I sick of the red state garbage. Nearly every “red” state has “blue” cities. Stop blaming entire populations, age groups or other demographics. You’re just falling for the divide and conquer message they want to use against everyone.

Late to the party, but I’ve read that OP is going to be the sole admin. Do Not Do This. I admire what you are trying to do, but ultimately, you will have no rest, no vacation, no backup for yourself. The hardware & software aren’t the issue here - it is the human support of those services. You will put a single point of failure on yourself, and likewise your peers.

Many of the FOSS projects you mentioned have commercial services. SAAS exists for a reason. By subscribing to those services as a business, you underwrite their ability to provide the software for free to the community. It’s a win-win.

I just use SMB shares on my NAS. Why over think it?

check out OPNsense routers and use your existing equipment only as access points. You can then make firewall rules to block them from phoning home. protectli sells some inexpensive models.