Dear Jim:
Regarding retreats for big city dwellers, the more you read and think, the clearer it becomes:
1. Your retreat from the big city needs to be more than a distance than is convenient to travel on a weekly basis.
2. You really need someone there full time for security and maintenance. [JWR Adds: And to establish/develop gardens, fruit trees, nut trees, and livestock for self-sufficiency.]
3. One family (unless a humongous family by modern standards) is not enough folks to have a diversity of skills, keep good perimeter security, or defend in a TSHTF [1] situation.
4. [Affording both] a rural retreat and a city home is an expensive proposition.
The obvious solution is for like-minded families to band together to share costs and work. But an even better solution would be to come to an arrangement with a rancher or farmer who is survival savvy, but land rich and cash poor. (Or that needs more folks on board in a crisis).
The hard parts are:
1. How to make the connection between urban and rural dwellers in the first place, and
2. Then of course how to have a “let’s date before we sign contracts to get married” period to build trust and teamwork, and to make sure that there is enough compatibility and common ground.
Any ideas / advice ?
Have looked at the site you recommended where survivalists could connect, but it seemed most postings were old. Perhaps there is an opportunity here for SurvivalBlog to be of service doing classified ads or “match-making” for a fee? Regards, – OSOM
JWR Replies: For liability reasons, I refrain from posting any matchmaking “classifieds” –or anything similar. (You’ve probably read about the $4.3 million dollar settlement paid by Robert K. Brown, very nearly bankrupting Soldier of Fortune magazine. [2]) Sorry, but I can’t afford to roll those dice. I still recommend The Survivalist Contacts Page [3], which is kindly sponsored and hosted by SurvivalistBooks.com [4]. So far as I know, they are still accepting new contacts posts. If you utilize this free service, be sure to patronize their on-line book store. (They have a wide assortment of preparedness and self-sufficiency books, at competitive prices.)