Who Would You Invite to Your Compound?

[aimeeday1972]

Okay, everybody, I'm not really a prepper, just a homesteader, but my friends and I like to play the "who would you invite to your compound?" game. Since I'm starting, I'll set parameters for those who don't actually have land or a compound; if you do, by all means, use your own. These parameters reflect my situation. 5 acres, rural/agricultural area but within 25 miles of a medium sized city. Assume you have a family and children. Here we have a small, reproducing herd of goats and a flock of chickens. Mature orchard. On-the-grid power.
Who do you invite? How many, what skills are you looking for?
Me, I'm a registered nurse and I have a pretty full set of horticultural/preserving/animal husbandry skills. My husband is a very versatile mechanic with a full complement of tools and has some electric and carpentry skills. Who do we need?
1. manpower. sheer muscle to build fences, man the walls if necessary, etc.
2. Someone good with firearms and actually has some.
3. vet/doctor?
4. Someone who can work with hubby to build a windmill powered generator (we got great wind)
5. Someone who can sew.
Anyone else want to play?

[LamiPub]

wives for my sons

Seriously, a dentist, a chiropractor, a chemist, a musician

[mg_at_the_farm]

lol a maid!!! can't keep this place clean now let alone if I had all those other people you mentioned...just kidding, seriously, a vet/docor is good, my family has all the muscle it needs, dont need to add to the machism around here, my brother build and refirbishes all kinds of guns....power engeniers and inventor types,deffinatly, and of course someone who can sew, knit, quilt and spin.(im still learning,,and it's slow going)umm someone good with herbs and vegitable gardening,,,it would be good to have a butchar and taxidermist, because my cuts are awefull and I dont know how to preserve a hide.....what else???

[mg_at_the_farm]

Originally Posted by LamiPub

wives for my sons

ROFL oh yeah me too.....(daughter says shes never ever getting married cause then she would have to move away and then who would talk to mmmy and daddy) lol dont have to worry about her.....she'll be talking my ear off from here to kingdom come lol

[Queen Bee]

Well, We have 100 acres (70+% is wooded), lease 70 more. I have a nice youngish (the oldest trees are 12), producing orchard -with 10 apple trees, 4 peach, 2 fig, 2 plum, 2 cherry, 8 blueberries, rows of blackberry, dewberry and raspberry, 5 pear, pomergrate, an asian persimmon and vineyard of 15 muscadines. We have a great garden spot, we have wildlife and two ponds stocked with fish. We have several livable building. We are getting chickens this summer. I have honeybees, herb gardens, flowers.

I sew (I can look a picture and have the skills and tools to make the pattern, adjust it too any size), garden, can/freeze, love to cook from scratch, spin wool, knit and weave.

My dh is a great handman--grew up with all the old ways of doing everything himself--from farming, building, electric, plumbing etc. He loves hard work.

Who would we invite:
1. Our children & their family: One is a carpenter/builder. One is a hunter and does all his own butchering. One is a great handman--who LOVES to chop/cut wood. One is a teacher and one is a naturalist who knows 1000's of edible wild plants, berries. One is a nurse.

2. My Godfather he is a wonderful man. My husband's uncles who we adore--they would bring laughter to us.

We would need:

someone who has their own instruments and could play music and teach us==since we all love music but have no skills.

We would also need another line of livestock and poultry--maybe barter for those??

[cowboy joe]

5+ acres with mature orchards & vineyards plus some livestock & big gardens. Also adding a pond to raise fish. Think the place would be fairly full up between kids, parents, and a handful of matron Aunts. Considering asking a single friend also whose job is already on the bubble. That would make ~9 folks in a 1,500 sq ft house. Not too bad but wouldn't want to add to many more.

My Mom is very domestic and she would be in charge of the house, including the cooking (yum!). Everyone else would pitch in with the gardens, livestock & chores. My friend was raised on a dairy farm. Certain she would add much value with regards to caring for livestock. The bulk of the building, hefting, engineering and construction / repairs would fall back to me with some help from Dad if I needed a third hand. The DDs would also have to lend a hand and a muscle or two when need be. There are a couple of neighbors who I'm certain would be willing to trade / barter for various services.

[Kris in MI]

We have 40 acres, mostly field, about 10 wooded.

I think I would 'invite' the dairy farming family that borders our land (one family, 4 houses, 3 generations, would add several hundred cows and over 300 acres to the "compound"), plus the other neighbor who has several hundred acres, some wooded, some field.

That way we'd be fairly close to a square mile in size, big enough we aren't living on top of one another. It would also mean our compound would have:
dairy and meat animals (including a couple flocks of chickens)
horses
fields for pastures and growing many crops including the animal feeds
woods for heat(most of us mentioned have wood burners all ready) and hunting (deer, turkey, rabbit)

In terms of careers/skills, we've got:
a teacher
dairy and crop farmers
a horse trainer
a mechanical engineer
at least one person with building/construction experience
several who can weld
several who do auto & tractor repairs
at least one seamstress
an accountant/bookkeeper
and more skills I can't think of at the moment.

