Preparedness for when

BessieBooBoo

Hello again all

Forgot to say we enjoyed our own fresh grown veg this weekend. Lovely potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, with roast meat, yum. Finally discovered a netting fine enough to exclude cabbage white butterfly...

However, a resident pigeon fledging has decided that he very much likes our veg and is attacking the cabbage at the ends of the net tunnels. Wondering whether it's worth letting him fatten up, at least we know he is being organically fed, before adding him to the freezer! Our neighbour, though, has become quite attached to him. Hmmm. I could pretend that he had, erm, flown off...

I must say he is looking very plump... OH has our neighbours permission to reduce the height of the conifer the blasted pigeons always nest in. They watch us plant out stuff, and flap down as soon as we shut the gate. At least there seem to be less slugs than last year.

On the prepping front, I was wondering if a caravan would be a good alternative to a BOL, not talking a brand new one with all the bells and whistles, but one that could be towed to a rural location if needed? Or would the glaring white paint job be too obvious? Thinking green paint and camo net... Just that for most of us, re-locating to a rural retreat is just not affordable, whilst an old caravan could be... Just a thought.

Got more hours at work, thank goodness, but, will be delving into more preptastic books on the Kindle, thanks again all for the recommendations. So far, I've read 'Last Light', 'After Light', '6th Extinction', 'Adapting in place', 'Budget prepping', 'Perennial vegetables', and working through the EOFWAWKI American book, which discusses all types of scenarios. A bit heavy on the home defence, get yourself a gun, etc. but interesting reading...

Take care all, and keeeepppp preeeeeppppping!

BBB

pineapple

I hung some decorative 'wasp catcher' bottles on the plum tree. I feel a bit cruel though - since realising that the pleasant 'Tibetan' resonance was the trapped wasps buzzing :eek: Still - that tree seems to attract a particularly nasty variety of wasp which make picking plums fraught with peril - that's if you can get to them before they do
Picked up a funky as new knitted type Per Una cardi in Sue Ryder today for £3.50 so Pineapple is a happy bunny.

ginnyknit

I have some kind of weed that sticky and clings to everything in sight. I dont know what the heck it is but Im sure one of you will know.

Im fighting a headache as there is thunder in the air and its annoying me now.

I decided to order a seed sprouter as jam jars dont work for me and I love sprouted seeds on butties ( almost healthy ) so I found one last week for £6 and as I went to order it realised I was going away. I got home to an e mail asking if there was a problem and giving me a code for 5% off I know its only pennies but every bit helps.

Have an AF order due to arrive tomorrow - Christmas comes early :T
I mainly did the order as they had dried milk and the sachets of jam in stock which I found invaluable last time. They were even cheaper this time too. Also dried beans and lots of cheap cake mixes. So tomorrows job is to revolutionise the larder...again...

GreyQueen

ginnyknit wrote: »

I have some kind of weed that sticky and clings to everything in sight. I dont know what the heck it is but Im sure one of you will know.

Im fighting a headache as there is thunder in the air and its annoying me now.

I decided to order a seed sprouter as jam jars dont work for me and I love sprouted seeds on butties ( almost healthy ) so I found one last week for £6 and as I went to order it realised I was going away. I got home to an e mail asking if there was a problem and giving me a code for 5% off I know its only pennies but every bit helps.

Have an AF order due to arrive tomorrow - Christmas comes early :T
I mainly did the order as they had dried milk and the sachets of jam in stock which I found invaluable last time. They were even cheaper this time too. Also dried beans and lots of cheap cake mixes. So tomorrows job is to revolutionise the larder...again...

Is this your weed, ginny? Americans call it cleavers but it's known as goosegrass in most parts of the UK. Clings onto things (other plants, pets, people) and can grow about 3-4 feet if it has enough moisture. Flops unless it's climbing up thru something else. Has those pesky little round green sticky seeds which I used to spend a chunk of my childhood picking out of my socks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_aparine

daftmummy, I've never met a slug I didn't like......to cut in half.....mwah ha ha! Only seen 4 this year, it's been all snails and few enough of them. I garden in a pair of secondhand Doc Martens with steel toecaps (long story) and am a strapping lass.

Me big homo sapiens, you small gastropd in crunchy case - ooops. Serves 'em right for eating my lovely runners and all but one of the dwarf beans.

thriftwizard

Chickens luuuuurve to eat goosegrass - I assume geese do too - and also slugs & snails... they definitely do earn their keep, in more ways than just eggs!

ALIBOBSY

Still a bit AWOL from the thread, garden is just too busy and of course the preserving season is starting.

Sister has just moved into a new house and I am so jealous of the garden, lovely sleeper edged raised beds plus loads of fruit trees and bushes. The only good news is my sis works full time and has no kids so fruit purees/jams etc aren't in her skills. There are trees groaning with greengages, plums and apples, plus blackcurrants and strawberries so I suspect she will have plenty to give away in return for some jars of tasty treats lol.

Found a recipe for a plum "stew" called Powidl which sounds a bit different, might try that for a change.

Ali x

BTW Clevers/the sticky stuff can be wilted down and eaten like spinach-never tried it myself tho lol.

[Deleted User]

daftmummy wrote: »

Need to sort the bug out supplies in car and check my tins dates today.

Why are people obsessed with dates on tins :huh:

GreyQueen

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Why are people obsessed with dates on tins :huh:

We've been brainwashed into thinking that they matter by companies scared spitless that someone will have a gyppy tummy and sucessfully sue them.

My mum was a teenage shop-girl at a small store in the 1950s. Stock moved a lot more slowly back in those days. If there weren't any customers to serve, she had to dust the tins. Which had no BB dates at all.

You will, of course, recall from your parents/ grandparents/ schooling, that the death-toll from canned-food-poisoning back in those days was roughly comparable with the Black Death - not!

I put newly-purchased tins behind or below older tins, but have a fairly cavalier attitude to BB dates. In the 30+ years I have been responsible for feeding myself in my own hovel, I have had exactly two episodes of food poisoning and chucked-up and felt a bit fragile for a few hours. No biggie.

My folks are living into their late eighties and nineties nowadays, mostly in (relative to their peers) excellent health and with all their marbles. And our ancestors for the approx 3 centuries we can trace them lived just as long without modern medicine.

Apply common sense. Wash your hands after using the loo and before food-prep and eating. Most of all, think pure, righteous and preptastic thoughts at all times and you will be safe.

PS Muvver believes in scalding hot dishwashing water. And, in homage to her example, I am off to wash my own dishes.

Laters, GQ xx

ETA dishes washed, decks swabbed, breakfast preps made and all is well with the world. Nighty-night, lovely peeps, see you in the morning. xx

thriftwizard

Preps in place now for the next month - we have two batches of German students staying, starting tomorrow with 3 boys aged 13 & 14 for two weeks, then quick turnaround for 2 x 14 y.o. girls. There are boxes of plain crisps, muesli bars & healthy snacks for their lunchboxes, a couple of 8Kg sacks of flour to make rolls & bread daily, not to mention pizza; they're warned they won't like English food so are very wary of anything except pizza, pasta & toast to start with! So there are also trays of tinned toms & passata, and a couple of 3Kg bags of pasta. Loo roll stocks are at an all-time high... wish us luck! Previous experiences have been good, but we've never had 3 at once before.

daftmummy

Bedsit bob, I check the dates on my bottom shelf once in a rainbow moon;) and have a limit that I wont eat anything out of date older than my eldest. My soup is five years old so ok my eldest is 7 not a stickler to the old BB Date but have my own standards, I'm a lady don't you know