Preparedness for when

ALIBOBSY

Sadly i think there will be a rush to "fracking", but the reality is it costs so much to extract gas or oil that way that it will only push fuel prices up even further.

Meanwhile had a good weekend, the lady where we got our turkey from (OH helped with the plucking etc) got rid of the last of her chickens and OH asked her if we could buy some of her old feeders etc. She said we could have for free anything from the outhouse. She had loads of old fencing/feeders etc as she used to keep quite alot of chickens and sell the eggs. We got a load of big fence posts a couple of rolls of wire and a whole wooden gate inside its frame of posts eady to put up, new feeders and water holders, an old tin bath for a dust/ash bath and a little lean to 3 sided cover/house to put the bath and feeders in to keep water off and provide somewhere else for the chickens to sit in.

Yesterday was lovely and sunny-to the point where I sat peeling veggies in the garden whilst the kids played for a while. So when OH was back at 3 we started to redo our chicken area. We took out one raised bed to double the size of the run,I dug out most of the good soil/compost from the top of the bed to top up our other beds whilst OH took down the old chickie fence. We then put up the new walk in gate and big fence which looks loads better than the fence we had kind of cobbled together ourselves. Chickens loved all the earth being dug over and had a worm feast lol.

Today we finished off by putting up the feeder/cover with the ash bath, new feeders and perch installed. Then gave the coop a deep clean.

I stood covered in mud and all sorts lol and loved it all, I know its seems a bit silly but spending time just digging and being with animals makes me so happy, trouble is it makes me yearn even more for some land of our own .

Still the chickens are really happy and we had a good time, row of kids wellies and our boots stood on newspaper by the back door making me smile lol.

Ali x

ALIBOBSY

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

ALI what you're talking about is a Haybox, a Food Muff or a Wonderbag all of which are variations on a theme to allow your food to keep cooking in an insulated container after an initial time on the heat. This would most certainly help to get maximum use from the gas canister used to do the initial cooking. The trick is to have the saucepan/casserole almost full as this keeps the contents hotter in the insualtion. Then all you need to do is bring the contents back up to the boil after the sitting time in the insulated container and bingo - you have supper.

I knew I had read about it somewhere ty :T

In a way its like slow cooking but without the slow cooker.

Ali x

[Deleted User]

Same thing ALI just not using the electricity. There is a book on haybox cookery by a wartime cook called AMBROSE HEATH that was reprinted in the 1970s and they come up fairly frequently on Fleabay, I got mine for under £10 which is more than I usually would consider paying for a recipe book but it's very useful and has lots of ideas for cooking in it, might be worth seeing if the library has a book on haybox cookery if you don't want to buy one yourself, once you've got the initial instructions for using a haybox all you need is the specific times for various dishes, Lyn xxx.

Butterfly_Brain

Collecting rainwater in many States in the USA is now illegal.

http://www.naturalnews.com/029286_rainwater_collection_water.html

http://offgridsurvival.com/rainwaterillegal/

Do you think that this cold happen here?

Karmacat

Ali, what a lovely post about your weekend I hope you find your own place, or your own land, really soon xxx

I'm focussed on perennials at the moment - splitting a pot of supermarket chives into four, just bought a replacement rosemary bush for the one the frosts killed last year, clearing some ground in a shaded spot for some Alexanders I just bought from Amazon, and they're on their way, well before I thought they would be. I really can't envisage planting seeds in this soil, its so heavy, but I *do* get a lot of volunteers so its fertile, it just doesn't look like it.

I feel so sorry for the Ukrainians ... I agree that its vanishingly unlikely that there's a war; the worst effect we might feel is power cuts - but just because no war is declared, doesn't mean they and their country might not suffer, maybe a great deal.

siegemode

I spent far too much time awandering the web last night, but at least it meant that I was still up at 6am :eek: when the heating should have come on (where does the time go?) and noticed the boiler having problems. I have a bit of a phobia about gas and anything relating to it so not a good thing to happen here. A few lessons learnt this morning. 1. don't just put insurance docs somewhere safe. Make sure you remember where and that they can be accessed easily:o 2. Make sure washing up is done and not left till later (only supper and evening stuff, but wished I'd not left it till morning) and 3. I'm a total wimp when it comes to being cold:o
I hate being cold and our heating is set at 22 during the day and put down to 19 or 20 at night during the winter. Not very mse, but I feel the cold and hate the feeling of being trussed up with too many layers of clothing. Some prepper ay ? Me thinks I need to gradually get used to lowering the thermosat over time and stop being a wimp. Now our elderly moggy is no longer a concern the younger one will be ok if we turn the heating down a bit.
Rang the insurance at 7am and they didn't get back to me within 3 or 4 hours as promised so chased them up after 12.30 and we are down for a pm visit ie before 6pm so fingers crossed he can sort it.

