Notes from JWR:

Today marks Pearl Harbor Day — December 7, 1941, 70 years ago today. My Quote Of The Day comes from the lyrics of the song Smoke On The Water. (No, not the better-known song of the same name by Deep Purple.) This one dates from 1944, by Western Swing singer Red Foley. I suppose that many in the Kumbaya crowd would consider the lyrics politically incorrect.

With the World War II generation now nearly gone, it is time to reflect. I, for one, have not forgotten their sacrifice.

—

The following another entry for Round 38 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 38 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Self-Sufficiency Gardening in Climate Zones 8 and 9, by David G.

Unemployment is rampant. The government is bankrupt. Foreclosures are everywhere. And one day soon, you may find your local grocery store has closed and shut off your supply of Hot Pockets. Most of us have never had to grow our own food. Those that have grown their own generally do it as a hobby – or as a way to get a vine-ripened tomato without selling a kidney..

Climate zones 8 and 9 [found in much of Arizons, parts of Florida, and the regions at the north end of California’s Central Valley] are not a gardening paradise. If you go further south, you can grow tropicals year-round (like papayas and mangos) – further north [or into higher elevations], and you get fewer destructive insects and more options (like horseradish, gooseberries, and European pears).

However, that’s not to say you can’t grow food here. You can grow plenty to eat. Most of the Southern US has many native edibles of varying quality: beautyberry, sumac (not the ones with white berries), hickory nuts, blackberries, shepherd’s needle, Chickasaw plums, mulberries and many more. Our long season allows gardeners multiple harvests as well, provided they can outrun the insect population and beat back the nematodes.

The trick to growing here is generally two-fold: water and organic matter. Droughts must be overcome with proper irrigation, and our sun-beaten sandy (and sometimes clayey) soils benefit greatly from mulching, manure and compost.

It’s been said that it takes thousands of square feet to feed a person for a year. In a small lot, this is often impractical – but there are ways to maximize your yield. Long-term planning will allow you to harvest tons of food (literally) from an average yard. The trick? Fruit trees and shrubs, along with edible perennial herbs. One peach tree can easily produce 40-100 lbs of fruit a year. According to the University of Arizona agricultural extension office, the average yield of a grapefruit tree is 350 lbs a season. Also according to the University of Arizona, an 8-year old pecan tree will usually bear 40-50 pounds of nuts at maturity. Of course, if you plant that tree in a 1/10th acre lot, you’ll kill your chances of growing sun-loving annuals forever. However, if you create a “guild” by planting a pecan tree, surrounded by a ring of smaller fruit trees, which are then interspersed with smaller fruit-bearing shrubs, you have created a high-density food factory that will out-yield – even taking into consideration some tree over-crowding – any garden and do it with much less work.

MULTI-YEAR CROPS
Good trees to consider include many members of the citrus family (though allegedly no longer recommended by the University of Florida due to the spread of greening and canker), loquats, persimmon, pindo palms, olives, chestnuts, walnuts, pecans, pomegranates and low-chill plums, peaches, pears and apples.

Shrubs include blueberries, blackberries, cattley and pineapple guavas, prickly pear and edible bamboos. A few notable vines could also be added: grapes, kiwi and passion fruit. Hops vines are another good addition if you’re going to start brewing when your work dries up and you can no longer afford to buy bottled beer. And if your hops “fails to thrive,” thanks to our warm climate, wormwood is a passable substitution as a bittering agent.

Among perennial plants, the herbs are king. They may not provide much in the way of food, but the spice they add and the medicinal benefits of their consumption make them invaluable to a survival garden. Sage, rosemary, mint, hyssop, lavender and oregano are excellent starting plants.

STORING HARVEST TO EAT YEAR-ROUND
Planning your crop planting to ensure yield over as much of the year as possible is a good idea. However, you’re not limited to eating dirt during the winter if your squash crop happens to fail.
Proper management of your harvest is key. We’ve all heard someone say “I have a ____ tree and it bears all at once… most of them just rot! We can’t give enough away!” People that say things like that have lost the ability to reason and will be the first to be eaten in the apocalypse. Preserving is not difficult. It can be done through drying, freezing, canning or fermenting.

The Indians dried fruit and meats to take them through the winter and you can do so, too. A dehydrator is an excellent investment – and building a solar dehydrator is also worthwhile in case the electrical grid is rendered inoperative by an EMP strike, fuel shortages, a labor walk-out, abnormal sunspot activity or other disasters.

Freezing generally requires blanching vegetables (to deactivate decay-inducing enzymatic processes) in boiling water. Fruits can just be frozen as they are, with seeding, skinning, pitting, chopping or whatever preparation you prefer done ahead of time.

Canning requires more work at the front end and some specialized equipment such as mason jars and lids. It’s a little-known fact that you can also re-use almost any jar from the store for canning. Look at the rubber seal under the metal lid of the jar. If it’s intact and the lid fits snugly, you’re good-to-go. Despite the manufacturer’s instructions, mason jar lids can also be sterilized and reused. Just make sure that the pop-top seal is intact when you pull your preserved bounty off the shelf in the future. If the seal compromised–as evidenced by a popped top–then throw it out. Because another thing that mixes poorly with survival is Clostridium botulinum. And while on the topic, a pressure canner is superior to the water bath method in its ability to destroy potential pathogens. Boiling water is fine for high-acid foodstuffs (fruit), but don’t do green beans or corn that way. It’s not worth the risk.

Fermentation is probably the least utilized and most misunderstood method of preservation. In fermentation, you’re actually encouraging the growth of beneficial organisms and letting their excretions preserve your food. Wine and beer are yeast-based ferments – a sugar-to-alcohol conversion that renders the final product less appetizing to decay-inducing organisms and more appetizing for partygoers. Acid-forming bacteria were originally the preservers of sauerkraut and pickles. And various other molds and sundry animalcules have played their part through human history in the creation of cheeses, miso, sauces and other delicious foods. Without refrigeration, fruits and vegetables break down quickly. Encourage the formation of the right species of microorganism via brining, oxygen inclusion or exclusion, or other methods and you’re well on your way to ditching the fridge. Not to mention the major health benefits incurred by consuming the beneficial species that colonize your fermented harvest.

