B.C.
Go to the megan's law website and find out where the preditors are. If you see multiple dots at one address that is a group home or halfway house.
Call your local police academy and tell them you are thinking about doing a "ride along". Tell them you want to go where there is going to be a lot of police action so it won't be a boring evening. He'll probably suggest a couple of different areas. Those will be high crime areas. Then ask him where you should avoid so won't be just sitting in the police car bored to death. Those will be the low crime areas. (I selected my home in an area where he said I'd never see any action. ;-) )
Bugs and chiggers and mosquitos. Chickens love to eat chiggers and bugs. Free range eggs are fantastic compared to what you get in the store. To eliminate the mosquitos, use a bug wacker. Go to a local butcher and get some fresh beef liver. Ask for extra blood. (Ignore his, "I think you're crazy lady" stare.) Hang the bug wacker between your home and the source of the mosquitos. Don't plug the bug wacker in. Use masking tape or rubber bands something similar to attach the liver and blood to the bottom of the bug wacker. Now plug the bug wacker in and go in the house. The next morning, unplug the bug wacker and remove the liver and blood and clean the mosquitos out of the bug wacker. Re-attach the beef liver/blood to the bug wacker and leave. I used a large bug wacker that was supposed to handle 1/4 acre. In the morning there were so many mosquitos in the grid you couldn't see the light in the bug wacker. The first morning I cleaned two cups of mosquitos out of my bug wacker. I cleaned mosquitos out of the bug wacker for two to three weeks. After that my family and I could use our out door pool without using mosquito repellant. The bad part: My electricity bill went up by $10.
If you live in an area where endangered species live off the mosquitos, Don't use this. It could reduce or cause the extinction of what ever eats the mosquitos or their larvae. Why it works: Mosquitos need blood to reproduce.
I have had a city lot, a one acre lot, a 5 acre lot and a 26 acre lot. They were wonderful places to raise children. My wife was happiest with the city lot. My kids and I were happiest with the 26 acres. I had 8 kids and on 26 acres we had our own baseball diamond (no lights), our own spring fed lake and at Christmas we'd go out as a family and cut down a Christmas tree off our property. For the 4th of July I cleared an area and watered it liberally for the week prior to the 4th and we shot off fireworks from the center of the watered area. One morning we were late to church because a trio of wild turkeys roosted in a tree next to our dining room window and we were facinated by them and watched them. We had plenty of room for our own garden and didn't worry about what was sprayed on the vegetables and berries because I was the one to spray them. A Doe had her fawn in a wooded thicket about 50-75 yards from our back door. She would come and feed on our lawn. We saw the fawn several times before she moved on. My 26 acre lot was roughly 1100' by 1400'.
Good luck to you.
