Preparedness for when

BessieBooBoo

Hello all

Just a quick thought on human waste. Our nearest town has a medieval heritage. We had a work outing to a dig, and it was explained that the reason a lot of people got ill in those times, was because they dug cess pits for each house, but, also had wells on the same grounds dug out for their water supply.

Obviously, they weren't aware of ground water seepage, or, sewage leakage, hence they were drinking contaminated water, and you had the regular epidemics.

If only they'd had their PET bottles....

I guess this kept population levels at a manageable level (for the resources they had then). We do at least have the knowledge now to prevent (hopefully) such things occurring now. Unless the SHTF big time.

Although I have BOBs (one for me, one for OH, and one for the car - yet to do a dog bob); I think the most sensible thing for us is to bug in. Only total societal breakdown/fire/flood i.e. imminent death would get me out. I don't have bushcraft skills, just a bit of first aid, can't see me surviving the British summer in a tent even.

So, my focus is making the homestead as preptastic as possible.

Take care all

BBB

meanmarie

Was telling OH about this thread and he said that when he worked in insurance in US in the early 60s the basement of the building was fitted out for post nuclear survival and that they had drills every so often in what to do should the worst happen....didn't know this before, even though he constantly laughs at me when I buy extra supplies.

Mar....????

We do have a small plot of seaside land..no building of any kind, 220 miles away, maybe I should start a circular willow hedge there which can be turned into a hut by weaving in the willows as they grow..

short_bird

Dunwich: http://www.dunwich.org.uk/

In between Southwold and Sizewell, I have been there but didn't get to do it properly i.e. museums and the rest.

You know, I really don't know what I'd do if STHF. Perhaps it's time to make a decision:D

[Deleted User]

Good question MAR, and one that takes some thinking about. I have access to quite a lot of open countryside and woodland here, but I'm not at all certain about harvesting anything other than what grows above waist height, too many dogs being walked in all locations. I do take elderflowers, blackberries, hazelnuts, crab apples, sloes, wild plums, elderberries,haws,rosehips, but looking at that list it's mainly autumn gathering and what would we live on for the rest of the year? I do use my kelly kettle and my ozpig in the garden, and we do forage for dropped wood when we can, I certainly use the birch branches that fall into the garden for the kelly kettle, and we do use the wood our labrador pal collects off the beach for the ozpig. It's a start. I'm not sure that we could do away with modern civilisation completely and still live a comfortable life. I think the only way to find out if you could make it through, is to have a practise and maybe do a week without anything pre made if you could. Maybe start with just one day, no electric, no gas, no tins or frozen and no mains water to see if you can do it. Make a fire in the garden and forage for what you can, and see how it feels. Of course I know we have the cushion of being able to stop at any point and rejoin the 21st century but it would be an interesting experiment to see how we all fared and what the good and bad sides of the experience were. We're NOT just playing, certainly I'm not, if things do go pear shaped for any reason I want every single chance for me and mine to get through problem times, and out the other side and be able to make a life for us with all the skills I can learn, I think that to go into a situation like that as well prepared and nourished as you can be would stand you in better stead than trying to subsistence live before it happened would, yes? Cheers Lyn xxx.

the_cake

A minor SHTF moment here this morning, but it did give me a little wobbly moment: Jeeves (who gets naughtier by the day) brought me a new sort of present: an adder. Very luckily (for me, anyway) dead. I G**gled just to confirm my suspicions: yes, an adder, yes, poisonous, probably fatal if it had bitten him. Could be fatal for the horses too - I remember carrying the antidote in my saddle bags when riding on Exmoor years ago. Not sure what to do, but have kept both cats indoors today, and a friend has given me a contact name for a snake expert.....eek.

[Deleted User]

Oh JEEVES!!!!!!!!!

ClootiesMum

Mar- you've got me thinking (probably because I think I'm in the same sort of area as you & like you it's piddling down & the fire is lit)
Like Mrs LW I think I'd need to start a day at a time or so - not using leccy, gas or water & only using stores to establish what was do-able & what needed refinement.

Also maybe surviving for a day or so on the BOB supplies - again might throw up some interesting issues.

