Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

I am iron-deficient and on tabs

Plenty of steamed Broccoli.

4oz supplies the RDA of iron.

DawnW

craigywv wrote: »

looking up how to grow strawberries in smaller pots etc as I have a raised bed of them but am making the most of all my hanging baskets this year

I always grow them in hanging baskets Craigywv, the slugs don't get them that way, and even the blackbirds are more wary, as they are so close to the house They look pretty in the baskets too.

I also tried one of those tall strawberry pots with holes in the sides, and that works ok as well

They don't need any special treatment, just the usual potting compost, and feeding and watering in the summer. I generally mix in a bit of garden compost to make the bought stuff go further. They grow just fine.

I only have a small garden and set myself the challenge of growing as much as I can, so the space in the raised beds is precious. Anything that is happy in containers is a real bonus.

GreyQueen

short_bird wrote: »

Oh, I say: someone thinking along the same lines

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cartoon/2014/feb/23/food-banks-banking

:eek: It's quite something seeing it listed like that, isn't it?

I probably eat meat-free meals 50-60% of the time. My main meals this past week have involved a pasta thingy and h.m vegetable soup. But I have had a couple of omelettes, too. Have had a lovely omelette this morning with a yellow pepper (dented bargain from Magic Greengrocer) plus a rasher of bacon chopped up inside it, and some cucumber to serve.

I progressively lose strength and vitality on an entirely meat-free diet and can almost feel a roast beef dinner hitting the metabolic sweet spot. Today I will have an apple for lunch on the hop and whatever loveliness my excellent cook friend will be serving. I like to have a good brekkie, a neglible lunch and a decent supper.

I have also bought a free range chicken (£4/ kilo at Liddly) and will roast that and then have it in a variety of formats inc stock and soup. A smallish chicken will feed me for the best part of a week.

ETA Bob, I'm female and lose a lot of iron every month. I don't get to make that up with my regular consumption of steamed broccoli. And it's taken 2 years for the prescribed iron tablets to get my levels up from badly deficient to just-about-at-the-bottom of the 'normal' range.

greenbee, my medical conditon is very rare, too, so much so that the registrar who eventually made the diagnosis was bouncing in glee. Google doesn't help, either, other than to give it a passing mention as 'very rare'. I attend a hospital clinic which covers this group of illnesses so asked my present consultant what the incidents of this are, per 100,000 in the general population? They thought for a while and couldn't come up with a figure, acknowledged I was their only patient with this particular problem (and this consultant covers two large teaching hospitals, one with a global reputation for excellence). They did assure me that they'd read case histories of it, tho!

[Deleted User]

There's a gale brewing here.

craigywv

BOB the gale has just left over here in the past hour ,it was sporadically ferocious throughout the night ,alls quiet now though. Dawn, I too have a very small garden and what I can yield from it is quite great even if I say so myself but seen the strawberries in garden center last year and thought I can do that! so I shall,and thanks.

thriftwizard

Morning all! Grey & windy here but my washing (40-odd "rag" shirts, for making stuff with) has dried outside on the line, overnight! So quite warm, for February.
I'm quite tempted by one of these for strawbs this year - I don't normally buy stuff for the garden, preferring to politely liberate garden furniture & equipment - not to mention plants - from skips, but I found out entirely by accident that slugs really, really don't like metal & won't crawl up it, even in the dark when my Slugbanes, aka the chickens, are a-roosting.

Mind you, I'll still have to keep the chickens themselves away from the strawberries...

craigywv

T,WIZ, ilike the look of that plant stand,oh is a welder by trade and can do most things from a picture,it may not be as smooth or shiny but most of the things he makes me he paints anyway, my garden if full of tall tables,small tables,plaques,shapes and things all made when he feels creative so will deffo show him that planter when he surfaces from his slumber,was on nights working last night...............ooooooooh I want to wake him now and shove him out into the wet garden to make me it. did I tell you I impulsive !

greenbee

GreyQueen wrote: »

greenbee, my medical conditon is very rare, too, so much so that the registrar who eventually made the diagnosis was bouncing in glee. Google doesn't help, either, other than to give it a passing mention as 'very rare'. I attend a hospital clinic which covers this group of illnesses so asked my present consultant what the incidents of this are, per 100,000 in the general population? They thought for a while and couldn't come up with a figure, acknowledged I was their only patient with this particular problem (and this consultant covers two large teaching hospitals, one with a global reputation for excellence). They did assure me that they'd read case histories of it, tho!

I was slightly taken aback by the enthusiasm with which the consultant told me that he and his colleagues had been discussing my case over lunch. Obviously they have strong stomachs... But the good thing about being an unusual case is that you know you're going to get a lot of attention and input from other specialists. I recently saw a different consultant for another problem (thankfully not serious) and he did comment that if the tests weren't clear he'd have to discuss options with the existing 'team'. It was only about a year into treatment, once the condition was under control that I found out how many people can be involved even when you only see the one consultant.

Which reminds me, now I've taken the iron tablet, I need to sort out registering with a new dentist as I need an appointment before my next hospital trip (I am always paranoid about the questions about loose fillings before a GA, so like to get them checked a couple of weeks before!) as well as reminding my GP that I need a ferritin test AND the results before I go in. So I definitely need to keep taking the iron tabs.

ALthough Bob is right. Broccoli is pretty much a miracle food. Very good for helping balance hormones too. Eat as much of it as you can...

Pollyjuice

Hi Guys,

Free book on kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/RELISHES-Chutney-relishes-chutney-heirloom-ebook/dp/B00FI4C1FA/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1393156807&sr=1-3&keywords=prepping

Thank you to you guys for putting me onto kindle and free books. I don't have a kindle itself but store these books on my lappy. I keep downloading stuff but there can be some rubbish published but as its free I just delete my copy if its useless.

Did anyone see Outnumbered this week? Dad & Ben went camping without any supplies. When Ben pulled out the condom I explained by my youngest all the uses it can be put to , (in a prepping situation of course). I then went on to let her know the uses of a tampon! (not in the programme). After a lot of urrrrrrgh and face pulling it led to a good discussion about what we would do. Well done Outnumbered . I think its on iplayer.

Hollyberry

Checking in from hols (and on micro keyboard), to say how sorry to hear your news siegemode. Sending lots of good thoughts.