dvfedorov,
It's a good plan but as you correctly observed there's definitely a learning curve to making land productive-more than a year, much more. You might consider buying your land as a back-up for when things turn ugly, but until then use the time to develop some skills. Perhaps you can find a small plot to rent closer to the city where you can practice growing things. Also maybe you can find a mentor in the area to help you in addition to doing a great deal of reading and studying on your own. I think you could make this work with considerable effort.
Good luck!
I'm moving to Moscow, Russia in a month, and am considering measures to protect myself against the inflationary and economic crisis that looks likely to come.
I'm considering buying a cheap plot of land some distance (4-6 hours of driving or train; anything closer is terribly expensive) removed from the capital, with a simple house and enough land to grow enough food for a family. Problem is, until things hit the fan, I would still live in the city and work there (until city employment dried up). I would not be there to take care of the plot of land. I would probably not grow anything on it. If things hit the fan, then from the moment I would move onto the land until the moment it produced any food, a whole growing season (a year?) would have to pass - not to mention that I know nothing about farming, so I'd need to pass through a learning curve. This would to some extent defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?
As another option, I could hire someone to live on this land and grow stuff on it, just to keep it prepared, for a tolerable amount of money each month (~$500/month). But I don't want to take on this expense unless it is clearly necessary. And it'd be hard to find such a person, anyway.
I would like to have land as a hedge in case things turn sour in the cities. But I can't figure out how to do it right, yet. I'd appreciate any thoughts you guys might have.
Thanks!