WHAT TO GROW           
When considering what to plant in a garden, the first question that is often asked is “well – what do you like?” That’s a good start; however, in survival gardening, the first question should probably be “what can you survive on that requires the least input to the highest yield?” If your answer is “okra,” you may just want to go ahead and starve.

Sweet potatoes and cassava are two of the best root crops for our area, yielding well even with low care – and they also contain a high caloric load. Sweet potatoes beat cassava on nutrition – and their leaves can also be used as a green. Cassava leaves are edible too, but only after steaming. Otherwise, you’ll be ingesting cyanide. Cyanide and survival are generally at odds with each other.
Grains are less useful in the home garden, except as perhaps a cover crop or animal forage. The yield to input/work ratio is poor and the space required makes their cultivation impractical for home-scale agriculture.
Cabbage and other members of the crucifer family are excellent choices, with cabbage being the king thanks to its ability to be turned into sauerkraut.

Winter squash is another good choice. Many of our squashes, such as the “Hubbard” squash, were originally popular because of their ability to keep for six months or more in non-refrigerated environments.

Planning an area for blackberries is also an excellent idea. Thornless cultivars such as Ouachita and Natchez grow well in the hot south and will out-yield many other crops. Children love them. What other recommendation is needed?

Tomatoes are also easy to grow and may actually improve in flavor when canned or dried. Peppers are another member of the solanaceae family that does well in this region.

Tobacco, though a little difficult to start from seed, is a worthwhile addition (addiction?) to your home garden even if you don’t smoke. The leaves will be an invaluable bribe to smokers suffering from the shakes. The flowers are attractive to hummingbirds and the leaves can be distilled into a nicotine insecticide that devastates aphid populations.

Beans are another good choice. The “yard-long” or “asparagus” varieties thrive in the heat and will out-yield most other pole cultivars. Bush beans do well also. Peas will grow in the early spring and add valuable nitrogen to the soil as they grow.

Forget about asparagus, celery, rhubarb and head lettuces [in Zone 8 or 9]. They are a waste of time.

PLANNING           
Keep your friends close – and your garden closer. Putting high-maintenance plants in a raised bed at the back end of your yard is a recipe for failure. Keep them where you can immediately be aware of any pest or water issues. Right by the back door is usually perfect, with your compost on the other side of the garden from your house. Doing so allows you to easily discard spent plants and apply compost without enlisting the aid of a wheelbarrow, a grandchild, a pack animal or a catapult. Work smarter, not harder! Make sure a water source is nearby and that you also have vehicle access, if possible, to allow you to bring soil amendments, fertilizers and mulch right to your garden.

Using heavy mulch in your garden will eliminate most weed issues. Gather leaves in fall and winter, along with grass clippings, pine needles, rotten straw or other organic matter and put it alongside your garden space for use as needed. A heavy mulching in fall will keep cool-season weeds from emerging and also allow worms to stay moist and breed in the soil, bringing valuable oxygen and nutrients from the surface into your beds. Cover cropping in winter with peas, lentils and various crucifers also adds organic material and is a cheap way to keep the soil intact – not to mention providing some vegetables for the table when the main harvests are done.

Plant trees as soon as possible. If you’re limited on space, stick to smaller varieties. Again, the square-foot yield you’ll receive from a mature tree requires little input compared to an annual vegetable bed. Leave space for trees – you’ll be glad you did – and remember: the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago.

CONCLUSION
 Now is the time to start planning and growing. Do your research and experimentation before you’re required to live off your land. And if there’s a miraculous turnaround and you never need to go farther than the supermarket to stay fat and happy – great. You’ll at least get some delicious preserves from your fruit trees and will have learned a bit more about food production. Finally… relax. If you can’t manage to grow enough vegetables, you’ll certainly be able to subsist on the grasshoppers and hornworms attracted by your efforts.

Editor’s Note: David is in the Florida Master Gardener program in North Central Florida.

Letter Re: Seasonal Reminder: Popcorn Tins for EMP-Proof Storage

Jim,
Just a quick note to those interested in obtaining a simple cost-effective Faraday Cage-like enclosures to protect small to mid-size electronic devices. As has been mentioned in SurvivalBlog before, the large steel cans of popcorn sold at the large box stores this time of year make great EMP-proof storage containers. After emptying the popcorn just place your electronics into the can and place the lid on top. No need to ground the container.

I place my Fluke multimeters, spare Solar charge controllers, spare handi-talkies and mobile radios in these tins. Thanks for all you do. – Larry D.

Economics and Investing:

Central Banks Dollar Liquidity Only Prolongs The Euro Debt Crisis.

J.B.G. sent this: Desperately Seeking Capital: Berlin May Have to Nationalize Giant Commerzbank.

By way of Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit comes this: China to Prepare for Social Unrest.

Jim Rogers: US Falling Into ‘Deeper Trouble,’ Faces 2013 Depression. (Thanks to B.B. for the link.)

G.G. sent this: Anxious Greeks Emptying Their Bank Accounts

Items from The Economatrix:

MF Global Proves Enron-Era Accounting Lives On

Central Bank Intervention:  Much Ado About Nothing

Analyst:  Earnings Outlook May Be Deteriorating Rapidly

Analysis:  BofA Close To Its Limit For Share Issuance

Odds ‘n Sods:

Andrew Price (who is well-known for his Dryad Bushcraft and A-Z Bushcraft web sites) plans to make a film in New Mexico: TEOTWAWKI – a fictional documentary. I’ve corresponded with Andrew since before the days of SurvivalBlog, so I can vouch that this won’t be a typically Hollywood hatchet job.)

   o o o

Camping Survival has added a new closeout items section, with some amazing bargains.

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F.G. flagged this: Disaster preparedness leads the way in holiday shopping this Christmas season.

