Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

Please don't feel you have to return to Lurkdom folks, stay with us and add your enthusiasm, drive and insight to the pool that is the prepping thread. We NEED new folks, we NEED different insights and ideas, we NEED YOU!!! The more our members, the stronger the thread and the more diverse the conversations, the more strength we ALL aquire, so stay in, be regular contributors here and add your layer of knowledge to help all of us.

FRUGALSOD yes, birch bark is a super thing to start fires with, I would also throw in to the ideas pot that seeds with silky tails like old mans beard, thistles, dandelions even if you have access to them pampas grass heads, will take a struck spark very well and flare up quickly so to have a pinch of something like that on the top of the pile of tindering helps get your fire away easily. You have to be quick getting the small twigs etc on top as the flare of flame is very quickly gone but it's really effective, Lyn xxx.

pineapple

I'm sorry to any ex lurkers trying to retreat back to lurking but quitting is simply against the Batty Constitution. We are a bit like the EU - once in it, there is no escape! :rotfl:
Plus there are degrees of prepping - there isn't a magic line where you qualify for your 'prepping badge'. In fact the qualifying level is simply being awake and aware - right through to the few living a life of total self sufficiency.
We are all restricted by our circumstances and it's all good. On that note - if anyone would like to throw a few million squid pineapple's way and turn back time so she is younger and healthier........

jk0

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Please don't feel you have to return to Lurkdom folks, stay with us and add your enthusiasm, drive and insight to the pool that is the prepping thread. We NEED new folks, we NEED different insights and ideas, we NEED YOU!!! The more our members, the stronger the thread and the more diverse the conversations, the more strength we ALL aquire, so stay in, be regular contributors here and add your layer of knowledge to help all of us.

FRUGALSOD yes, birch bark is a super thing to start fires with, I would also throw in to the ideas pot that seeds with silky tails like old mans beard, thistles, dandelions even if you have access to them pampas grass heads, will take a struck spark very well and flare up quickly so to have a pinch of something like that on the top of the pile of tindering helps get your fire away easily. You have to be quick getting the small twigs etc on top as the flare of flame is very quickly gone but it's really effective, Lyn xxx.

Thanks Mrs LW. I have about twenty pampas grass plumes that were going to the tip soon. I had never thought of using them as firelighters. Would they last indefinitely if I keep them dry?

Frugalsod

I have found a youtube video on how to make your own fire starters with straws, cotton wool and vaseline. So I will be getting a fire steel to practice with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZJOrDqmUVI

GreyQueen

I think they would, jk0, based on experience playing around with them as a child. Remember in the 1970s is wasn't at all uncommon to bring these plumes indoors and have them stand in tall vases for months or years as decorative items.

But they do get dusty and cobwebby. Think if you keep them dry and in something which would allow any moisture to pass through (a strong paper bag as opposed to a plastic bag, for instance) that they would keep indefinately as tinder. Probably best bagged unless you really want to revisit the 1970s look. In which case, you must get some macrame owls and spider plants and a chicken crock a la Shabitat to really rock that look.

The seedy plumes of rosebay willow herb (aka 'fireweed') because of its propensity to germinate where the ground has burned make excellent tinder, as does dry rotten wood (aka punk) and any number of other things. There are two different willow herbs but the one I'm thinking of produces seeds with plumes which help its seeds fly.

What's crucial for tinder, something which will catch alight easily and produce a flame to be caught on bigger materials, is lots of edges. So hairy plant material is idea. You can also magnify the amount of edge by shredding stuff, which is why it's easier to set light to a lot of torn and crumpled newspapers than a folded one.

I'm working towards having tinder and small burnables stored in my bike shed in modest amounts, in case I need to deploy the kelly kettle outside my flat in a power outage and gas outage. There are street trees dropping twigs about, but in a crisis these may not be in ideal burnable condition, such as dry.

I feel any crisis will be improved if I can drink some tea before girding up to face it.

I also save the dried out pods of broad and runner beans, which have been allowed to dry out on the plant, in my allotment shed and these make excellent tinder for the annual bonfire up there.

jk0

Anyone read this on Zerohedge yet?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-08/guest-post-ukraine-crisis-just-another-globalist-engineered-powder-keg

Karmacat

Nodding my head frantically at all of this - the sig with the awareness of skin cancer, and the new peeps not delurking. I'm on some prepper forums, partly because of the novel I'm trying to write, but there's such interesting stuff on there.

For instance, about tinder - I've always thought pine needles would be good, and every year there's loads in my local park that sit there for ages before being swept up. And did anybody see on Victorian Farm, when they were brewing beer (or was it Wartime Farm? I think it was) - they put another pan on top of the brew, with a spigot on - they stacked pine branches in there, and pine tar/oil came pouring out of them - they used it to condition the farm tools, and I'll bet some of it would have been great fire lighter too.

Seed heads - valerian too! And dandelion!

And there's a great link I was just directed to, using pine branches as a water filter:
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/earth/science/pine-branch-can-filter-99-pct-of-bacteria.html

Purchases! Good strong wellies, 4 packets seeds, microfibre cloths, 48 hour pillar candle - total cost me £1.60, using a voucher for Homebase plus I found the CJJ Berry book on winemaking - was it here we were talking bout it? - for £1.50 in a charity shop, looks as new. Very happy bunny, and I even managed a bit more soil conditioning.

Pollyjuice

Frugalsod wrote: »

I have found a youtube video on how to make your own fire starters with straws, cotton wool and vaseline. So I will be getting a fire steel to practice with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZJOrDqmUVI

Thanks for this. I have tried this and found that vaseline was very messy. I use cotton wool balls partly dipped in melted wax and left to set just as good. These are ideal fire starters in kelly kettle/M kettles.

Frugalsod

Pollyjuice wrote: »

Thanks for this. I have tried this and found that vaseline was very messy. I use cotton wool balls partly dipped in melted wax and left to set just as good. These are ideal fire starters in kelly kettle/M kettles.

I am looking at candle wax as an alternative as well.

mardatha

I'm finding candles really dear- if anybody finds any cheap ones please post on here..