Hello, Militant_Homesteader here with some stuff for you to think about. Wether you have a quarter of an acre, or 300 acres, one thing to think about is security. We can’t erect barbwire fences and security checkpoints, but we can do some stuff to help protect ourselves and our family without making it super obvious.
So what can we do without making it obvious to everyone that we are crazy doomers that obviously need help. One thing I am a huge fan of personally is using plants such and blackberries and raspberries as natural deterrents (natural barbed wire) to stop people from coming on to my property. You can buy them at any local big box store in the spring, and they are widely available online. You can plant them easily under windows, along roads and driveways, mixed in with a fence, or any number of things.
They can also be easily combined with other low visibility security measures such as ditches and cameras to help protect what is yours.
That being said, there are some pros and cons.
Pros:
- They grow edible fruits
- Attracts local wildlife such as birds, deer, etc
- They can be propagated and bought easily
- Very easy to maintain, just mowing and some trimming keep them in check
Cons:
- The thorns can make gathering the fruit more difficult
- There are underground shoots that spread, and can be painful for children and barefoot adults to step on
- They can take over an area quickly if not maintained, but that could also be a positive
All in all, I believe them to be a low effort high return investment of your time and energy.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, stay safe and keep preparing for the troubling times ahead.
Where I live is a very desertlike environment, so it is fairly natural to grow blue agave plants and they spread very easily. Had a few people hop a brick wall and land straight on them, not a mistake they'll make again...
I grew up in *redacted European country* where they grow wild. They make excellent low maintenance hedgerows. You aren't going to cross one with making a ton of noise and getting cut up and tearing your gear. You'll also constantly be tripping on vines that grow across the ground, typically a big one and it's going to cut your shins up pretty bad while you're tripping. Where I lived they grew alongside nettles and sometimes thistle too.
If you're creative with trampling you can create gaps you can get through that aren't going to be easily found by attackers. There's an art to getting through brambles without suffering, you can pinch the thorns on older vines and use them to push the younger ones out of the way. You can also trample them with a high kicking/stomping motion straight down. If you want to grow a good hedgerow you need to plant trees every other meter. If you're smart about it you'll be self sufficient in firewood like we were.
They produce a lot of food that can be easily preserved by making it into jam. Collecting it is a problem. Realistically you're only going to pick what you can reach from standing beside it. You're also competing with wildlife but if you're hunting small game that's not a big problem.