THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Cappella · 19 May 2017 at 8:14AM

Kittie and GQ Our sarpos were ok. Una was nicer than Mira. Not great flavour wise but no worse than some supermarket varieties and although a little floury certainly didn't turn to mush when steamed. Hard to mash though, seemed to resist the masher, but fine when finally crushed. The plus point for us is that they genuinely resisted blight and kept well, and as we'd lost our whole crops of Desiree, Aran pilot, kestrel and Maris piper to the horrible disease three years running that was a huge plus for u. Weirdly has though pink fir apple which we grow in huge blue fruit pulp barrels (thank you here to the now demolished Robertsons jam factory) have never been touched by blight even when at its worst so, happily bcause we love the flavour, we can still grow those.

Mrslurcherwalker Your post made me chuckle. Hope it's reparable though.

kittie I've not done in the past, before, but now I always have emergency cash in the house. Despite Lloyds apparent return from the dead I just don't trust banks at all and I worry about our pensions a lot (job related). We opted to take the maximum amount we could as a lump sum, but even that's mostly in banks. My pantry is my most valuable bank, the last four weeks have made me realise that but I still DONT want to restock it to the extent that I used to. Zombies notwithstanding it's hard to know what to do for the best.

Ah well, no point worrying, que sera sera! Better get the French beans put in and coffee grounds round the asparagus to keep the slugs at bay. MrC has never bought a coffee at Star***ks in his life, but he relieves them of tons of coffee grounds every month

mardatha · 19 May 2017 at 8:18AM

I think the same kittie, even if nothing happens in the near future I think everything has got a lot rockier. We're hingin on a shoogly peg !!

[Deleted User] · 19 May 2017 at 8:36AM

Keep on doing what you're doing NOW! up the anti in all ways to make sure you've enough wood and food growing in the plots, keep those bees happy and producing honey and squirrel away as much processed preserves as it's possible to make. Make sure you've the house and stove in good order, make sure you've cool for hot weather, warm and also waterproof foorware and clothing, learn how to make what you need to live well if you don't know how now (soap would be useful), learn how to grow and use herbs for medicines (better than nothing if the NHS isn't there), learn first aid for yourselves (others too if needed), learn to sew, knit and weave and if you have the inclination how to spin wool for yarn, learn how to deal with whole animals/birds/fish in the fur/feather etc. and learn how to make the absolute most of everything you get, feathers for duvets and mattresses and pillows, fur for warm slippers, gloves, hats, even clothing and bed coverings (rabbit or sheepskin) and leather for shoes, clothes, bags, belts, harness, straps and all manner of useful things, learn WHO you are and what your personal skills are so also learn WHAT you are and those skills could be anything from growing food to story telling, from weaving to nursing the sick, from processing skins to making glue. The whole practical ways our forebears had passed down through the generations that we've almost lost in this instant push button, buy everything in and 'must have it all' needy world we have today.

If society changes enough with the crash to end all crashes the money you've saved, the pots of cash for rainy days and the pensions will be of very little use to anyone BUT viable skills will be invaluable in making you a useful member of any society and will be worth far more than coinage in a barter society won't they?

[Deleted User] · 19 May 2017 at 10:56AM

I should also throw into the pot ... if you're convinced that things WILL change and convinced that our lifestyles will have to adapt to what will be a poorer and less comfortable and cossetted way of living then NOW is the time to start to live as you can perceive the future to be, live as if the crash HAS already happened and become used to a much different lifestyle BEFORE it's forced upon you by circumstances beyond anyone's control. We do the scrounging for wood thing in fact this morning He Who Knows has collected 3 trailers full of oak branches, some big enough for us both to have to lift them, they were offered on freecycle last night and a tree surgeon who is taking them down has logged them up into moveable pieces. Our conviction that we don't use the central heating is part of being prepared to live in a cooler house before we either can't afford to use the heating or the electricity supply becomes erratic enough to not let it function or the gas supply is limited, erratic or too expensive as well. I think the impact of change is far less if you have time and the means to make the changes you can foresee before they are here with no alternative but to live them, it's a different mind set if you get there first! As part of a 'different' future too I'm planning to put several vegan main meals into the menu plan each week as I know we can produce enough to see us fed most of the time, we've cracked saving and drying our own beans now, done it often enough that I know what I'm doing and last years are still soaking and cooking up perfectly well to eat as are all the dehydrated fruit and veg I did last autumn, particularly the apples which are reconstituting better than bought ones do. If it's NOT a conviction then wait and see, we might ALL be on totally the wrong track but I'd much rather be there already if it DOES happen than playing catch up with the rest of the world!

moneyistooshorttomention · 19 May 2017 at 12:39PM

Each to their own on that - ie living at a lower standard voluntarily in case one is forced to subsequently.

To me - it makes more sense to live at a normal standard and with the intention of carrying on doing so - whilst knowing how to "shift down a gear" if it should prove necessary at any point. My normal standard admittedly doesnt include having a car/satellite tv/smoking/eating meat anyway and is pretty modest.

So I shall go on using central heating as normal and eating as I want etc unless/until "forced" to "shift down". It doesnt make sense to me to deprive oneself if there is no need - and so I don't. As I am a single person that has only ever had a poor income I've had to economise for decades anyway and I'm conscious that I've got a permanent reminder of that fact with the house I live in being a very different one to that I would have chosen if I had got married (ie 2 incomes coming in to pay for it).

