Preparedness for when

boultdj

Congrat's on the job 2T

[Deleted User]

Congratulations on the new job 2Ts :j

Thank you everyone for the book recommendations. I have three on the way (used) and three sat in my amazon shopping basket. I'll order those as I finish the rest

I grew curly kale in with my flowers last year, along with some Little Gem Lettuce and some red-leaved lettuce. Chives would also work well in a flowerbed. Alys Fowler's Edible Garden is all about growing veggies among your flowers. The episodes are on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTZ5YeXc0J8

herbily

pineapple wrote: »

Does anyone know of decorative plants that are also edible? That's pineapple's spring resolution - not to plant anything she can't eat :rotfl:
I think I have most of the herbs covered. Plus will be planting some runner beans - very pretty when the flowers come out. I also got some nasturtiums. And that's the sum of my knowledge!

Sarah Raven, who writes on gardening in the Saturday "Telegraph" sometimes, and also sells seeds via her own website, has this:
http://www.sarahraven.com/how-to/growing-flowers/edible-flowers

You can eat rose petals, and marigold petals, and violets, and carnations/pinks (aka gillyflowers in Tudor cookbooks) and make cowslip wine and...I'm getting hungry now!

[Deleted User]

pineapple wrote: »

Does anyone know of decorative plants that are also edible?

Not a decorative plant, and indeed, not something you would choose to grow, but all parts of the Dandelion are edible.

lovefullshelves

[Deleted User] wrote:

Lovefullshelves, which Sharon Astyk books do you recommend? I see she has several on Amazon.

Just ordered, Self Reliance and the Long Emergency is in the post

I loved 'depletion and abundance' (ha -a bun dance always makes me smile:D)
'independance days' is good if you like preserving, (from an idea from the marvelous Carla Emery encyclopeadia of country living)
and 'making home' takes the idea of family and looking after people in an emergency even further.
First one is my favourite though!
Vanoonoo -Thankyou for my C.R.A.P.R.O.L.L.Z. number
I'm proud of that!!
I don't know what too old is to get through it all,
As we're watching the world finding it harder to feed itself(170% more people using foodbanks in the last year) , medical care getting harder pushed (they told my son 'we dont do that on the NHS anymore' and my father was told by a junior doctor that if it was up to him he'd have surgey but it was up to the money).
We are definitely at the start of the long emergency (or 'the long descent' john micheal greer)
Maybe I'm too old at 46, I know in the last few years its got harder as a smallholder, 10 acres and happiness?
It barely pays its own way(cost of seeds, spray, plants, compost, fartilzer) sadly and I grow a wide variety of veg just so I know we can eat.
Might be potatoes but we eat!
And we swap eggs for veg, and knitted items:D I do like a good jumper:D
And then I worry about #1son.
About his future, university, debt, jobs, homes. He said 'well if I fail my A levels I'll just come work on the farm' OK as long as you don't expect a wage!
I think it's that I feel ready.."bring it on" before my knees get any worse, or before I need a new hip like dad had. I would die alot younger without modern medicine, without the transport we have now, we'd be very isolated, very limited in our buying choices.
Climate change is already affecting our growing season, too wet, too cold, too late.
Which is fine whilst there's the oil to cart it all from abroad, but what about when transporting lettuces from spain is too expensive?
I already have friends who choose between food and heat.
Already know someone who has a hot meal once a week with me 'cos he can't afford food.
And we have a couple of days most weeks when we HAVE to eat what I've grown. (Hence the shelves, filled with staples, spices, and baking goods, theres always PIE:D , herbs in the garden, seeds)
I just LOVE being prepared:T

[Deleted User]

lovefullshelves wrote: »

I loved 'depletion and abundance' (ha -a bun dance always makes me smile:D)
'independance days' is good if you like preserving, (from an idea from the marvelous Carla Emery encyclopeadia of country living)
and 'making home' takes the idea of family and looking after people in an emergency even further.
First one is my favourite though!