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Consider the recent headline from Japan about the Eight Ferrari pileup. The amazing thing is that the Japanese national debt piled up faster than the value of those wrecked cars in the time period that it took to clean up the mess. (And here in the U.S. of A., we’d need to wreck a fleet of Ferraris every hour for the equivalent, since our own National Debt is increasing at the rate of more than $1 million per minute.)

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Congrats to video blogger Cody (a.k.a. “Wranglerestar”), who moved his family to a new 50+ acre retreat in the Cascades that features a 100 year-old ranch house. BTW, I recommend subscribing to updates to his collection of videos.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“There will be a sad day comin’
For the foes of all mankind
They must answer to the people
And it’s troubling their mind
Everybody who must fear them
Will rejoice on that great day
When the powers of dictators
Shall be taken all away.

There’ll be smoke on the water
On the land and the sea
When our Army and Navy overtakes the enemy
There’ll be smoke on the mountains
Where the Heathen Gods stay
And the sun that is risin’
Will go down on that day.”

– Red Foley, Smoke On The Water

Note from JWR:

I ‘m pleased to announce that we’ve added yet another prize to the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest, starting with the recently-started round: A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. This new prize brings the combined value of the writing contest packages to around $5,000 per round. (The total varies, depending on the number of Honorable Mention prizes awarded.) Many thanks to FloJak.com and to their parent company Stone County Ironworks for their generous support of SurvivalBlog!

Taking The Gap–Your Move to The American Redoubt

I will soon be interviewed by John Jacob Schmidt on Radio Free Redoubt. The theme of this podcast hour will be “Taking The Gap”. My goal is to exhort listeners to re-prioritize their finances and set a goal–with a date attached–to make the move to the American Redoubt. (This region includes Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.) I urge preparedness-minded Christians and Jews of all races and from all walks of life to make the move, soon.

I sincerely believe that the American Redoubt the will be the safest and most free place to live in North Americas in the 21st Century. Granted, there are lots of other regions that are relatively safe. (Even a few in the eastern U.S.–like the Cumberland Plateau, in Tennessee, as Joel Skousen has suggested.) But the American Redoubt has some outstanding attributes (such as low population density and isolation from major population centers), and very few drawbacks. May God Bless all SurvivalBlog readers, and grant them protection, regardless of where thy live!

I should explain that “Taking The Gap” is a British football term, adopted as slang by citizens leaving Rhodesia in the 1970s and 1980s.  Most of them that wisely left preserved much of their wealth, whereas those who stayed after Comrade Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party consolidated power in Zimbabwe had their life savings wiped out by currency export controls and the subsequent hyperinflation. Many of those that continued to own farms were forcibly evicted, and a few were raped, tortured, or killed.

Other illustrations of the Take the Gap concept can be seen in the recent war in Darfur (where a few merchants wisely left, early on), the Balkan Wars of the 1980s, the plight of the Vietnamese Boat People of the 1970s and 1980s, those who escaped from behind the Iron Curtain in the 1950s and 1960s, and the Jews that fled Germany and Poland in the 1930s. (And of course the fate of those who imprudently lingered.) I hope that considering those precedents in light of America’s current economic peril will help crystallize the American Redoubt relocation concept.

Please consider:

1.) We still live in a free country, where families can migrate between the 50 States, at will.

2.) There are still good opportunities to relocate businesses and to find work in the Redoubt region. But finding steady work will prove difficult if you wait until the nation is in a full-blown Depression.

3.) The chance to sell houses on the east and west coasts still exists, but that might evaporate in the next few years, as real estate prices continue to decline and the average “time on market” expands. If you wait too long, then you may lose the equity in your presently-owned house.

4.) Land and home prices in much of the Redoubt region are still reasonable, and some retreat-worthy properties are available. If you want to build, there are now plenty of contractors and subcontractors available, and they are sure to put in very competitive bids. (A sign of lean times.)

5.) Prepper-friendly churches, synagogues, and home churches are plentiful in the Redoubt region.

6.) The window of opportunity to move all of one’s possessions/livestock/vehicles/liquid assets will be slammed shut in the event of a societal breakdown or the institution of martial law.  I can’t stress this more highly: Be an early, voluntary relocatee, rather than an 11th-hour refugee.

7.) As I’ve already stressed in previous writings, being an absentee landowner is a poor excuse for living at your retreat year round. If you are forced by circumstances to live away from your retreat, then stock it well, preferably using a hidden basement room or a root cellar with a concealed entrance. (Burying the entryway under a pile of firewood works well.) Keep in mind that in the event of a sudden collapse, you might have just ONE TRIP outta Dodge. You may not have the chance to go back for second load.

8.) For any proficient English-speakers that live overseas in an over-populated or otherwise “at risk” nation, it is not too late to immigrate to the U.S. (And if you do, then please consider settling in the Redoubt.)

9.) You can network with others that plan to move and those that have already moved, through the Radio Free Redoubt Forum, the Free State Wyoming Project, the Mental Militia’s Gulching/Self-Sufficiency Forum, and at Alt-market.com.

Conclusion
Whether you call it Taking the Gap, Going Galt, Getting Out of Dodge, Gulching, or Strategic Relocation, is just a matter of semantics. Of real importance is your recognition that moving soon to the American Redoubt or to another safe region is a wise course of action.

Letter Re: Advice on 5.7 x 28 Uppers for AR-15s

Mr. Rawles:
I would be interested in your comments on the AR-57 conversion for AR-15s and its potential use after SHTF. – Mike K.

JWR Replies: Mostly for purposes of experimentation, I bought both rifle and pistol AR uppers in the 5.7×28 caliber. (I own just one “Pistol ” marked AR lower, sans buttstock), and also have a 10″  5.56 barrel for it.) En toto, I have put nearly a thousand rounds through my two 5.7 uppers. I found that the pistol upper in 5.7 functions well, but the rifle upper in 5.7 jams frequently for some reason that has been difficult to trace. These jams smash the cartridges, and are slow to clear, since they necessitate removing the magazine. That was disappointing.

