I’m wondering how much of the idealism of rural life should be contrasted with the horrific murder rate of white farmers in South Africa. Being independent off the land sounds great, but even in medieval Europe, farmers lived in villages together and walked out to the fields because of safety in numbers.
South Africa is something to think about, the farmers know it can come and they are prepared and armed for it, yet it comes anyway, and their attackers are people not known for sophisticated and intelligent planning or methods, it is just hard for a couple or a small family to do much when criminals want to rob them or move into their home.
That is a great observation.
Check out this thread, A failure of Civility.
According to the authors, a lone wolf prepper will probably not survive, no matter what skills he possesses. Safety lies in numbers and organization - much like your medieval villages and cities.