When I first got into the "Liberty Movement", I dreamed of starting this sort of community as well. One of the advantages of small covenant communities is that internally you can avoid a lot of onerous state regulations and taxes.
The setting I imagined was usually on a stream or river which can provide your water, irrigation, some food, some energy, and a defensible border, as well as just being pretty.
I also imagined a stream but you can build your own water source even in a desert if you have useful energy. For example you can install atmospheric water generators [1]. In that case you can buy cheap desert land and install solar panels and battery before everything else. Then install the AWG and a cistern for storage. Once you have that in place you can start a greenhouse and expand from there.

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_water_generator
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I was specifically imagining cheap desert land that also had a creek running through it. There are still lots of places like that in the high desert.
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Hamstr 22 May
is it possible to get water in the air?? I think I saw a machine that claims to get it from the humidity. That could be an alternative choice if you're doing the whole desert thing.
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I think that's what he's talking about.
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