The top-mounted magazine allows very low prone shooting, but I found that it was almost a three-handed operation to swap magazines. I can’t imagine ever having it be as quick and convenient as traditional magazine swaps. That would take a lot of practice.

Most importantly, since it is still essentially and oddball caliber and under-powered, I consider the 5.7×28 cartridge a substantial STEP DOWN from the 5.56 mm NATO in power and range. So I plan to continue to use my 5.7 uppers as transitional trainers for my younger children, and perhaps some varmint shooting, but nothing more.

In essence, the AR-57 has good looks, but it simply doesn’t have a lot else going for it, at least in the context of disaster preparedness. My recommendation is to skip it unless you plan to carry an FN Five-Seven as your primary sidearm. Again, since it is an unusual chambering, that approach would necessitate laying in a lifetime supply of ammunition. Buying guns in oddball calibers goes against the conventional wisdom of common standardized calibers for survivalists.

Letter Re: Budget Prepping in the Suburbs

JWR:
Kevin’s article on budget prepping touched me to the core. We all began the journey, at the begriming, with all the problems/challenges of those young or older and the common denominator of the demands of family/job/time/location and the most important limiting factor: fiscal resources.

 
Please bear with me while I lay the groundwork for this subject, throughout my prepping learning curve of about 55 years which started when I was about five years old,  began with my parents trying to spoon feed me information as a young child, with their own prepping experience, which they never thought of themselves as being in any sense “preppers”, they viewed it as being survivors during a terrible crisis called the “Depression era of the 1930s”. They were  late teens city dwellers in Chicago and because of lack work, food, and hope. They were forced to move to the country where caring relatives with a farm provided them with shelter, food, and farm work in order to earn some survival money.  Realize–because real history is not taught in our learning institutions–that the Great Depression lasted almost a decade and it was not an enjoyable picnic that records about the upper class try and portray.  My parents existed on canned rabbits, racoon, and deer in mason jars for meat, canned everything else you could only dream of for side dishes. By the way, racoon meat is very lean and tasty when the stink fat on the surface of the carcass is totally removed.  Beef and pork were raised for income and regenerating the herd, few farmers/ranches had a lot left for their own families it was a luxury for most.   In addition my farther, shoveled coal by hand from the barges, on the Illinois river at 50 cents a ton which was considered a fortune during the Depression and he hunted at night for raccoon or whatever could be located.

My learning about their experiences was thru teaching how to act as a human being, stories about their trials, training me “how to” by doing it with them, from Dad I learned hunting, and everything that goes with it, including how to be a man, from my mother I learned that sewing, preparing and caning food, washing clothes, and cleaning where not just for a female,   we know call that cross training.  The spoken words from them, gave me fond memories of their story of life, one of mom’s sayings was “Eat for the hunger that is coming.” I used to laugh about that, but guess what, I no longer laugh. 
 
Kevin’s  story is the paradox we all face to some degree, most people have the awareness and instinct but how to take the actions to plan and execute those ideas for not only yourself, but even a greater hurtle to bring that level of understanding and commitment to your partner and family/relatives to join you in that commitment 
“be prepared”.   We all dream about having unlimited funds in order to complete a 20-person self-contained hidden underground shelter connected to a 10,000 square foot casa, with provisions for 10 years and of course its on a secluded on 100 acre hidden retreat 50 miles outside the nearest town in the great northwest. I would estimated that less than 1/2 of 1% of those who prep have anything even close to that.
 
Our reality, was recognized I believe by Teddy Roosevelt saying  “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”  That is our yardstick, any fallback plan, or bugout to a retreat should be a part of the equation, the more we plan leads to more potential action, that leads to having versus not having. Remember lead by example, I don’t want to preach, pardon and forgive me if it comes across that way.  My intent is to thank Kevin for a very pleasant, eye-opening article which states in very honest terms, his situation. A lot of us face the same.  We have time, we have the means to varying degree. So if you can only afford a can of food, or a box of candles, or an inexpensive firearm with ammo then take the action.   Do we join a group? Lets be up front: It takes a lot of time and energy to [form or] become part of a “group” so we are faced with protecting our own families first.
 
Happy Trails, – John in Arizona

Economics and Investing:

Abracadabra! Bankrupt Cities are Suddenly Un-Bankrupt! (Or Not)

Jim Rogers: “You Should Own Silver”

G.G. sent this: Italy PM unveils sweeping austerity package. Buried down in the article’s fine print: Cash transactions of more than €1,000 are banned.

Items from The Economatrix:

Eurozone Debt Crisis Worsens As Financial World Holds Breath Over Pending Financial Apocalypse

Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks $13 Billion Undisclosed To Congress

Audit Of The Federal Reserve Reveals $16 Trillion In Bailouts

Web of Debt – How Banks And The Federal Reserve Are Bankrupting The Planet

Odds ‘n Sods:

Tina R. sent a link to a recent Dilbert cartoon that has a some biting commentary, presumably about the ongoing OWS protests.

   o o o

As Christmas is approaching, please don’t neglect worthy charities, such as AnySoldier.com. Please send our deployed troops your prayers, good wishes and tangible support. UnderArmor brand synthetic T-Shirts (made in both Army and USMC regulation colors) are a sure bet.  If a soldier receives too many, then the excess will be the ultimate barter item, in summer months.

   o o o

California demographic shift: More people leaving than moving in.

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The Pentagon Is Offering Free Military Hardware To Every Police Department In The US. (Thanks to Jim S. for the link.)

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“A lot of people think that what is going on is a bailout for the  eurozone.  It’s not; it’s a bailout for the banks on both sides of the  Atlantic. It’s not a coincidence . . . last night Standard & Poor’s downgraded credit ratings for about 20 major banks, including  banks like Bank of America [and] Morgan Stanley.” – Peter Schiff

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 38 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and E.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 38 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Buying Land in the American Redoubt, by G. in Virginia

I have been involved with the buying of land and homes since I was able to carry a hammer or a two by four. While I have worked many different jobs, I have always returned to my love of real estate over the years. Currently, I own several houses, and my proudest achievement, is the acquisition of 40 prime acres in Montana! This is after almost a year and a half of searching in The American Redoubt for the piece I wanted at the price I wanted with the restrictions I wanted. Now that I have my slice I would hate to let all my research go to waste, so I would like to pass this info onto you.