Not a fan of voluntary deprivation here...:rotfl:

[Deleted User] · 19 May 2017 at 1:07PM

How rude! it's our choice and our business and our take on life! I'm not advocating living in poverty in any case but IF and only IF it makes any kind of sense to anyone on a PERSONAL level to take a small step back from life as most people know it in 2017 and live a simpler and more sustainable lifestyle with what you have available it might make sense. I hope no one pictures us huddled round our candle flame with no lights on cooking a sausage to split between us on a jam jar lid!!!

moneyistooshorttomention · 19 May 2017 at 1:22PM

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Each to their own on that

*************

Cappella · 19 May 2017 at 1:24PM

Mardatha what a brilliant and appropriate saying!!! (once MrC who comes from Carlisle had translated it for me and I understood it properly:o)

MrsLW said

up the anti in all ways to make sure you've enough wood and food growing in the plots, keep those bees happy and producing honey and squirrel away as much processed preserves as it's possible to make. Make sure you've the house and stove in good order, make sure you've cool for hot weather, warm and also waterproof foorware and clothing, learn how to make what you need to live well

Those were two inspirational andexcellent posts MrsLW, thank you

I was born and brought up on a smallholding in Lincolnshire, and we've tried very hard to keep the old skills my parents taught me alive in Manchester: they've stood us in good stead in the past when 'grow your own' and allotments were very unfashionable, and I wholeheartedly agree that they are still as valuable today.
Economically things in this country are not getting better (and I notice that my basic shopping bills area up again this week.) I'm still planning to be as prepared as I can for whatever the future holds, but in a slightly different way. My cupboards will be restocked slowly, but I'm not stock piling in the SAME way I have done in the past. No more huge tubs of rice and pasta. I'll buy it whilst it's still in the shops, but if I can manage without it I will.
MrsLW also said

if you're convinced that things WILL change and convinced that our lifestyles will have to adapt to what will be a poorer and less comfortable and cossetted way of living then NOW is the time to start to live as you can perceive the future to be, live as if the crash HAS already happened and become used to a much different lifestyle BEFORE it's forced upon you by circumstances beyond anyone's control.

I'm decided to do this by concentrating on making the most of what we can grow and produce ourselves, and that's meant switching to a much more seasonally based traditional(ish) British diet. My friend has a farm in Mottram, and gives us hive space and lamb in return for beeswax candles honey, jams and pickles; and we eat very little other meat. It's been interesting how very useful my older cookery books have become over the past months, and how many newer ones have ended up at oxfam because the recipes either just aren't sustainable longer term, or require up to 20 ingredients to create some dishes

Just had a very good lamb (bartered), potato (bought) and spinach (well it was our own perpetual spinach and leaf beet really but still fine) made with our own frozen tomatoes so it's more than doable. It's keeping my brain active too and I'm really enjoying the challenge. Still buying fruit, but looking at ways to use things like orange and lemon peel (makes a reasonable marmalade with grated carrot) and trying Not to feed the chickens and dog anything we could eat ourselves. This is hard, because the heart problem means I'm on a low fat/sugar diet so a lot of 'leftover' options aren't good ones, and I'm not completely succeeding but the ginger ninja is definitely getting far fewer doggy meat treats and isn't thrilled

) Asparagus quiche for tea, with cold greenhouse grown new spuds and a green salad so no one can say it's boring - well, except MrC who isn't fond of asparagus.
To be honest it's how we used to live when the family was growing up, I've always cooked fresh food from scratch, but it's good to be going back to it after a difficult few years, and hopefully it will be well worth the time I've put in recently on the allotment. I just tell myself we're lucky to be able to gyo still, so many of my friends have serious health issues and for them the price rises are really frightening.

Good grief!! I've written a short book. Off to hoe and acquire artichoke plants - they're growing like mad on an unused plot near ours and it would be a crime to waste them:A

maryb · 19 May 2017 at 2:22PM

I'm genuinely torn. I also don't like the way the world is looking and yet I have a feeling that the prepping I did back in 2008 isn't necessary any more. My cynical side tells me I could be the last bear capitulating which would guarantee a crash, lol

In practice I can't go back to how I was and I'm still pretty well stocked. But I seem to be balancing thriftiness and prudence at a day to day level with splurging a bit more on having experiences while we can. Part of that is a feeling of how the years are advancing and we simply won't have the oomph in our 70s

I do hope house prices start to fall soon. I keep thinking they must but all that seems to be happening is that people are holding off putting their properties on the market. I don't want to see people wiped out the way they were in the early 90s but it's not good when so many people can't afford the decencies of life like a place to live

[Deleted User] · 19 May 2017 at 4:27PM

I`m not doing any extra prepping either, I have enough of everything, except wood fuel pellets but I have endless candles, so that will do in a tiny room. I can ride a bike and I can spin, knit and make felt. I have filters that will clean dirty water and most of all I have a cosy house and can fit my family in if they need a roof

It looks like impeachment could happen and that is going to shake foundations and cause a massive world upset. We don`t seem to have that many stable world leaders, more unstable leaders and crackpots with several having access to the nuclear button

I think one of the best things to be doing is to work on getting rid of cc debt. As inflation is rising, so interest rates will rise and stretched homeowners won`t know whats hit them. I agree with MrsLW in that several of us were in the position when we were a breath away from financial disaster but being old school, we knew how to cope. 15% interest rates, it could well happen again. We didn`t use energy, we made do with whatever we could grow or forage, we knew how to make vegan food, we knew how to do without and we survived but it was very very hard

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THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

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