How To Be The Backyard Prepper – Rogue’s 31 Days To Readiness [Day 21]

When you think about a prepper, you probably either think of someone locked down in a bunker or you think of someone on hundreds of acres. Or maybe both. Either way, you’re most likely envisioning someone living off the grid and completely self-sufficient, right?

While there’s nothing wrong with the above and that might be the dream of many, it’s not the dream of all. Some people simply want to be prepared for the lives they currently live and they’re perfectly happy where they’re at.

There’s no right or wrong way to be prepared. If you’re happy where you’re at and you want to simply make your situation work by being as prepared as you can be; then that’s exactly what you need to do.

We can certainly get inside our own heads and come up with a million excuses as to why you can’t do this or that.

“I can’t have a garden because I don’t have enough space.”

“I can’t collect rain water because I live in an apartment.”

“I can’t practice skills because I don’t have a forest in my backyard.”

And so on. We all do it. We all give ourselves limitations and restrictions on why we can’t do something. I’m hoping this post will help you turn limitations into opportunities and simply make it work.

Here are some ideas to be a ‘backyard’ prepper:

• No room for a big garden? No problem! There’s container gardening. You can do some indoor gardening with micro greens or sprouts. Maybe a 5 gallon bucket with potatoes? How about a vertical garden or hanging plants?
• Live in an apartment? Great! Go practice skills, like shelter making, at your local park. Does your complex have a BBQ? Practice fire making in it.
• No space for water collection? Hold up! Do you have space for some 5 gallon buckets on your balcony or porch? You may think that’s ‘not enough’, but it’s more than nothing. Throw a net over it to prevent mosquitos from breeding.
• No car? No problem! How about a bicycle? Maybe a scooter? An electric bike? Making bug out arrangements with your neighbor or nearby friend?
• Nowhere to practice skills? No way! There’s your backyard, parks, public lands, etc. You may be slightly restricted on what you can do in public or urban areas. For instance, you won’t be able to practice archery or firearms, but you could certainly put a can on the ground and practice your sling shot (away from people, obviously). I’ve created all types of shelters in parks, I’ve foraged, found a hidden spot to practice with my sling shot and have made plenty of fires in the park BBQs.
• No space? Get creative! Many of the complaints when it comes to preparedness is lack of space. It’s all about working with what you got and getting creative. Do you have closets? Empty cabinets? Space under the bed? Make a side table out of totes. Be organized. Get shelving. Look around your space and figure out how you can best utilize it.

Make. It. Work.

There is NO shame in doing whatever you have to in order to fit your exact needs. What works for someone else may not work for you and vise versa. Figure out how to make YOUR situation work.

We may live on land but we also live in a 200-ish square foot RV that has VERY limited space and we’re able to make it work. We’re not tripping over boxes and we’re not claustrophobic.

I’ve lived in apartments (all tiny and one of them shared a kitchen with my neighbor), urban areas, suburbs; I even lived in my car for a short time. Anywhere you can imagine, I’ve lived there. You can always make it work.

The important point is that you just get prepared.

Adjust your mindset and take a close look at your situation to find solutions.

See you in day 22!