Family Roots in the Northwest
My father is originally from Kalispell, Montana, and moved to the east coast in the late 1960s to finish school. Not one to sit idly by, he went into the real estate market in Virginia in a big way, something he still does to this day. Part of successfully working in real estate is being able to do the work yourself, and as his son I was expected to work with him from a young age. Doing the work yourself involves more than swinging a hammer; you have to know the ins and outs of the law, the courts, and how people work. In doing so I have picked up a lot of information, real information on buying and selling property that I want to impart onto people looking to relocate to their own 40 acres in the Redoubt.

Buying property in the Redoubt can trip people up from other areas in the United States. I know there are many factors to be considered in Montana land that does not come up when buying Virginia land, especially when buying houses.  To help the novice along, I have created this guide of the issues and pitfalls you will need to be aware of while you shop for your little piece of safety.

I should make clear; I do not have a dog in this fight. I have no urge, or desire, to sell you anything. I do not work as a realtor. The only property improvement I do, I do for myself and I am not for hire. The tips I pass on to you are based solely on the experiences of an experienced amateur. For specific issues on a certain piece of property I strongly recommend you contact a practicing land attorney or agent working in the area local to the land you have a question about. Let me stress local, because you want someone who knows the nearby courts and the regional pitfalls working for you.

First things first, how to find the land!
The rest of my tips will do you no good if you do not know how to find what you want. As I have said, I am not a realtor, but I can show you how to get around without one until you really need one. Realtors are great, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t want to waste your time or theirs. It really helps to narrow things down before you contact one. That way they can build a clearer picture of what you want and helps you to better express your expectations for the property. For example you would look silly insisting the house you want have a basement when the local water table is only three feet down.

For demonstration purposes I am going to be using the Flathead Valley in northwest Montana a lot for my examples. This is the area I was researching the hardest because I still have family that lives there.  I knew I wanted to be in that valley when I relocated. You, of course, have the entire Redoubt to choose from so take advantage of that.

The first huge tool for finding where you want to go is SurvivalBlog.com itself. Look at the maps that have been linked at the Retreat Locales studies page. Things like population density maps, distance to a McDonalds, and city light satellite views can all help you determine just where you want to put your new family home.

Secondly I recommend a site called Zillow. This site works as a real estate aggregator. It grabs information from multiple sites and puts it all in one place. What I love about this site is the filters. You can set it so that it only shows you plots over 20 acres under a certain price point, or has 3 bedrooms, or 2 baths, and so forth. it allows a lot of factors to help you search out those deals that are a match for what you want. Like all my other suggestions, this site is totally free to use.

Zillow’s other huge advantage is it does a ton of research for you. It will tell you how long the property has been on the market and who the listing agents were. This is useful for judging desperation to sell and might be a good way to find an agent.  It will tell you the taxes assessed on the property for the last 5 years and what the tax value is, useful for deciding on an offer price. It will also tell you the last time the property sold and for how much, which is good to know for gauging how underwater the seller may be. Finally it gives you an estimated value which you can compare against the asking price.

Next, I extensively use Craigslist. Out west there is very much a self help mentality and this is reflected in the large amount of real estate posting on Craigslist. What I typically do is take the listing and run them back through Zillow or Google Earth to get a look at the property. There is a lot of for sale by owner stuff that goes on Craigslist that does not show up on Zillow so this is not a duplication of effort.

Finally I look at Equator.com.  This site is where the government sells their properties repossessed by HUD and the Veteran’s Administration (VA). There are some really good deals to be had on this site, but you have to be careful as the paperwork can be really daunting. The reward is special financing such as VA vendee that can be as low as no money down for owner occupiers (a term that means you actually live at the property you just bought) and 5% for investment property (useful if you are going to have to build and plan to make the move later on). Fannie May and Freddie Mac offer homepath financing for owner occupiers that is also very attractive and allows for very little down.  In addition these organizations will often take an offer of at 60% of the tax assessment value of a piece of property. Please be aware though that any significant savings is going to seem almost not worth it after the months of dealing with government agents who don’t actually care if they sell a house and the Bank of America loan process.

Finding an agent
Now that you have located an area, and scoped out a few choice properties, you are going to need to get an agent to represent you. Agents typically get paid by a percentage of the sale.  They can be paid either by the buyer or the seller depending on how the closing is structured. You want to find an agent who charges around a 4% commission. 6% is the maximum so look around a bit to find a reasonably priced agent. You will also benefit from an agent that is prepper friendly. Luckily survivalblog.com has a list of those who work in various regions; you will find them listed under survival realty on the right.  Follow that link and talk to those agents. I am sure they will be happy to represent you. A prepper friendly realtor is going to be a better agent for you because they won’t waste your time on unsustainable land and they know you are going to become a neighbor and will want to at least not directly rip you off.

The Californication of the West

When you start looking at land in the Redoubt you might notice something a bit odd. You are going to find properties priced at a million dollars just miles away from equivalent properties priced at a hundred thousand. This is due to an unusual economic factor that happened for several decades but has now ended. I refer to this as the Californication factor. The best examples I have seen of this are in the Bitterroot Valley and Flathead Valley in western Montana.

The story goes a little like this. Many years ago a smart entrepreneur bought a lot of cheap land in the Bitterroot Valley. With all this land he needed a project, and his project became selling it to movie stars. He returned to California and told all of them about a mystical land were people were down to earth, the air was clear, and the paparazzi got buried in unmarked graves for asking too many questions.  This land was the Bitterroot Valley. Over the years many moved out there. To give you an idea how many, here is a list I found of a few of the movie stars that have come to the Redoubt. Actress Glenn Close owns a coffee shop in downtown Bozeman. Ted Turner has a sprawling 120,000-acre ranch outside of town. Just 20 miles away, in Livingston, Jeff Bridges and his wife have a home and own a coffee shop and Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid are neighbors. Near Big Timber, a tiny ranching town 30 miles east of Livingston, Tom Brokaw, Michael Keaton and Whoopi Goldberg have all dropped anchor. Mel Gibson has a spread a little farther east, near Columbus. Kiefer Sutherland, Emilio Estevez, Joe Montana, Christopher Lloyd, Huey Lewis and Andie McDowall all have homes in western Montana.

