In February, Rachel Cohen never would have guessed that by August she would have left her hometown with her partner for a new life and a new job.

She was a single mom, living in Peterborough, New Hampshire, working at a nonprofit and struggling to make ends meet. She had been dating Maine farmer Matthew Scala long-distance for about a year and had recently successfully convinced him to move closer to her. She had no intention of moving away from Peterborough until after her daughter had finished high school.