Thank lovefullshelves

We are in our mid 50s. We took on this place with an acre of garden, two years ago now. It was mostly lawn, so we are having to create veg beds as we go. We love the challenge We managed to grow enough potatoes to take us through to March this year. Beginners luck probably but we are aiming to do it again this year. We managed to grow enough veg last year to be self sufficient for six months. I didn't grow enough to get us through the winter months, so more leeks, kale, cabbage and hopefully some swede this year. Like DDD I'm investing in fruit bushes. Each year I will be adding more as they give a return year on year. I stick the gooseberry prunings into pots and they all rooted. So I have last year's new plants and new one's from this year - all free

In addition to growing and keeping my storecupboard stocked I try to buy something extra for a SHTF scenario. Last month is was some solar powered lights, this month it will be the books you lovely people have recommended.

pineapple

lovefullshelves wrote: »

Maybe I'm too old at 46, I know in the last few years its got harder as a smallholder, 10 acres and happiness?
It barely pays its own way(cost of seeds, spray, plants, compost, fartilzer) sadly and I grow a wide variety of veg just so I know we can eat.
Might be potatoes but we eat!

I used to get a smallholder magazine (don't know if it is still published). But even before this topsy turvy weather there were plenty of articles about how 'the good life' could be very hard - and that often one of the family would have to get some paid work. Whereas the dream had been total self sufficiency.
It also depends where you are in the UK of course. Growing conditions have always been less favourable 'oop north'. I'm reminded of that when I see growing reports from further south then look at where we are at locally.
That said, even here in the windy Pennines, a house with a few acres of barren hillside with clay soil still costs (for the likes of me) a small fortune. I don't know if it is still happening but aspiring farmers used to decamp to France where housing with agricultural land was so much cheaper. In fact I've had a few holidays with a local couple who did just that. They had a Jersey herd and grew everything (and I do mean everything). While around them there was an assortment of incomers incuding a Dutch family of cheese makers with a goat herd. A multicultural rural community!

S_Wales_Saver

Hi all

I've been lurking for a month, read ALL the posts and totally on board with you guys. I see oil depletion and associated power cuts/planned outages as the most likely scenario over the next ten years. I too remember the three day week and having to cook while we had 'leccy.

However I don't discount climate change as a factor. At the moment I don't know enough to comment, but from my lay perspective (& my great age experience lol) the weather seems to be changing.

I've arrived here after a long time on the second shop thread, sooo I've started to build up a good stock of the foods that we eat regularly ( as well as toilet rolls lol ) OH was totally bemused, until I could prove to him that half our monthly shop came from my stores bought at cheeeaaap prices previously. He's now far more on board with the whole thing!!

My new goal is to widen the scope of my preps. Got a fab wind-up lantern from Lidly, planning a trip to Ik*a for storage shelves and candles and started a herb and veg garden. Looking and drooling over a wood burner too! OH will come into his own when it's time for foraging ESP blackberries and nuts.

Sorry for the essay - you guys inspire me. Vanoonoo can I join the club please?

thriftwizard

I'm mid-50s, have had a hip replacement, & haven't even started on the big garden yet. We've done what we can here, in a small urban garden; we have 9 chickens, 4 apple trees (one of which has been here all along) two quinces, two hazels, a fig, several cherry plums, a big kiwi vine, lots of berries & currants & a variety of herbs & saladings. As Him Indoors insists on a lawn & keeping the (waste of space) driveway, I can't do very much more without more space. We did have an allotment up the road but lost it in an admin mixup & can't seem to get back on "the list". Which is 20 years long anyway!

We had hoped to move further West & have that bigger garden as soon as the kids were off our hands, but that seems to be receding into the distance, as they can't afford to live separately whilst doing "ordinary" jobs whilst waiting for their "real" careers to get going. So in a sense we are already living in a fledgling prototype of Sharon Astyk's multi-generational household. So far, so good, but we only have one "partner" to factor in part-time & she's from a larger family herself, so well able to cope with the family dynamics. Many of my friends are also clearing much-longed-for sewing rooms, studios etc. as their fledglings are also returning to the nest for financial reasons; there's a real sea-change in the way we live going on out there & whilst my lot seem to rub along OK, it's not a happy result for many other families, and it's not doing a lot for the twenty-somethings who feel they have "failed" somehow despite the good degree etc.

Anyway, off now a-hunting at the car-boot with DD1. Then I need to clear some more space in the garage for tins; my stock has got very depleted & there are vintage clothes & fabrics (business stock) everywhere instead!

elaine241

S Wales Saver you are in Cwmbran? If you look up towards the mountains you will see me waving! I live on a farm above Ty canol!!! and I thought I was the only nutter in this neck of the woods, hence I love this lot on this thread they make me feel welcome and not soooo fruit loop! or as fruit loop as everyone else:rotfl:

Welcome prepper & neighbour!