As the stars arrived other Californians came and they wanted to buy up these spectacular views and they ran the Bitterroot Valley into the ozone layer in prices, and spread from there, one area being Flathead Valley. For a decade Californians came in with wads of cash and very little sense, much to the anger of the local population, and bought everything in site with no rhyme or reason. This drove the prices through the roof in some areas and as a knock on effect raised prices all over.

To give you an example of how out of whack some of this has become I want to use a couple of examples. Let’s take 20 acres of forested range/mountain land. In the mountains of Virginia they are asking $1,000 to $800 an acre for undeveloped land. In northern Idaho they want about $1,500. I have seen as high as $40,000 an acre in some parts of the Flathead Valley of Montana, especially on the east side.

Unfortunately for these people, the $40,000 per acre asking price is just “hopes and dreams” at this point. The market has crashed and the Californians have left. The problem is a lot of people have locked into those ridiculously high rates based on nothing more than wishful thinking and stubbornness.  The real tale of the tape comes when you tell Zillow to show you all the recently sold properties in these areas and it comes back with zero. I don’t think this is a reporting error. I think nothing is actually selling.  Part of the appraisal process is to base the price on what nearby pieces of property are selling for. If nothing is selling then there is no real basis and you end up with these wild fluctuations.

The reason for bringing this up is you will need to be flexible in your search. On the west side of Flathead Valley, ten miles across, land is going down to $5,000 an acre or even less. If you look in areas like the Yaak River Valley and go closer to Canada it gets down to $3,000 an acre. The best part is these areas are less built up, not more. They are going to be better pieces of property from a prepper’s perspective.  In this economy, with those locations, you should not really be paying more than $2,000 an acre for an ideal piece of property.

What is the ideal piece of property?
My ideal piece of property located in the Redoubt is over 20 acres, borders forest service land on at least one side, has a small stream or spring but no river, a pond or lake, water rights , rights of way, has no covenants, leans, contracts, easements, and is accessible from a public road. It may or may not contain any structures and if it does they are not in consideration of the price I will pay.  There are some very specific laws and ways of doing business in the Redoubt that effect land choices and I have listed them in my criteria above to serve as a warning when looking at land. Let me explain them in turn because these are also an area of the big differences people will find in buying open land in the Redoubt that is unusual from the cities.

Contiguous Forest Service Land
This is a highly desirable trait for the piece of property you are looking at to purchase. A lot of properties will say they are bordered on at least one side, and up to three sides, by Forest Service land. You will see this so much, after a while it will begin to sound like a scam. There can’t be this much Forest Service land in the area can there? The truth is yes, there is. All mountain tops are forest service land. When the Homestead Act went away the federal government inherited all the land that was not claimed. This was eventually turned over to the park system and Forest Service and became Forest Service land. The Redoubt, in many parts, is absolutely riddled with Forest Service land.

This is great news for preppers looking for property. You want a forest service land border. This means that no one is going to come in and build a subdivision or some other waste of space in that area. In addition, you are allowed to use this property to cut wood, hunt, and fish on. It’s like having a rich land owning neighbor who does not care and who never comes around. Especially desirable are streams coming from forest service land because that will mean you are the first source user of that stream helping to ensure clean water.

Water Rights and Water Sources
Out west water is a huge issue. They understand better than anyone that water does not come from a tap, but from aquifers and other natural sources and is a finite resource. Many of them depend on the flow of water for their livestock, their crops, and their own lively hoods. Entire range wars have been fought over water and the ability to get to it. So when looking at a piece of property you should make sure you know what the water situation is.

In the east riparian water rights are the norm. This means if I own the banks of the river I own that piece of the river and have rights to the unrestricted flow of that river. In the west they have use-based rights. This is typically expressed in the oldest user gets the most say over whom else gets to use the water,  A sort of senior/junior member system where any senior member can restrict the rights of any junior member.

In Montana, for example, this gets even more complex. All water in the state of Montana is the property of the state of Montana and is controlled by the state. When buying property you need to look up the status of the water rights on your piece of property. For example, you can search Montana’s water rights database. A title search will also reveal the status of the water rights on your land. These rights may surprise you. Even with no surface or flowing water you might find a neighbor has an irrigation ditch across a certain piece of land and holds those rights indefinitely. This means you will not be able to build near that piece of your property and they have free access to your land to maintain this ditch.

So when buying property make sure you know where the water is and how you are going to get it to your property. It would be devastating if you plan to pipe water to your new home like the previous owner did and find out you can’t because some other senior water member said no.  In some areas it is even illegal to drill a well and you could be totally blocked from all water sources.

A final factor on water is that in many of the Redoubt states water navigation is an inherent right of all people of the state established in 1985 by the Montana legislature in the stream access law. All citizens can use any piece of water they wish at any time. They cannot cross private land to reach a lake, but are allowed to follow a stream or river through a piece of property if they wish.  This is why I recommend finding a property with nothing larger than a non-navigable creek. Since a small creek is not really navigable someone could not use it to legally scout across your property. I once had my eye on a beautiful piece of property on the Yaak River. It was 40 acres split between the banks. Then I found out that with this law anyone would be able to canoe right through my property at any time. I would also be unable to build a road or foot bridge to the other half of my property as I could not restrict passage with a bridge. This in effect meant the other 20 acres were useless to me.

Rights of Way
This issue can be even larger than water access through your land. The issue of rights of way and easements is a major one that must be researched when buying any land.

