your situation around your area, page 1

I wish I was smart enough to have planned our family's set up, but I am not. There were many factors, and as it turns out, all of them were good. As such, I can mostly say it was divine providence that blessed us with our refuge.

We live on a 50 acre farm set up on a hill in northern central North Carolina. Across the road is a lake and on the other three sides are low lands and swamp criscrossed with creeks and streams. The land is rolling and almost as if we are in the foothills of the mountains but we are not.

There is abundant wildlife.. deer, rabbit, squirrel, quail, and even ducks in the shallow wetlands of the swamps and bogs. With so much water there is plentiful fishing. Natural foods such as berries, persimmons, cattails, even heirloom apples and pears on old homesteads dot the area. Abandoned roads and rail roads from the 19th and early 20th century cut through the woods creating natural and hidden corridors through the swamps and ridges.

Our farm is in a very rural area and the road is like a giant upside down horseshoe... a loop road... and so there are only 2 ways to the house and they both cross bridges in the bottoms to get here. We are about an hour away from any major cities and about 30 minutes from the large towns. Actually to get to the nearest country store is a 6 mile drive.

The community is close knit and unaware that they are clannish. They are very nice and hospitable, but after living here 10 years, only now am I getting into the "inner circles" of community life... stuff like the deer stew some of the guys cook down at the country store on Saturday afternoon or who to get to help process my meat in "unofficial" and illegal process operations. Don't worry...they are terribly clean and careful, just uninspected... we don't want any "guvment folks" snooping around here.

The farmhouse dates from the US Civil War and comes with hand hewn logs for floor joists, a laid rock foundation, and a hand dug root cellar at the base of a massive chimney. The land is rich and produces an abundant garden and is very supportive of my livestock...which consists of horses, meat and milk goats, pigs, chickens, and a turkey named Tom.

Basically, if and when the SHTF, the plan is to get to the farm... that goes for me and the wife, the kids, our parents, and any friends that can make it. We have ample room and lots of work in the event we get to that point. Then we cut down trees across the road before the bridges, create as many obstacles on the raod as possible. Then we hang animal skulls...goats and pigs...with intimidating warning signs for the psychological element.

Then we run barbed wire on the outer fringes for added obstacles. Spread out our resources away from the house in significant naturally landmarked areas and in old sheds away from the house and down in the woods, divy up duties such as wood cutting, plowing and gardening, patrol and skirmish lines at key entries...see the good thing about the swamps in the bottoms is it channels traffic to the roads and bridges. Then we check up on our neighbors, network with them and try to set up some sort of militia or response group...similar to the "minutemen" of the hamlets and byways of colonial America.

Anyway...that's it. Good hunting, ladies and gentlemen.

edit on 28-10-2011 by AlreadyGone because: spelling