When I heard stamps were going up again it wasn't so much the few pence as much as the principle that annoyed me especially after the hike a couple of years back. I also believe it's a deterrent so that even less personal mail is sent by post. The ptb can access all our electronic communications and track us in so many other ways I'm sure that they would be happier if we used the royal mail less or not at all.

Interesting article on webcams (sorry don't remember who posted the link). When we got our new laptops we first disabled the microphone and then the webcam and stuck a sticky over the lense. It's not that we have anything to hide as such but it's the principle of privacy (and baring in mind our look and attire at times we are thinking of them and their mental state :rotfl: )

Have been keeping an eye on he [EMAIL="Ukr@ine"]Ukr@ine[/EMAIL] situation too and learning about the history and country to better understand what's happening. From what I can see there is a pipeline that runs from Russia through Belarus so not all the gas to Europe is at risk. Having no heating today has certainly made me think a bit more. I'm saving the hot water bottles for this evening just incase mr gas engineer doesn't come or can't fix things.

Reading about the bitcoin situation has been interesting too and confirmed my gut feeling that all along it's been a dodgey line of investment and only a matter of time before a lot of people lost a great deal of dosh. The only true kind of investment imo is that which is tangible (unless it's new skills) whether it be gold, food or TP, stoves or torches etc (our investments are definitely TP although have fallen below 100 and now causing anxiety :rotfl:) rightey off to check prices on [EMAIL="mysuperm@rket"]mysuperm@rket[/EMAIL] and make a warming mug of hot chocolate.

paidinchickens

mardatha wrote: »

We haven't got any soldiers, they paid off the army. And we haven't got any battelships cos they scrapped them. And we have got aircraft carriers - but no planes to go on them. I think we'll stay out of it lol

Well as DH said when he left the forces "They'll all be running up and down the runway with their arms out pretending to be bl@@dy planes"

westcoastscot wrote: »

Hi Guys,





Cannot recall who it was having car insurance issues - my son was involved in an incident which wasn't his fault - he reported it to his insurance company but neither side claimed, however his premium went up. He 'phoned them after 6 months and asked that they put it back down again since no claim had been made, and they did. Might be worth doing this?



WCS

That's really interesting to know as there are a lot of people who this has happened to and I will be sure to pass it on to anyone who listens.

Just out of interest what do you think will happen to any money held in a Payp@l account? I've spent all day listing (FLD) and I don't want the blighters getting their mits on any dosh I make.

Pic

[Deleted User]

If anyone wants to look at creating a Hay Box Cooker I put in a search on google for MODERN HAY BOX COOKER and found many different 'How to's' using lots of different materials to construct one, also known as a fireless cooker or retained heat cooker. Looks very easy to do, Lyn xxx.

Butterfly_Brain

Not only that, but they are doing this as well

http://www.thedailysheeple.com/why-does-the-state-of-utah-want-to-register-survival-gardens_072012

http://www.nhteapartycoalition.org/tea/2012/07/08/utah-wants-to-register-survival-gardens/

More Worrying
http://offgridsurvival.com/survivalgardenseizedanddestroyed/

jk0

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Not only that, but they are doing this as well

http://www.thedailysheeple.com/why-does-the-state-of-utah-want-to-register-survival-gardens_072012

http://www.nhteapartycoalition.org/tea/2012/07/08/utah-wants-to-register-survival-gardens/

More Worrying
http://offgridsurvival.com/survivalgardenseizedanddestroyed/

The more I hear about American 'regulation' the more glad I am that I don't live there. The other day I came across a Youtube speech made by Ronald Reagan in 1965 when he mentioned a farmer's land being confiscated because he grew the wrong crops!