One very common easement is a right of way across your property granted by deed or court action allowing another property owner access to their property. With the lack of roads in the western areas it is very often possible that a piece of property can become land locked by other properties. To fix this, when selling or dividing land, owners often place a right of way onto a piece of property to allow access to another piece. This means that you can potentially buy a piece of property that someone else is allowed to cross parts of at any time they want. Worse yet, it is entirely possible they will develop multiple homes on this other piece and the next thing you know you have a steady stream of cars driving by your retreat all night long. This will, of course, play havoc with your OPSEC.

In the reverse, make sure the piece of property you are looking at also has access. Having to negotiate a right of way through the courts can be an expensive process. Make sure that if your property does not border a road, that you have access to one by a deeded right of way. That way, if your neighbor ever sells their property, you will not have to worry about losing access to the new owners.  This is known as an “easement appurtenant” which transfers with the land.

Another type of easement, or right of way, to be aware of is for public utilities. You need to check and see if there any existing utility easements that have not been exercised on the property. There is nothing worse than buying a piece of land and then having high voltage lines or a pipeline driven right through the middle of it. Existing easements are not often mentioned in ads either. No one wants to advertise 20 beautiful acres with tall high-tension power towers in the middle of it. This gives an outside entity a right to be on your land without asking your permission, is unsightly, and can possibly create a refugee line of drift straight onto your property. 

I strongly suggest you read the easement entry at Wikipedia. It can explain the different types of easements and how they are handled.  It is extremely informative and covers a lot of the nuances of easements if you should find yourself dealing with one.
 

Timber Leases
Timber can be, and often is, sold separately from the land in the west. Sometimes this is done as a timber lease that is assigned for a period of years. At sometime before the close of the lease, the lease holder has the right to come in and remove the trees from the property as designated in the lease. The deforestation can vary, but assume the affected area will look like a battlefield when they are done.  These leases can be as long as 25 years. Of course people selling property don’t want things to look like that, so often they will ask the lease holder to wait until after the property is sold to exercise these rights. So when looking at property make sure you find out about any pending timber leases.

However, if you don’t mind some deforestation, selling the timber on a piece of property may be the best way for you to finance the piece you want. Keep in mind timber grows slow at those elevations and it may take decades for things to start looking normal again, but it does make a convenient way to get some fast cash to help to pay off the land. Even better is if you were planning to open up ten or twenty acres for a homestead site, or to plant crops, this can be a win-win for you.

This process is started by contacting the local lumber mill buyer. You indicate to him what you want to sell and where. They will take a quick survey and give you a price for the timber. After that you can try and log it yourself, or hire a company to come in and do it. If you hire someone typically you will split the profits with them over paying a flat fee. While you make less in profit, your expenses are a lot less, because the logging company assumes all the equipment costs.

Mineral Rights
A lot of the property in the west has had their mineral rights severed from the land. This has often happened a long time in the past when a slick talker came through and convinced the land owner to sell these rights for a quick buck. These are usually indicated on the deed by a special conveyance. This matters a lot from a prepper perspective because this gives a third party the right to enter your property at any time they wish and to build and construct items on the property. Furthermore if you wanted to establish something like a natural gas well on your property to give you more independence you might be stealing. The gas and other valuable items below the surface belong to the person who has the mineral rights. You will want to do a specific search on this when looking at a piece of property. Any conveyances such as mineral rights will be recorded with the deed where ever that is located.

Covenants
The types of covenants we are going to concern ourselves with are covenant appurtenant ( “Covenant running with the land)”. These allow a prepper a real chance to grab just the right land at the right price.

Typical covenants on western land establish that a piece or property cannot be divided anymore than it has been or that no more than a certain amount of development can be done on the land. This was often done by land owners selling property that they were still going to be adjacent too. They placed covenants to make sure that some undesirable outcome would not happen to the land after they sold it. Often this is to make sure they still have access to a pond or lake, a subdivision does not spring up on the land, or some noxious industry is not started next door.

A second type of common covenant on the land in the west is a conservation covenant. (Often called a conservation easement.) These were often granted as part of a land deal in order to offset taxes on a piece of land. They often specify that a piece of land cannot be developed past a certain point as all development rights have been granted away for a tax break. While this land cannot be developed totally often a single home or similar structural setup is allowed and grazing and other agricultural uses of the land are allowed. The terms of the conservation easement are once again recorded with the title to the land at the land office and a copy can be obtained.

The advantage to a prepper on most covenants is that the vast majority of covenants restrict development of a piece of land, the last thing a prepper wants to do. So while this land is the same value to a prepper as it was pre-covenant to everyone else it is far less desirable. This reduced pool of potential purchasers means that land with conservation and other covenants is often far cheaper than the surrounding land, allowing a prepper to get a lot more bang for their land buying dollar.

Financing
Now that you have found your land how are you going to pay for it? Most of us do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting around. This means that we are going to need to finance this purchase. It is outside the scope of this article to cover credit score and how to qualify for a loan. I do, however, want to point out a couple of issues that will affect your purchase.

First off, if this land is being bought for a residence, you will have to decide if you are also going to use the land for agricultural or ranching use. It might be beneficial to claim you are even if ultimately you are not. The reason for this is that land that provides no income can be a strong drain when qualifying for a loan. If you can show potential income this, sometimes, can be factored in when determining how large a loan you can take out.

The size of the loan is another factor. If you go over $417,000 you are now in what is called a jumbo loan. Jumbo loans have different rules from conventional loans. They are considered riskier than regular loans and, as such, have higher interest rates. They also have other restrictions such as requiring two appraisals before purchase, raising the cost further.

On the reverse, the minimum on most loans is $30,000. With having to put down an average 20% of any loan amount this means that the minimum you can expect to pay, and finance, for a piece of property is $38,000. Pre-qualification for a loan, offered free by most lenders, will give you a position of strength when looking for property. So make every effort to secure one before you start.

One good note is that taxes and insurance are significantly reduced when finding out what your average monthly payment will be. When buying property, taxes and insurance often increase a monthly payment by over $200 a month. When looking at western land taxes tend to be either very low or non-existent, you also will not be required to buy insurance if the land does not contain any structures.  This means that your payment amounts will be for the amount of the loan and no more. This can make it much easier to hold a piece of property until you are ready to build or relocate.

