Pics of your retreat?

[FN74]

Looking into buying some property for a small retreat in case of hurricanes or civil unrest, I have a lot of ideas on how I want to set it up, but I'm looking into other people's ideas as well, to enhance mine. Anyone got pics of their setup? I don't need locations etc, just was wondering if anyone has description of how they set up their retreat and pics to help us visualise.
Thanks!

[FN74]

Nobody? Come on, I know someone has some pics of their retreat that they'd like to share.

[Arizona Highlander]

Nobody? Come on, I know someone has some pics of their retreat that they'd like to share.

My best guess is that probably about 0.01% of the people here actually own one of those stereotypical, super-duper survival retreats. You know, the kind with bullet-proof walls, rooftop parapets, radiation-proof basements, etc.

Most of us, I’m afraid, have to make do with whatever we can afford - and unless one is truly wealthy, the result is usually pretty unimpressive. I myself live full-time in my “survival retreat,” but in reality it’s just a doublewide manufactured home on 4 acres. But, it’s located in a small, largely agricultural community, and it’s got great hilltop visibility and a good well. Pretty good neighbors, too. I’ve also got a nice supply of stored food stashed inside, and if the world goes crazy for a while, I feel like my little community could weather it about as well as can be expected under the circumstances.

http://home.att.net/~gyorai/homesweethome.jpg

But, is that really good enough? Critics will sneer at me, and say that I’m just fooling myself by calling my manufactured home a “survival retreat.” Of course, there’s some truth to that, and I’m well aware that there’s about a million things I could do to improve my situation further. But, I’m definitely a lower-income kinda guy, and with my finances such as they are, I think I’m doing about as well as one can do.

[dakdak]

Arizona Highlander, you should not feel badly about what you have. It is a heckuva better retreat than NO retreat, or having a retreat 200 miles or even 50 miles from your home and having to get there in an emergency.
I guarantee that you are better off than most. Barring an all out massive assault on your home you have a REAL chance to survive without too many problems. Regardless of the scenarios you may face you have the rural location, the high ground, and neighbors that are somewhat self-reliant. That is a big set of PLUSES NOT NEGATIVES to start with in the never ending work to be and stay safe and self-reliant.

[gunsmoke]

AZ HIGHLANDER!!! DUDE!!!!!

You are in better shape than 99%+ of the so-called survivalists out there.

I don't know if you do any gardening or not, but an acre of ground can easily feed two people for a year with intense raised-bed gardening and crop rotation. A half-acre fish pond well-managed can provide an awful lot of protein for two people, plus storage of water which can be used to fight fires, or filtered and boiled for potable use.

And you'd still have room to graze 1 cow/calf unit per year.

I am fortunate enough to have a seperate country retreat which is ready to weather a direct atack by glowing radioactive zombie spiders from theta reticulae, but, you'd have a hell of a time finding it, and if you did, you'd just see a humble little cottage in the woods, so unimpressive you wouldn't bother with it.

Parapets? Parapets? We don't need no stinkingparapets!Those parapets just attract alot of unwanted attention.

The lower your profile the easier survival will be.

When the feces hits the oscillating wind machine, I'll have N O T H I N G! I'm poor, got no food, no medicine, no generator, no fuel, I'm sick, and although I LOOK well-fed you should have seen me before, why I was 460 lbs!!!! I'm starving and I need free shit from fema and the community chest just to survive, gimme my share!!!!!!

[FN74]

Az Highlander,
Thanks for posting what you have! I would have to agree that few have the super duper bullet proof fallout shelter setup, and what you have is more realistic, thank you for sharing! I'm considering a setup very similar to yours, as in rural georgia, it's very affordable.

[Bidah]

Well, I am not very good at posting pictures, but I can give a description.

Like AZ, my retreat is our home. I am in a very rural area, with good neighbors, and completely off grid ( 3 miles away is the closest). We are still working on getting this new place all setup. My wife is still bugging me to get the bunker built, but I still don't know where to put it.

-bidah

[Arizona Highlander]

A half-acre fish pond well-managed can provide an awful lot of protein for two people, plus storage of water which can be used to fight fires, or filtered and boiled for potable use.

Yes, a great suggestion! I’ve got a small wash running along the edge of my property, where it ultimately empties into the flatlands below. It’s usually dry, but it can really run like a river during one of our summertime, "gully-washer" thunderstorms. And I’ve been thinking . . . wouldn’t it be great to dig myself a nice little pond, and capture some of that priceless rainwater for further use? (recall that, here in Arizona, water is ALWAYS priceless).

So indeed, building a fish pond is something very high on my “to do” list! :D

[Goldenspurholderx2]

+1 on AZ High! I currently live in suburbia and I plan on bugging in? It's all I can do at this point. Dude you got it right. My new job is going to be 50 miles from where I live and is a little out there (they tend to put federal penitentiaries a little out there). Since I have to do at least another 10 years federal before I can collect a pension I'm going to be looking for some land a little more remote and build as I can to eventually move someplace a little more remote. I have a lot more respect for my dad who used to live in a trailer with my mom and go to work all day to come home to build their house at night, since that will most likely be what I'll be doing.