If push comes to shove...?

dreaming

Kirri wrote: »

Dreaming, I live in a flat but am self sufficient on veg from my allotment, when I lost my job I decided to see if I could cope with not buying veg in the winter and living on purely what I grew or had frozen. It helps that I enjoy doing it and being outside otherwise it could become a bit of a chore. Plus depends how much people want to eat certain veg all year round, ie at this time of year when growing veg is scarce, I am happy to eat veg frozen/stored back in the summer.

Even though I was new to gardening it was surprisingly easy to grow more than enough for me (and any friends/family if they wanted it), in fact a lot gets thrown away what I/family can't freeze/preserve. But if I can do it, I'm sure anyone could as I couldn't recognise one plant from another when I started

Thanks Kirri.
Main problem is lack of time (often leave home at 8.00 a.m. and don't get back till after 7.00 p.m., and weekends taken up with family/housework etc.) and physical capabilities - sadly arthritis is not the gardener's friend. I love "grubbing about" in the dirt and helped father as child as we grew all our own back then. Grew quite a bit last year in pots and have already planned to put some raised beds in - have been composting what I can to help but will have to buy some topsoil (soil is really rubbish). Also allotments few and far between round here - even shared ones!
However, if "push comes to shove" for me would be losing my job, which would mean losing my home, so even if I could put the whole garden over to veg. I would lose that as well. So my main thing at moment is to pay my mortgage off as soon as possible or I will still be paying when I draw my state pension (if we still have it then).
That's the scary thing. It is not just a matter of saving a few pennies/pounds here and there, or being more "green". People are losing their jobs, their homes, their futures, and not everyone is in a position to be able do that much about it. I thought it was hard in the 70's recession, but this time round it seems so much worse.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

and there's a small but significant part played by payment in kind too.

These small amounts in cash value add a lot. Not just in non cash value but in securing future business and also just building bonds with neighbours. People you might need...or might be able to help...in certain situations.

I have such an arrangement with a neighbour now and its fab. cost to each of us about £1 a week. Saving in fuel for each a few quid a week, saving in lifestyle costs....probably for me a couple of grand a year for them about £60 a year

Kirri

dreaming wrote: »

Thanks Kirri.
Main problem is lack of time (often leave home at 8.00 a.m. and don't get back till after 7.00 p.m., and weekends taken up with family/housework etc.) and physical capabilities - sadly arthritis is not the gardener's friend. I love "grubbing about" in the dirt and helped father as child as we grew all our own back then. Grew quite a bit last year in pots and have already planned to put some raised beds in - have been composting what I can to help but will have to buy some topsoil (soil is really rubbish). Also allotments few and far between round here - even shared ones!
However, if "push comes to shove" for me would be losing my job, which would mean losing my home, so even if I could put the whole garden over to veg. I would lose that as well. So my main thing at moment is to pay my mortgage off as soon as possible or I will still be paying when I draw my state pension (if we still have it then).
That's the scary thing. It is not just a matter of saving a few pennies/pounds here and there, or being more "green". People are losing their jobs, their homes, their futures, and not everyone is in a position to be able do that much about it. I thought it was hard in the 70's recession, but this time round it seems so much worse.

Time is an issue, I am currently going through everything in my life and simplifying it ALL as I need more free time, I find I waste too much time online but that will change shortly, I'm going to sacrifice that and tv a bit so I get more time back, as working and growing veg doesn't fit too well let alone having a life at the same time! I've cut down on shopping visits to once a week and clearing out the flat to make it quicker to tidy/clean!

In London some allotment sites cater for those less able with raised beds already in but they are few and far between even here. I've seen top soil given away on freecycle and soil improver is given away free by my council but that may be a rarity amongst councils.

I was lucky the Government scheme paid my mortgage whilst I was out of work. I didn't give up my car but I did run up debts on that and other household bills just keeping things going on a fairly basic level, which I am paying back now I'm working again. But like you I want to be in a better position for the future. Guess I had a bit of a wake up call on how hard things can be but I enjoyed going back to basics so am continuing with it. I was lucky I already had the allotment a couple of years before my period of unemployment so that proved a real boon in my lean times!!

Davesnave

dreaming wrote: »

So my main thing at moment is to pay my mortgage off as soon as possible or I will still be paying when I draw my state pension (if we still have it then).
That's the scary thing. It is not just a matter of saving a few pennies/pounds here and there, or being more "green". People are losing their jobs, their homes, their futures, and not everyone is in a position to be able do that much about it. I thought it was hard in the 70's recession, but this time round it seems so much worse.

