If push comes to shove...?

cootambear

rhiwfield wrote: »

Cheers Rummer, I think you know this is what we've tried to do and it gets just a little better each year.

However, although we can now produce most of our fruit needs and a fair bit of veg we'd go short on meat, dairy, cereals (esp flour), sugar and potatoes, and I see no answer to that other than buying in as needed. And we'd definitely need to improve storage/processing of food for the lean months.

so, most of your calories, and some important food groups, especially for kids

Rummer

It would still provide a good start if you had a variety of fruits and veg it would free up money to buy the other essentials.

How do you fare over the winter Rhiwfield in fruits and veg?

Sally_A

However Rhiwfield, being in the Vale of Glamorgan, I'm sure the local farmers would supply locals first...especially if there is no petrol/diesel to transport meat to London.

It would be fun to see the mega earners so far up their own backsides with their delusions of "worth" begging for a pint of milk. I don't care how high tech the UK becomes, the root of our existence is in providing for our own people.

rhiwfield

Rummer, we freeze whole raspberries and blueberries, and also freeze pie fillings (blackcurrant, rhubarb/ginger) We've also got gooseberry granita as a dessert and have blackcurrant, strawberry and rhubarb, jostaberry and gooseberry jams. Lastly we've got enough apples left to see us until end of Jan. Our fruit trees are still immature, so we should get a lot more greengage, apples and pears in future, and we'll be making more wine and cordials next year.

We buy in potatoes for winter eating, just sowing enough in March to give us new potatoes in the summer. But we've got onions and garlic in store, the kale and some sprouts and cabbage have survived the freeze as has swede, carrots and parsnips. We've frozen runners, baked courgettes, french beans, sweetcorn and tomatoes and various soups. In the greenhouse we've got land cress, chard and welsh onions.

But it was off to buy extra veg for variety during the freeze and for crimbo and I expect we'll be buying a fair bit more during March/April as supplies run short .

cootambear

Sally_A wrote: »

However Rhiwfield, being in the Vale of Glamorgan, I'm sure the local farmers would supply locals first...especially if there is no petrol/diesel to transport meat to London.

It would be fun to see the mega earners so far up their own backsides with their delusions of "worth" begging for a pint of milk. I don't care how high tech the UK becomes, the root of our existence is in providing for our own people.

good luck fending off the starving masses

amcluesent

I'd decamp to my holiday cottage on the Western Isles. Fishing always possible, shooting game, shellfish when the tide is out, reasonably sized garden for the neeps and tatties, a wee illicit still for moonshine.

The ferry terminal would have armed guards to 'discourage' the wee neds from Glasgow and the currents make swimming to the island suicidal.

Rummer

Rhiwfield that sounds as if you have a huge growing space if you have such a great supply of fruit! We have planted mini trees but we have yet to get a crop from them. The raspberries, rhubarb and gooseberries produce well here and in the local parks there are oodles of brambles. At the moment we really only have enough to eat over the summer not to preserve so I should maybe look into increasing numbers of bushes etc so I have a greater yield.

RAS

Anyone interested in some of the calculations round this might want to read Simon Fairlie's recent book Meat; an benign extravagance.

As a student studying peasant communities, I learned that landless labourers invested a lot in livestock. The livestock foraged for free, did not lose value in times of high inflation and walked. Essentially portable savings.

In my city until well just before WW2, the local dairy brought their cows into Bedford Fields, close to the city centre, to graze all summer. Small animals can be raised on wastes. Chickens and pigs often require food that could be used to feed humans directly, but if the waste regulations reverted, some pig meat could be raised on waste food. And instead of all that bloody grass cutting, we could feed herbivores.

On a more personal note, I have lot to learn, even if I probably have more skills than many. Someone local has been experimenting with almost complete food self sufficiency; I think tea, coffee and spices are pretty much all he allows himself. He reckons that the hard corns (maize) provide the best easily processed grain for small growers. He has taken on extra land to grow these, however. Must get some of his seed if possible

I already grow irish potatoes (the most effective use of land for calorie production according to Jeavons) onions, shallots and garlic, soft fruits and some tree fruit, greens, salads, beans, peas and some winter veggies. I have a stock of good drying beans and some peas. I forage well. I struggle with all the solanums but do not have a greenhouse. I would be happy to trap squirrel and pigeons for meat. I do not freeze stuff much because of the risks in power cuts but bottle fruit and juices. I need to learn how to preserve veggies (other than chutneys and pickles) and meats.

I doubt however that in a city, I would get a lot of chance to eat these unless we could get those in the areas nearer the city centre growing food as well. There is actually a fair bit of space; lots of council houses built with big suburban gardens and a few flats with lots of ground around them, but people do not necessarily have the skills or knowledge needed. And it is better than it was but a few folk have firearms.

rhosynbach

hi we are not doing to bad with nearly 200 jars of jam /chutney/ marmalade/ bottled fruits/ pie fillings / apple sauce/ and dried fruit and veg in my store cupboard and 30 hens which we can use for eggs and meat my family think i am prepared for hard times already..
my next step is a small cow for milk cheese butter and yoghurts and the calf for meat.... and some more ducks we have planted over 30 fruit trees in the last couple of years so plenty of fruit and grow lots of veg
i think we will have to start swapping with others so we can get rid of surplus and stock up on what we have not got
we have wood fire and one with an oven so can cook with no electricity
any more suggestions for me...to be prepared

forgot to add live with in walking distance of the beach and have 2 keen fishermen in the family

rhiwfield

Rummer wrote: »

Rhiwfield that sounds as if you have a huge growing space if you have such a great supply of fruit! We have planted mini trees but we have yet to get a crop from them. The raspberries, rhubarb and gooseberries produce well here and in the local parks there are oodles of brambles. At the moment we really only have enough to eat over the summer not to preserve so I should maybe look into increasing numbers of bushes etc so I have a greater yield.

Rummer, its great when they start to crop, but to be fair we havent that much space, its just all converted and all trees are espaliered apart from the gage

RAS, will probably try drying some fruit this summer but will also have another attempt at bottling, the first last year was an utter failure. Just looked up the Fairlie book but not in our library system, will try to track it down. I just get the feeling that while some people can go for complete self sufficiency in food, most people would be more inclined to trade locally for gaps in home production.

Rhosynbach, you sound well set!! DW has just been watching the cheese making on Edwardian Farm, had to remind her we dont have room for a goat, never mind a cow. Spose it might help also if if one fishermen was a doctor and the other a dentist