My better half and I have both decided its time to move out of the city limits. Our plan is to be out within two year or less. I work from home so as long as I have a computer connection can live about anywhere. We will stay in our state (Oregon) but are looking for a more rural area. We are presently looking for bare land to build on or resales with homes we could fix up. We are looking at least 2 acres and up to 10 located near a small town of less than 50k. Don't won't to be totally isolated. Will buy more land if we can afford it. So what I have been thinking about lately is site selection. I know the general areas within the state we want to relocate to and we have started visiting them but what I am looking for your help and advise is on what makes a good site from a survival standpoint. I want to answer the question "Is this a good piece of land to build on from a survival standpoint". Exactly what do you look for. Besides a good well, and a southern exposure for solar and a garden what should I look far and more important what should I avoid? Regards, Prepareordie
A lot of that depends on your own expectations of what you would face and how you would deal with it. I would say if you are looking at a place to ride out TEOTWAWKI then 10 acres would be an absolute minimum since you would need enouph room for a good sized garden and any other crops and would also probably want to be able to raise some meat. Rabbits dont take hardly any space but also dont provide fats that you need and goats dont take a lot of room but to have enousay a dozen of them to keep meat on the table you would need a little bit of land and 8 acres of fertile ground should do since the other 2 would likely be taken up by buildings, garden, possible orchard and so on. If you wont have the ground to raise your own meat you will want to figure out what you will be able to barter for meat (probably skills since goods wil run out) since wild game would likely become scarse fairly soon, especialy near a midsized town like that. The well or some water source like mentioned is a big one and then a stream running with fish would be a big perk too. Another thing would be location. This would depend on how you plan to operate if SHTF. Are you going to be able to fully support yourself and want to keep to your selves or will you be able to produce something or in some other way be able to make tradeing your way of getting by? If you plan to trade a lot then being on a main road may be better for that but if not then you likely would want a place thats at least a little off the beaten path as far as not on the highway through the area. One thing that is brought up a lot is location in relation to public lands, national forests and so on. Most folks seem to like the idea of land that butts up to large tracts of public lands for the added hunting grounds and so forth. Personaly I could see a big down side to it since lots of folks in the urban areas figure those places will be their new homes if SHTF and have seen lots of them talk about running off and setting up a base of operations in the public lands that way then 'shoot trespassers'. So you may be flooded by urbanites looking for a place to go as well as possible problems with neighbors who also want to use the same sections of that public land in those situations. So it depends on how you believe that would play out and how you weigh those pros and cons. I would say that fertile ground would be a pretty mandatory thing unless you plan to bring in compost and so on to build enouph raised beds to do all your gardening in and keep in mind that if you are raising animals then the better the ground for growing things the better graze they will have. If there is already some fruit trees and or wild edibles like berry plants and so on that could be a big perk. If looking with survival and SHTF in mind then some of the biggest things to look at have nothing to do with the land its self also though. For instance is there a large city or military base in the area or even a small town that would make a prime target for terrorists or other govs we piss off to hit with nuclear/biological/chemical attacks? If they hit it with any of these means and you are say 100 miles down wind with the prevailind winds then you are likely to be in the hit area. If the bird flu is one of your main concerns then anyplace on or within 10 miles of a major highway could be a real bad thing since that where the first spread would hit and if you are within 200 miles of a big city then you are less than a tank of gas for most anything from where refugees would be trying to get away from and only a 10-20 day hike from them. If its 100 miles then its a couple hours drive and folks on foot could easily make it to you in under 1 week. Hospitality/comunity would also be a big one. How much have the locals been screwed with by folks moving out from the city then trying to get laws passed to eliminate the farmers living because they dont like the smell of his cows? If this has gone on a lot in the area then 'imigrants' or anyone not born and raised or maybe 3 or 4 generations in the area may find it real unplesant when theres no longer a sherif. Like I say, IMO 90% of it depends on your own ideas of what is likely to happen and how you would deal with it, but if you want to be able to self sustain then the top things I would look for would be, a bare minimum of 10 acres thats preferably well fenced and has fishing stream or stocked pond, fertile ground for growing feed for you and the animals and the best location possible in relation to all targets, as in as few as possible with in a couple hundred miles and none up wind withing 100 or more.
I would think that starting from the ground up, there are lots of things to consider. Tactically speaking good fields of fire if someone or someones decided they wanted what you have. Higher up, maybe on a hill to also take advantage of the breeze so as to lower the electricity cost, or in case there is no electricity. Possibly a creek, fertile soil for gardens and grass for livestock. Enough tree to supply you with a lot of firewood for the winter. Possibly natural barriers to keep you less accessible. There are lots of things to think about, but especially natural resources.
We are not really sure where yet. We are thinking somewhere between Cottage Grove and Roseburg, or around La Pine or Prineville or maybe even further east. Just not sure yet. We are going to start looking this spring and hopefully purchase some property by summer's end.
Have you considered the Ashland area? Someone I know who studies Peak oil heavily and surviving this has decided that's a good area. Might want to check it out. CG