We had a power cut here yesterday & we were OK - day time, sunny and we have a black out box in place but it was a really silly issue that was a problem - what was the phone number for the electric company? Got there in the end & number is now in the house book on the very 1st page for future - but for all you preppers - take heed from my failings & dig yours out while you have enough light to read the number by:p. He who calls first gets to say where any supplies are put - meaning when we called about there being no water the bowser was delivered to our drive .
One of my work colleagues had a 3 day leccy outage & really could not cope. Had to go to her Mum's each day for a shower & when I suggested heating water on the gas hob and then having a strip wash in the bathroom the look on her face was priceless.
Anyhow - time to get back to Dan Brown & Dante

Catch y'all later

nuatha

mardatha wrote: »

Can I be really really BAD here ? Well I'm going to be anyway because you're all sunny and warm and I'm freezing my lugs off up here in the frozen north ...
Soooo... if we were real preppers - should/would we not be living the life now? Should/would we be visiting supermarkets twice a week and grabbing bargains and smugly counting cans ? Would we not be out there grimly picking nettles weeds & roots to make soup with? Shivering our aspidistras off in a compost loo at the bottom (sorry) of the garden? Making each lentil last a fortnight?
Are we just playing at this? :silenced:

Geographically I'm not that far from you and its been anything but sunny today. However challenge accepted
Until I decide to go off-grid, which is under consideration, then I need to live in the modern world, my income derives from hospitality and IT both of which require I run a vehicle among other things.
I enjoy my current lifestyle which isn't incompatible with prepping for a (hopefully) comfortable life during and post emergency.
But as we've discussed before there are a lot of potential SHTF scenarios, many of which aren't TEOTWAWKI (though may well seem that way at the time).
If I need to live on foraged forest muesli and wear a hand knitted nettle shirt to survive I will, but I'll do so while I'm making venison jerky and tanning the hides to make boots and clothes.
Much of what I do as leisure activities now will become the mainstay of my life in a TEOTWAWKI situation. Does that mean I'll survive, no, it just means I'll give it my best shot.
Of course, we may decide to go off-grid in which case we'll be fairly well placed to have a comfortable start at a time of my choosing, meanwhile being a prepper has got us through several unforeseen events that at the least would have landed us in serious debt and may well have been worse.

D&DD

Evening all been a bit busier than usual as OH was pressganged into helping with heavy stuff in the garden and we got carried away..

Our BOB's are probably more what you'd call an EVAC bag with a few assorted extras thrown in.If we had to leave first port of call would be my parents after that (If desperate!!! my brothers) After that um depends what the emergency is..

During the riots we were very close to leaving,we did double lock all doors etc as it got a bit close for comfort.

I plan to bug in if it's safe to do so and our set up is basically geared towards that,bugging out with my lot would be a nightmare...my lot are a bit like shaun of the deads bunch lol so would be fun!

As for living the life now I'd love to be doing that but it's totally impractical in the house we have now and with the small parcel of land it sits on.If I had the right property yes I'd give it a go although I'd probably end up divorced and childfree :rotfl:

So I suppose I do my best in the world we currently live in,I do have untold knowledge in totally useless subjects for how we live now, which would probably be very valuable should the S ever HTF though.

For me it's all about balance yes I can knit a hair shirt if need be but do I really want to wear one at present if I don't have to??

GreyQueen

Evening all.

I've played in the woods with the Mad Bushcrafters. It was early September in the Lake District and it stormed constantly for a week. Pouring rain around and we were struggling around in about 10 inches of sucking mud at all times. At one point the sun came out for a few seconds and I watched the mud steam; that was a first.......... :rotfl:

To a softie southerner, the mud was a bit of a shock. Although we weren't huntin' and fishin' and livin' off the land, we were eating like pigs and losing weight. Even with the cake at bedtime and the emergency chocolate. You burn a lot of calories being out of doors night and day.

What really struck me was how much time and effort is expended on the very basics when living outdoors. OK, we were noobs and not living in a village of even willow-wattle huts, but the greatest part of the day was subsumed in the business of survival. And we were an all-adult group, not one with infants and tots and elders and the sick. The sick were taken away by Landrover; it was a bit like which one will keel over next? I survived but boy oh boy was I grateful for the hot shower back at the hostel.

Today, I am sitting in a small unheated flat with my tea cooking on the gas stove, my clothes churning in the washing machine, and fresh as a daisy from my bath and hair wash. A level of comfort and convenience that only an aristocrat with servants could have enjoyed in centuries past.

Would I give this up willingly to sit in a tree-house making twine from nettles? Nope. However, I can make twine from nettles (and soup) as well as built a shelter and have a reasonable chance managing to graze my way across Englandshire without poisoning myself (conkers aren't edible, people; trust me on this).

Thing is, I won't go into a flat spin if I wake up tomorrow and our temperamental 5 inch water main has ruptured again. It goes about once every 18 months and is about due for a blow. I have lots of water hidden away. If the leccy goes off, I have more torches, candles and matches than you can shake a stick at. If the gas goes off, I have a butane stove and canisters to cook with.

Thing is, we're thinking about what would happen if our comforts and conveniences were taken away. We're not going to be panicking like headless chickens if one or more of the utitlities go off. If things get scary out, like they did for our compadres in London and other places, we're going to hunker down and wait for things to get calmer.

Right, think my supper is about ready, so going to get on the outside of that. Laters, GQ xx