Important Information - please read

Hi Folks,

First, and as always, I want to shout out a big THANK YOU to all my readers.  In addition to the occasional passer-by that stumbles onto this MVM blog, there is a core group of about 30 - 35 people who have been regular and avid readers for the past couple of years. You guys rock! I really appreciate your support.

I am more convinced than ever that economic hard times, which will include very high energy inflation and energy taxes among other aspects, are coming soon.  Not tomorrow, but within the next few years. (Many of the experts that I respect and that have solid track records as analysts are predicting that the worst of what is to come will hit us sometime between 2014 and 2016, and could last as long as twenty years.) In many countries, including the USA, this could also lead to political instability.

This is both bad news (things are going to get much, much worse) and good news (we still have some time to prepare for it, perhaps as much as another five or six years).

One question I often get regarding MVM is from city people who live in apartments, condos, townhouses and other arrangements where they do not have any land of their own.  "What can I do?  I can't plant a garden or raise chickens.  So much about your modern victory movement is about homesteading and permaculture.  I am not/can not do that.  Any ideas for me?"

It is true that much of how I've presented MVM does revolve around aspects of homesteading and permaculture.  And in a world where more than half the population lives in urban areas, I can see how that might seem a bit irrelevant to many folks.

But the real message of MVM isn't "plant a garden" or "raise chickens."  It is "be self-reliant" and "take charge of your own life."

Times are going to get tough.  No one is going to be able to take care of you - not your parents, not society, not the government.  Other people are going to have their hands full taking care of themselves.  If you want to survive and prosper, then you must take responsibility for yourself and your future.  

Certainly homesteading and permaculture are tools that can help people achieve personal responsibility for much of their own lives.  But they are not the only ways.  For many folks, "prepping" might be a more appropriate way.

Prepping is just what it sounds like - getting prepared for what may come.  It is the Boy Scout motto "Be Prepared" given a modern twist.

Homesteaders and premaculturists have been prepping their own way for some time now - acquiring land, resources and skills to carry on by producing their own food, water, fuel, clothes and other necessities during and after any economic or political collapse.

But city preppers, apartment preppers, even many suburban preppers, lack the space for gardens, livestock, trees, ponds and other means of direct production.  For them, prepping means getting their finances in order, reducing their expenses, paying off debt, and storing some wealth in gold, silver and/or barter goods.

Prepping means getting energy- and fuel-efficient.  High energy inflation and high energy taxes will almost certainly be a part of the hard times ahead.  Anything you can do to reduce your energy use will help insulate you from the future shock of energy costs.

Prepping means stockpiling food, water, clothes and other supplies against high inflation and future scarcity.

Prepping may also mean learning new job skills, do-it-yourself skills, and other skills useful for survival in an urban environment.

For some, prepping may revolve around down-sizing their lives, getting rid of stuff that ties them down, thereby creating needed mobility so that they can quickly move from dangerous situations or towards new opportunities.

And, sure, if you're lucky enough to have even a small plot of land, plant a small garden.  Every little bit helps.

The modern victory movement, as I've talked about it on this blog, is the homesteading & permaculture version. I have recently unveiled a new version, the urban prepping version, on my other blog.

The new version of MVM has the same core: you must take responsibility for yourself and your future. It has many of the same points. All that is different is homesteading, gardening and permaculture are de-emphasized, and financial preparedness and acquiring supplies are brought to the forefront.

No two people, no two families, face the exact same set of circumstances and concerns, so each has to figure out for themselves the best path to take.  For myself, I am switching my preparations away from homesteading and more towards urban prepping.  There are a variety of reasons for this change, including a re-evaluation of potential future problems, some recent changes in my family circumstances, and my own personal preferences.

I will continue to post occasionally to this blog, but my attentions and efforts now are going into the other blog and urban prepping.

Click here to check out the new MVM - Urban Prepping.

Thanks again for reading, and best wishes,


Tim Gamble