That would also give us multiple age children of both genders if we wanted to keep our compound truly self-sustaining for at least one more generation

[Michael Kawalek]

That's easy for me to answer. I'd invite anyone that's already been here. When we first bought our land there was lots of work to do and I solicited help from friends and co-workers. Some people enthusasticlly agreed, while others couldn't be bothered. I got help for tree planting, construction of our roof, and laying irrigtion pipe from people that were sincerely enjoyed helping us get our homestead up and running. Those are the people that I would hesitate inviting at a moments notice.
Michael

First and foremost they would have to be people I could trust with a gun behind me in a high-stress situation. If things have gotten so bad that I'm inviting people who are not part of my immediate family to come live with me then things are likely so bad that the use of guns in a high-stress situation is going to happen.

Secondly they'd have to be willing to work towards the common good. We've all got to eat, stay warm, have safe water to drink, and maintain at least some minimum quality of life. This is going to require regular work every day. At times it may call for long periods of hard labor. If they are able bodied then they will be expected to turn to.

Third it would be good if they had skills and abilities to bolster those that I don't have. But the first two considerations are vital.

.....Alan.

[Itilley]

Our family, children & grandchildren.

RenieB

[Tracy Rimmer]

Hmm.... dystopia or utopia? I guess it depends on who you invite

For me, I have a broad range of skills, and a huge library full of books that cover what I don't have stored in my brain. However, KNOWING something and DOING it can be two very different things. I cook, I can, I sew, I quilt, I garden, I know the basics of animal husbandry, crop rotation, etc. I have a range of knowledge of herbal treatments for common ailments, but would be pretty much useless in terms of an emergency medical situation.

DH is an engineer, with a "fix it" kind of brain. He's pretty good at looking at a problem and coming up with a workable solution -- he can "MacGyver" pretty much anything.

Two teen boys with strong backs and willing natures.

What do we lack? WEll, real experience. There are several families around us who have lived this lifestyle for several generations. Any one of them has more knowledge and ability (and practical experience) in their little finger than I'll ever achieve, so a range of those people who we know and already get along with (personality conflicts will prove to be a bigger problem than finding skills, IMHO).

A doctor or someone with some emergency-type medical training.

My Dad who, while not being from here, is another "MacGyver" type who has lived this lifestyle his entire life and still has a LOT to teach me!

Families with daughters of an age with my boys I *DO* want grandchildren one day!

Anyone with a gun, ammunition, and a personable nature (no buttheads -- again back to that personality thing).

Food, I have covered. We homeschool, and have more books than our village library, so education we can cover. There will be plenty of work, so strong backs and willing attitudes will be most important.

Keeping a healthy, hopeful outlook will be important, too -- so people with entertainment skills -- storytellers, musicians -- and those who can inspire (whether you want to call them religious leaders or simply people who can inspire hope, I don't care).

Having said that, anyone with a store of chocolate of coffee will be more than welcome.... for a while, anyhow

[Razorback21]

I don't worry about who we would invite....my concern is who would invite themselves. My wife's family especially, as they are all city people with little or no stomach for farm life. I have one BIL and SIL that could do everything wife and I do, but the rest, I fear, would try to sponge off of our toiling of the land.

[wy_white_wolf]

I guess 1st thing I need to look at is why am I inviting them. That's the 1 thing you didn't set forth in the beginning.

If this is a TEOTWAWKI than only my children, thier spouses and grandchildren. I'm not even sure about my brothers and sisters as they would be more of a drain than a asset.

[Kmac15]

we have 15 acres with 5 cleared and 10 in woods. A garden area and chickens. 1 acre is cleared for pasture but no fence. Lots of fruit and berry bushes.


I would start with my mom and step-dad. Mom was raised on a farm and can do it all and my step-dad has a fix-it brain.
My son is a musician and a strong back
My rental son is also a strong back, with a work ethic that is rival to non, with a wife that is very crafty and easy to get along with.
DH is a nurse and was also raised on a farm
I sew, can, and raise a garden
We would still need a couple more strong backs and could use someone with vet experience

[hunter63]

First, never refer to your homestead as a "compound", homestead -good, compound-bad.
(you never hear about the ATF raiding a homestead, only a compound)

Second, if you have a homestead, you shouldn't have to worry about who is invited.
It is like calling you "little gun collection", an arsenal.
When asked, I say, "I don't know nothing 'bout no compound....................".

[TRAILRIDER]

Definately Jackie Clay, she wrote the book!

[big rockpile]

Our kids and Grandkids.No one else no exceptions.

big rockpile