Preparedness for when

boultdj

Thank's CTC, I'd better check the candle supply......I may be some time.......

[Deleted User]

If there are electricity outages we'll have to do what the ancestors did and use every minute of daylight available and start our days earlier and stop working when it gets dark in the evening. We'll have to prepare food that can be eaten cold whenever the power is on eat hot food when it's on in the daytime, use flasks to extend hot water for drinks when it's been boiled and keep ourselves warm by wrapping up well and dressing properly. It will most likely not be so hard to do in reality as it appears in imagination. Having said that we're all prepared for most eventualities and there is so much common sense amongst us we'll be able to help our friends and aquaintances too, we'll get through it however tough!!! Cheers Lyn xxx.

pineapple

Sounds fantabulous westcoastscot..... :T
Well here at Pineapple Towers hostilities finally broke out with the Hyacinth Bucket neighbour. It was just a lot of minor niggles coming together which finally pushed my buttons - access issues and potential damage, her escapee rabbit and dog..... I think maybe I didn't help the situation by querying the ethics of keeping various small furry animals in cages but mostly, perhaps I shouldn't have threatened to eat said rabbit if it got into my garden again .
Bridges will have to be built. Someone kindly posted a link to a soothing Hein Braat mantra - I think maybe I need to head there first! Ommmm......

bluebag

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

just had this on a facebook feed via a local radio station


BREAKING NEWS: The National Grid says the risk of a blackout this winter is at its highest since 2007. The average electricity safety margin in Wales and England will be only 5 per cent - less than half last year's level. It's because coal is being used less in industry, plus a decline in North Sea gas supplies


don't know where they had it from, but thought I would give you the heads up...

Just had a leaflet through the letterbox saying the 'lekkie' people can now re-connect us quicker after a blackout. Interesting timing?

Read a very long article many years ago about a self sustaining farm, it took the whole family all the hours god sent to work the land just for enough to eat and a little to sell for fuel and clothing.

They didn't have a store cupboard, they had a store barn to cope with bad harvest.

The only time they had a little time off was winter when the harvest was safely in, but they still had animals to tend then in the daylight hours.
It seemed a very difficult and hard life and very far from the little house on the prarie image I had of it before reading the article.

Any new mouth to feed meant new land had to be cleared to sustain it, and one son was bitten by a snake trying to clear such land. He was very very ill as they could not afford the doctor.
Other family members had to make up his work

The men tended the crops and larger livestock, the women cooked and baked and preserved and brewed all day to keep the men fed out in the fields with several meals a day.
I will try and see if I can find it again, I have looked many times and couldn't locate it sadly.

ginnyknit

Just had a terrible urge to sell everything we own and stock up with everything from candles to oats :eek: I think we would be ok for a while with present stocks but may well buy a few extra hot water bottles. Since my puddy tat was killed I seem to have developed a lot of stray cats - well owned but unloved - so may have to buy some very cheap dried cat food as I couldnt let them down.

Water storage container bought from £landworld but will need a few more. have lots of empty plastic bottles saved to fill with water for washing up etc.

I have to agree self sufficiency is hard, long hours and toil just to keep going and everyone needs income of some sort for the few things you cannot make, grow or bake. WCS it sounds an enviable lifestyle but you dont know what life will throw at you and in my position now with OH I would be bu**ered

I have days where I find it hard to motivate myself - today is one - but as long as I keep stocks at a certain level Im doing ok.

Tink_04

For those of us still new to prepping what things woild work in a blackout situation? Would my gas hob? Would the water? What would be the first thing people did? Oh and what basics would you need apart from candles?

westcoastscot

Ginny I couldn't do it now either - although I have two of my young men living at home and they do most of the heavy work here, so maybe? I think it would have to be an inter-generational thing to be honest, and although it was hard work it didn't particularly seem it. We worked harder in summer, had our fun in winter, and since the children "worked" from when able we had an abundance of skills between us.

We moved away because of illness, and now I have arthritis I thoroughly enjoy being pampered by central heating, street lighting, level pavements and local shops :-)

short_bird

And don't forget mirrors to go behind the candles to reflect the light.

Oh, and the rise in the birth rate 9 months after a series of power cuts....;)

mardatha

Switch the mains off and try the cooker, see if you can light it with a match.

bluebag

short_bird wrote: »

And don't forget mirrors to go behind the candles to reflect the light.

Oh, and the rise in the birth rate 9 months after a series of power cuts....;)

If you don't have mirrors then some foil covered card make in a large semi-circle will do the job. Careful!!!! keeping the card away from the flames. I put my candles in an old jam jar and put the foil circle standing up outside it with the flame much lower than the jar top.

I use mirrors to stand it all on, maximize light output.
A head torch is a godsend as it leaves both hands free.

Many central heating systems will not work in a blackout so sleeping bags, flleece blankets, drag the duvets off the beds.

It is good if everyone is in one room as warm bodies help keep the room warm and maximizes light resources.Ya'll can play games/cards together too.