I used to have that idyllic country lifestyle that most preppers dream about. Chickens, goats, acreage, a creek running through the backyard, and most of all, seclusion. It was wonderful. I learned so much about raising animals, keeping hungry deer out of my garden, and being self-reliant to a much larger degree.
But then life happened and that wasn’t going to work for us anymore. My precocious kid graduated homeschool at 16 and wasn’t able to follow her dreams in the state and location where we lived. Obviously, at that age, I wasn’t about to turn her loose to go to school in a different state, so we relocated.
We moved to a suburban area in southern Virginia. Gone was the acreage and the privacy, but that didn’t mean that I gave up on prepping. No way! I firmly believe that no matter where you live, you can be prepared. You may not be able to have a whole farm but you can still be self-reliant and prepped.
However, city prepping and country prepping are two different animals. Here are some of the ways that it’s different.
#1) You have to reign in the redneck when you’re in town.
When I lived out in the boondocks, nobody cared when there was a faint odor of livestock, mud in the mudroom, and hay in the back of the Jeep. In the city, things are a little different. If I set up an ugly, makeshift greenhouse using a clear plastic tarp and zip ties over a swing set in the front yard, the neighbors would 100% complain. In the country, lots of people have redneck things set up and nobody really cares.
That doesn’t mean you can’t have a greenhouse. It just can’t be in the front yard and it has to be one that looks a little nicer. Heck, you can even have a teeny one on a patio or balcony.
#2) In the city, OPSEC is even more important.
When you live within city limits, you’re bound to have neighbors. That means that OPerational SECurity is even more important than it is in the country, where you have a privacy buffer between yourself and other people.
In the city, you don’t want to be seen lugging in buckets and buckets of emergency food. People will comment something along the lines of “You got a bunker down there?” It’s a joke now, but if they’re going hungry later, they’ll remember it.
In the city, everything you do outdoors has the capacity to be seen from by a person outside the family. Even if your back yard is fenced, a person on the second floor of another home will be able to see inside. So, your garden and your urban chickens? Everybody will know about them.
#3) In the city, you can’t go whole-hog (literally) on self-reliance.
There are a lot of things you can do in the city to be more self-reliant, but it should more look like a quirky hobby than an effort to set up a full-on homestead.
Your livestock will be limited to chickens and rabbits (if that – check your municipal website to find out what your local laws are.) You aren’t going to be able to raise pigs or goats, and there will be no backyard butchering station in most cities.
There’s only so much of a garden you can have because there’s only so many places in your city yard with good sunlight where it’s also socially acceptable to plant vegetables. (But if you’re creative, there are quite a few things you can sneak in.)
MORE HERE:
http://www.investmentwatchblog.com/7-ways-city-prepping-is-different-than-country-prepping/
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
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