Preparedness for when

mardatha

Me too cake !

[Deleted User]

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

DH has told me to get at least 6 more paraffin lamps and we will start putting some paraffin or bio-ethanol in the shed.

I would advise against using Bio-Ethanol in paraffin lamps.

For one thing, the flashpoint is very low (<15c, compared to >38c for paraffin), and for another, it burns with a barely visible flame, which is not what you want from a lamp.

Just to demonstrate the difference in brightness, these two pictures were taken within seconds of each other, in identical lighting conditions.


Bio-ethanol on the left - Paraffin on the right.

Also, Bio-Ethanol is far more expensive than paraffin.

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

We have over 500 candles that I have accrued over the years

I'll raise you 600 tealights, 32 candles, and 4 Hurricane Lamps.

craigywv

love this thread, Lynn that was funny you saying about the pantries/panties xxxtired tonight so away tobed ......im a real party animal me xxx

JayneC

GreyQueen wrote: »

There are alternatives and maybe acquire a stoneware HWB now, to put by for the future? Would a warming pan be going a bit too far (yes, probably, but maybe you could pass it off as a decorative object insude certain rustic homes). A trick I've heard is to have something like wheat in a little cloth bag and warm it on the top of a stove and use that to take the worst of the chill off the bed.

I have a stoneware HWB. Had it since I was a girl and it was old fashioned then!! We used to have 2 but one broke:( Gran had a brass warming pan but I don't know what happened to it. Apparently if you couldn't afford a warming pan people used to warm a brick in the fire and use that instead.

Good info about sourcing a copper or similar. I saw a photo in a book of a guy who lived in a shack in the woods and he had a cast iron bath that he lit a fire under (outdoors). It appealed to me cos I'm a bit strange like that;)

I defo wouldn't rely on TPTB to have contingency plans in place for a major scenario. I work for a LA had a look at our emergency plan for if a should a disaster befall our county (it wasn't called that but its exact title escapes me) and lets just say its on the vague side:(

I don't even look at newspapers anymore nor watch mainstream news. I catch bits on the radio and watch RT, but mainly get info from internet these days. I would definitely miss it if no access in a SHTF situation.

Will be going up to the Lottie tomorrow weather permitting. Not been for a week so will see if I can actually get in through the grass - it was thigh high last week, lol!!!

JayneC

Had a nice surprise today. Around 3 months back I got a quote to have some repairs done to the roof and despite several messages left asking the roofer to come and do the job he never got back to me. So i finally gave up and got someone else round today and his quote is almost a third of the original. So I'll be booking him instead:)

A big part of my prepping is trying to get the house in a good state of repair. I've got a good amount of loft insulation but have solid walls so can't have cavity wall insulation. I'm in a terrace but there's an alley running at the side of the house under two of the bedrooms so they're quite cold as is the kitchen/bathroom as they extend along the back of the house and aren't connected to anything. If I can afford it at some point I'm going to look at external or internal insulation and possibly a glass lean-to extension at the back for solar gain as we're south facing.

I would really like solar PV panels but can't afford them at the moment, you can get batteries to store the charge so then you'd have electricity even in a power cut. I may look at getting a couple of stand alone panels rather than roof ones so I'd have some power at least. There's an article in the current permaculture mag about building your own solar panels;)

mardatha

That is seriously interesting Jayne - where could I read more on stand-alone solar panels? I don't fancy asking my HA to fit them - they did the next village and the people were freezing all winter. The less TPTB know the more peaceful life is

boultdj

Maplins have stand alone panels Mar, think it's in the camping/solar section.hth

JayneC

Hi mar. Just quickly as I'm on my way out. But if you sesrch solar panels for caravans you'll find what I mean. You may find some reviews on the permaculture website and the article from the magazine may be there too but I haven't checked. Will look properly later. HTH

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I only post every blue moon, but I read the thread most days...

We are prepping for when/if there is a huge financial crash/blip, basically the price of living just explodes..( like what is slowly happening now)

Its hard, really hard to try and prep for the future, when you can just about make ends meet now..

We are now prepping for our animals too, we now have 10 pigs, and we normally used to buy feed every week, or when we used the last sack, but we have now ordered a ton of feed.

Ok it does also save us £25 overall, BUT £25 is £25, AND we will have a few weeks worth of food for them, and once we get to just under half, buy another ton.

I know people are prepping for various reasons, But weather/winter and money are our/my main ones

We are prepping/getting our winter wood sorted/stored now too

D&DD

CTC I read the daydream thread too most days and love reading about people who are actually living their dream such as yourself

We're having one of these today..*dribble*



Rosie is very happy..