Originally Posted by The Reaper
I see you have been reading.
Good questions.
The book was excellent, but very depressing.
Are there any natural barriers between your property, and the high speed avenue of approach? If not, consider creating one of natural or manmade types. Rerouting a stream parallel to the road, creating an abatis, chain link, barbed wire, etc. Clear fields of fire. Harden your structure. Work to reduce the hazard of fire, either accidental, or arson. Consider having the capability to close the road or drive to your house. Either demo or heavy equipment will work. Frankly, you do not want to be visible from the road. I would want to be as far from it and natural lines of drift as possible. Keep a very low profile. Learn if any neighbors might be reliable in an emergency, and work out a generic mutual aid agreement. Also figure out which ones you cannot trust.
Ensure that you have multiple sources of potable water for an extended duration. If you have a spring or a well, get a couple of hand pumps. You should probably convert to at least one diesel vehicle and get an underground tank of several hundred gallons.
You need non-hybrid seeds, small farming equipment, protection for the crop, small livestock (chickens, goats, maybe a few pigs), and feed. Lay up food for your cats and dogs till they adjust to hunting. They are food sources as well, if you are short and they are not productive. I would consider getting a horse, mule, or small diesel tractor, with assorted implements for small farming/large gardening and spare parts. Seeds are cheap (as are chickens and goats). You live on a farm, start acting like it. I would skip some of the MREs for longer life, more variety, less expensive grains and legumes, supplemented by powdered milk, sugar, etc. Get a small grain mill. That could take you up to two years of supply right there. Get the largest underground propane tank you can afford and a small, quiet LP powered generator. Keep it topped off regularly. Get gas appliances, to include a gas powered fridge, or at least an adaptor to run your grill from the propane tank. Either an LP furnace, or a couple of fireplaces. The diesel will burn in a kerosense stove, if necessary. Think about buying enough deep cycle batteries and an inverter for a battery bank to run small appliances and lights throughout the day. Charge/run large appliances with the genset once or twice per day. Keep visible outside lights off at night. You might board or at least shutter your windows.
Lay in extra medical supplies, both routine and trauma. At least a year of essential medical supplies. Learn to treat trauma injuries and ensure everyone is CPR qualified.
Stay in shape. Take care of your health. Try to learn to cook and eat the food you have stored.
Cross-train members of the family so that no one person is key or essential. Everyone should be able to shoot, provide first aid, operate commo gear, cook, garden, etc.
Develop a local commo plan, consider PACE. I would keep spare electronics wrapped in heavy aluminum foil and sealed in ammo cans.
Learn to trap, lay in the gear, and make sure that the area supports game. Plant supporting crops and trees.
Stock up on barter items that you can also use, if necessary.
Hygiene is an issue. Get some washtubs, pots, kettles, washboards, brushes, clothesline, soaps, toilet paper, etc. Think about waste disposal. A septic tank might work for a few years, if you maintain it and do not overload it with too many people making waste. Think about where you would put an outhouse. Keep the materials, and some quicklime on hand. Also consider where you will bury the dead, and how.
Have plenty of tools, both powered and hand, and know how to use them. A torch or a welder could be handy, especially if you have some stock material on hand. Keep plenty of plywood, 2x4s, 2x6s, sheet steel, angle iron, etc. on hand.
Lay in several times more ammo than you think you will need. If you anticipate a big threat, you might want to consider putting in some fighting positions. Quick to dig with a backhoe, line with concrete pipe, cover, and maybe even put some sod on top. Construct at least one covered and concealed route of escape from your house. If you have a barn, take care of it. You might wind up living in it if your home is destroyed or burned. Cache some supplies around the property and ensure that the others know how to access them.
You will need at least four people to run round the clock security and to tend to chores. Six teens or older would be better. Avoid contact with outsiders. Allow no one else to know of your preparations. Admit no one to your retreat who cannot add to your odds of survival. That means they have to have skills. No mercy, except for family. Your job is to ensure the survival of your family, not to take in the unprepared. if you have a 12 month supply for four people, and you take one additional person in, everyone just lost two months of their food supply. Two people means you ony have an eight month supply. How guilty should you feel saving strangers and sacrificing your family? Your call.
If you are being pestered by refugees, you have not hardened the site or gone to a low enough profile. Most starving people will not negotiate several obstacles and travel hundreds of yards off the road out of idle curiosity. Put up a tall barbed wire fence reinforced with hog wire or chain link, and plant some vicious, fast-growing thorny bushes directly in front of them along the right of way frontage, and fertilize them. Close the driveway after the trigger event, and make it impassable. Consider dropping any small bridges that allow easy access that you will not need. If the neighboring properties allow access to yours, close them off as well. leave yourself a few exits, but camouflage and monitor them. Consider some perimeter warning devices and surveillance equipment. Obviously, you have to decide how serious to get with this. Your solution lies between no preparation beyond what you have already, and what I have offered.
Personally, I would not want to live that close to that many people, if I had a choice.
Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.
TR
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