[yorkiemom]

People have plenty of room to like their own living situation whether it is city or rural, or suburban.

It is easy to argue the security of living in the city, where authority and order will first assert itself and aid be distributed.

Living alone in the country isn’t exactly the end all in safety and security if law and order doesn’t exist, pioneers and settlers knew that, as many of them were simply erased from the pages of time in an instant without even waking a neighbor.

A sane, rational assessment. Thank you.

My planned homestead would be in the country on 40 acres, most of it hardwoods. However - I worry about being too accessible to the roving hordes that way. If I'm growing crops and raising critters, they would be easily taken (think General Sherman). Perhaps a hidden mountain retreat is safer, although not quite the place for raising food.

[ansel12]

It doesn’t have to be roving hordes, rural living has plenty of anti-social tough guys who are not locked into a rock hard code of moral absolutes, if there is no law or sheriff’s department and sophisticated forensics and crime labs, plenty of rural guys and the anti-city, anti-social types who also like the country, will become opportunists and criminals also.

Amoral, or desperate locals can tell when people aren’t home, or are outdoors or busy, walking up on a couple’s house is not exactly Green Beret stuff, pilfering and break-ins, and even murder would not be in total absence in the country if everything went to heck.

[Fai Mao]

Notice I did not say off in the woods by yourself.
I said a medium sized city or large town but one that is somewhat isolated from large metropolitan areas.

I won’t want to be withing 200 miles NYC, LA Chicago or Houston if the worst happens

[Blueflag]

Recommend one key change in your thinking: done try to go this alone as one nuclear family. You need more numbers. Go here and at least read the excerpt: http://www.afailureofcivility.com/

Strongly recommend you buy it a consider it as the backbone of your plan.