How to welcome spring when you live on an acreage

John Paulsen has lived on his five-and-a-quarter acres in Springbank for more than two decades.

"It was always my dream to live on an acreage."

And he made that dream come true when he designed and built his home in Springbank, after living in Calgary's Silver Springs community.

Acreages and rural living provide room for growth, sense of community

Alberta's come a long way from its historical roots of buffalo herds and settlers.

More than 600,000, or 17 per cent of, Albertans lived in rural populations in 2011, according to Statistics Canada. That's a far cry from 75 per cent who lived rural rather than urban in 1901.

Yet a pioneering spirit still remains throughout the province, said Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Verlyn Olson.

For those who've had their fill of the hustle and bustle of the big city and yearn for a different way of living, perhaps it's time to embrace the option of acreage life.

With Calgary surrounded by wide open prairies, rolling foothills and the majestic Rocky Mountains, opting to live outside city limits has some obvious advantages.

Debbie LeBlanc has spent the last 25 years living on an acreage between Cochrane and Calgary. Having previously lived in Calgary, LeBlanc says the move was encouraged in large part by the ability to be closer to the great outdoors.