feel a little bit more encouraged and excited to make your home your happy place no matter where in the world you're located. If you're feeling less than happy in your home, please remember that my book, Happy Starts At Home, is here as a resource for you, it's full of exercises that are meant to help you figure out how your home could work better for you, and what changes might support the values you hold and the lifestyle you want to live. That's it for this episode of Creating Your Happy Place. Candice, thank you so much for joining us! Until next time.