But as farmland gave way to home building, a new class of "ruralpolitans" emerged, families that leave the city to settle on large parcels just outside the city.

Sacramento County is a prime example of that changing lifestyle. Between 2002 and 2004, about 5,750 acres were converted from farmland or grazing pasture into home or commercial zones, according to the state Department of Conservation. Much of that land was within a 20-minute drive from Valley Truck's Grant Line Road store in south Elk Grove.

In days of yore, a ruralpolitan might have been called a "gentleman farmer" — think of Eddie Albert’s character Oliver Wendell Douglas on the 1960s show Green Acres. But in modern parlance, a ruralpolitan is a professional who has abandoned the urban dwelling for a rural lifestyle and lives on three acres or more, typically within 40 miles of a city.

Be he — or she — a corporate lawyer, hedge-fund honcho, or other well-paid business type, a ruralpolitan might commute to work by rail or car or, if he embraces technology, telecommute from the comforts of a lavishly appointed home office. A ruralpolitan doesn’t typically work the land he owns but does profit from it emotionally through the pleasures of gardening, small-scale livestock raising, or just watching his kids gambol through a field of wildflowers.

"Hobby farming is an enormous trend,"says Blake Fohl, marketing vice president of Tractor Supply Co., a 25-state retail chain. He figures that 40 percent of the chain's customers are hobbyists, double the percentage of a decade ago. The stores, which carry tools, work clothes, and animal drugs, now offer how-to videotapes.

Purina Mills Inc., which makes animal feed, is test-marketing stores aimed at what it calls the "ruralpolitan" market.