Another form of financing often offered in the west is owner financing. This is a way for the owner to take a gamble and select a buyer and offer them preferable rates. This is done by deed restriction and essentially the seller becomes the bank. You will see these types of offers typically requiring a certain amount down and then a monthly payment. These can be a good deal for both sides if done correctly. The buyer gets more for his piece of property because he keeps any interest if charged. The buyer gets to buy a piece of property without the hassle of dealing with the current loan process.  The seller is further protected because if the buyer defaults typically the land will revert to the seller and they can resell it. My father has property in the central part of Virginia that has been sold no less than six times and he still owns it.

As of the writing of this article the loan restrictions and process in the United States are pretty severe, which is probably a good thing. You will be expected to put down 20% of the price of the house at closing in addition to any other fees, commissions, or taxes. This means that for a $200,000 loan you have to come up with roughly $40,000 at closing. The good news is that because the buyer is getting hit with this large up-front cost, and sellers are really motivated, you will not need much more than that. Typically the only other thing the buyer is expected to pay is loan origination fees, which can sometimes be rolled into the loan.  The seller can pay the closing costs to cover the rest of the transaction.

A final note on financing, we all know the economy is in a terrible shape. Fiat currency is running rampant and money is printing is out of control. Inflation is being used as a tool to get us out of our current financial crunches. This, from the point of view of land purchases, can be exploited. A rising tide lifts all boats as they say. Paying $200,000 for a piece of land seems like a lot right now, but that same piece of land sold for $10,000 some 30 years ago, that is “cheap” by today’s prices. If we hit a hyperinflationary period it is very possible that you will be earning the cost of your loan per day, making it easy to pay off. So take the largest amount of loan you can afford right now safely. It may seem like a burden but you are already making your bet by being a prepper, might as well double down that you will get the land cheap once the SHTF. Like gold and silver, land is a great investment, as long as you can defend it. When SHTF a rental property ten states away is lost, but the land you are sitting on becomes yours more than it ever was before.

How to make it all work for you

You have identified your area. You have selected several attractive properties and have contacted an agent about them. You have a pre-qualified letter from a lender. Now it is time to head out to your selected area and take a look at the property. Let me stress this, go look at the land.  In the 20 Century, there were a series of huge land scams, selling Florida swamp land in magazines, sight unseen. They would go during the dry season and take a picture of this flat, lush expanse of land, what they never mentioned is that for the rest of the year that section of land was under a foot of water. A lot of people lost a lot of money because they did not inspect the property first before putting their money down.

So make a vacation of it. Travel to your intended destination and take a look at several properties to make a decision. The good news is as slow as things are selling you will have the time. Inspect the roads leading to the property; are they passable year round by a normal car? If not how hard are they going to be to improve? Does the property border a public road for access and does the phone and power grid reach that far? What is the status of putting a septic system in? How many acres are vertical and unusable? Take water and soil samples and have them tested so there are no surprises there. Walk the land and watch for dumps or other hazardous materials lying around, especially make sure none of the area has been used as a meth lab because the cast off is very toxic and will poison the soil and water table.  

Inspect out buildings to see how structurally sound they are. Major residences should be inspected by you and a building inspector.  What shape are the fences in? Does any running or open water source freeze solid during the winter? Is there a flat bench section on the property to allow for building? How is the drainage if it rains? Check for diseases affecting the trees and the land. There is a nasty pine beetle infestation for example that can kill all the trees on your property, check for signs of this issue. The local farm bureau or university extension can tell you what might be in your area and what the warning signs are so it is a good idea to contact them.

Once you are done with your inspection try to visit the neighbors if possible. Ask your agent for introductions if possible. Be very friendly and make clear your intentions with the land, this will go a long way in getting people to talk to you. Look and see what they have done to their property to judge what you might want to do to yours. Also look for signs of trouble such as locks on doors and equipment indicating a theft problem in the area. Also watch to see if they might be environmentalists or some other disruptive type. As part of the problem of Californication many of them moved into great views and bought 5 acres. For some unknown reason they believe this five acres gives them the right to control every piece of land they can see from their property. You don’t want to spend your time mired in law suits if you can help it.

If at all possible make sure you stay over on a Sunday and attend church. Most congregations are open door and would give you an excellent chance to mingle with potential neighbors. You can find out a lot from observing and talking to people and you will find out if this is a congregation you want to be a part of. In many communities the Sunday get together is the main social gathering of the week. So take advantage of this to get to know the locals you might soon be part of.

Finally
I know this seems like a lot to do but it boils down to due diligence and if you have to go to court they are going to ask if you at least took these steps. It’s one thing if a seller hides something from you intentionally; it’s another if you never bothered to check. A lot of these steps are simple to do. A title search has to be done as part of the purchase, but before that point you are more than welcome to contact the court house and do one yourself. This will turn up a vast majority of your problems and only takes a couple hours. Usually there are very helpful people around who do this for a living who are more than willing to give you some advice on what you need to do. You could even ask if you could buy an hour of their time or take them to lunch for some help in this search, which most likely will only take them a few minutes but might take you hours.

Walking the land is something you should want to do anyway. If you don’t want to be on the land why are you buying it in the first place? If at all possible see if you could spend the night on or near the property. See if it suits you and your family. In the course of this stay you will find most of any issues with the area and the property.
Neighbors can be great resources before and after the purchase so make a strong effort to be friendly. They can reveal a lot about the area and what you might need to know about the history of a piece of property. They can also tell you the best place to get supplies and who to trust when it comes to construction.

This is going to be your last major purchase in your life. This is where you are doubling down in the game of survival and where you are going to make your stand. Rushing this decision can have fatal consequences later. The vast majority of land purchases have no issues, but you want to be prepared for the couple that might have an issue. So take your time, do your due diligence, and I hope you live happily ever after in your new 40 acre kingdom.