I think you are focusing on the right thing for you at this point. Paying down the mortgage was something hardly anyone was talking about 5 years ago, but now it's regular topic on MSE. Some people thought the good times were never going to end, so many extended their mortgages, but are now living to regret it.

Poosmate

Kirri, I bought 48 toilet rolls just before Christmas because they were on special offer at Morrisons. They were 30ishp each roll but the offer was restricted to 3 packets. I also stocked up on coffee and cat food (enough for a couple of months each - probably more like 3 months for the cat food). I used my Morrisons Miles vouchers (£25) and I bought this stuff at that time so I'd miss the VAT rise on them. It's saved me about 62p in VAT yay! lol

Dreaming, your second post (on this thread) I could literally have posted myself. I don't think looking at worst case scenarios and theoretical disasters is doom saying. We have proof of how a society will act when "push comes to shove" in a disater type scenario. Look at hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. We have to be realistic . We know that there are people who either can't or won't do things for themselves and will take what they want just because they can or out of desperation. Fortunately, during peacetime or normal time these people are few (invisible because they either haven't been caught or they haven't committed a bad enough crime to be jailed). But make no mistake, they will take what you have if they want it when (really bad) push comes to shove.

I wonder if there will be an increase in schemes like LETS (Local Exchange Trading Scheme) where people trade skills/home grown produce for same? I notice there is such a scheme in North Devon and one in Dorset and Dorchester. I won't post links as my pc thingy is not showing them as safe sites.

Poo

Kirri

My 12 toilet rolls in Waitrose (buy 9 get 3 free) looks paltry on this thread compared to 48, 200 etc but I do chop and change, I was on Sainsbury's basics which I liked but I got fed up of the little rolls running out so fast! Although costs in the supermarket are rising I have managed to decrease what I spend every year for the last 4 years.

There is a barter scheme in London too, run online via emails, but it's not very active - it swaps veg and soaps and home made cakes etc. I love the idea but need it to be more local for it to work. I was giving my veg away but people (friends, etc) got too fussy and only wanted certain things on certain days so I gave up offering.

Poosmate

Good for you Kirri regarding reducing your spends. Maybe one day those same fussy eaters will be asking for freebies in the future!

There is another website aimed at community involvement. http://www.streetbank.com/ People sign up and offer a service of some sort, it could be the use of a set of ladders or dog walking or offering a lift to somewhere and people in your locale can take you up on the offer. I could do with some ladders actually, better to borrow some than spend over £100 to buy some then have to store them.

There is of course www.landshare.com (I know I go on about it!) but it's helped me (in a round about way) to rope a couple of neighbours in to doing my garden for me! Yay!

Also, there's http://www.spareground.co.uk/ if you have a driveway near a football ground or a busy commuter train station you could let it to someone to use if you're not using it.

And this site: http://www.growsheffield.com/pages/groShefAbund.html where volunteers pick fruit and veg (I think from people's gardens - been a while since I read this site) and distribute it to worthy causes. The site is called Abundance so not sure where the growsheffield comes in.

I was on a roll then! I thought I had a link to a foraging site too I don't - unless I've missed it.

Hope those ideas entertain a few for a while.

Poo

Kirri

I must admit I probably wouldn't offer it again to those same people even if they did then need it, think they expected me to be like a shop but I was juggling picking (hours of it in the summer) with work and life and whatever is deciding to have a glut!

Some great links there ^^ will join the streetbank one to have a look. The only one I'd seen before is landshare, which I'd use if my plot ever got too much, it's a great concept.

ceridwen

Farway wrote: »

I am so old that I remember wartime rationing, and drinking dandelion coffee, which sometimes was mixed with chicory [anyone else remember "Chico"]

OK, if you have never had the real thing [and my real thing was "Camp coffee" it was not too bad]

I suspect if push really came to shove we, along with other post colonial European powers, US, Russia and maybe China would just go and take what we wanted from other less militarily powerful countries, this would of course not be an invasion or colonisation, it would be spun as " mutual aid" or similar

HIGHLY LIKELY scenario actually - and some countries (mainly China) are already pushing to get the use of OTHER country's land for food for their own people (eg China landgrabbing in Africa).

RAS

Kirri wrote: »

I will try the white chard again next year, see if it does better for me, lost my chard quite early this winter, though it was bright lights and ruby chard, though previous winters it just about scraped through!

My favourite is Lucellus, which a fellow plotter discovered a few years ago.

Last year, that coped under a foot or more of snaow for nearly two months and then came back in March. All the coloured chards rotted early on.

You can get Lucellus from Lidl of all people.