Preparedness for when

daz378

went out on the dirty beer fri/sat and still not recovered ...still not in work till thursday......bought a fire blanket from bees and cues and a small fire extinguisher.... called tundra ... looks like an aerosol can.... 30 quid for items ....hopefully will never have to use... but priceless if you need to use them.

its amazing that people cant see this artificial pre election recovery...for what it is... we are still running a 100 billion deficit and eye watering cuts tax rises will be needed after the election to reduce it and interest rate rises cant be far away.... 44bill a year in interest payments......same as defence.......Happy Easter

Perplexed_Pineapple

I knew some of you would have useful advice on flour storage I think I'll get a 25kg sack from a local mill and keep it in the stores cupboard, we haven't had any problems with wee beasties so far (fingers and everything else crossed).

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

If we are ever in a position to be able to afford it we want to invest in land, but not for the "value", but for what we can use it for i.e. small scale food production and some coppicing for wood for heating. The idea would be to be self sufficient in most things and sell any surplus "at the farm gate" so to speak. So the value to us would be what we could do with the land not what its price is. I suspect many though don't see the actual value of land or a house for that matter, e.g somewhere to live, grow stuff etc. They simply see £ signs and can't imagine a world where property prices only go one way.


Ali x

That's a great insight Ali, it's easy to confuse value with cost but they aren't the same thing at all. It could make a lot more sense to put spare cash into buying land for small scale self-sufficiency, and I think as energy prices go up there will be a good market for selling excess firewood. Harking back to what GQ said a couple of pages back, about people being ineligible for JSA because of ISA savings, where money in a pension wouldn't be counted, if said savings were in productive (but not income-generating) land for veggie growing or forestry, I'm thinking that wouldn't be a problem? That might be the best of both worlds. Put spare cash into buying a manageable parcel of land and work the land to help make ends meet and increase SHTF resilience. Keep on with the day job for cash flow but if temporary unemployment still eligble for benefits without the big cash pot in the bank (correct me if I'm wrong on this). Then as a retirement plan, as we get older and less physically able to use the land, either pass on to the kids or sell up to realise the savings into cash to fund retirement. We're relatively fortunate to have full employment so far but although the chances are good that this will continue, nothing is certain (except death and taxes, as they say:rotfl:). The thing I really like about this is having a degree of control over where our food comes from, it's really good to be able to sit down to a home-cooked meal of home-grown produce. It really adds to our quality of life and although we're only able to do this on a small and very seasonal basis at the moment, it's a start :cool:

daz378

im afraid us in the flats ..... have had it ...as regards to growing our own...unless you follow GC"s example and have an allotment. wouldnt mind doing some kind of british woods bushcraft course though.... maybe next year

themarsbargirl

Perplexed Pineapple-i suspect that you are wrong. At least as far as LHA goes they include 'assets' such as land ownership, I can see JSA having similar restrictions of some sort.

Perplexed_Pineapple

I expect you are right TMBG, it would still be good to be able to secure our own sources of food and fuel rather than rely on the state, how realistic a prospect that is I'm not sure. At the moment still clearing debt rather than thinking about savings It's good to explore the possibilities with people who know about this stuff though, thank you for sharing your perspectives and experience.

D&DD

Evening all just skimmed through quick as DS3's back to school tomorrow and NOT happy..


Siclist have you any recommendations on varieties to grow for grinding into cornmeal please? I'm growing Britpop for drying as popcorn this year *well that's the plan*


Mar I have the dvd but sure they are on utube to watch (Victorian kitchen garden) that's how I found there was such a thing as tall peas! I never knew til watching the dvd..I sourced most of the varieties on there from Robinsons seeds or Thompson and Morgan heirloom range.


I also bought MrBeetons book of garden management they refer to it on the dvd, its such a good read.You can usually source it cheap from Amazon secondhand or ebay


DS2's interview went so well he has a trial day on Thursday..sooo hoping they give him a chance at the job.


Daz I remember growing stuff in our carpark when we lived in a flat..until some beggar pinched it pots an all I was so upset,maybe try some herbs on a windowsill??


Flour stores ooh mine is all in lock'n'locks always has been and never had evil weevils to date.I have ones about a foot or so square for longer term stuff then the ones to use first are in the normal size flour boxes all date labelled HTH

Frugalsod

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

If we are ever in a position to be able to afford it we want to invest in land, but not for the "value", but for what we can use it for i.e. small scale food production and some coppicing for wood for heating. The idea would be to be self sufficient in most things and sell any surplus "at the farm gate" so to speak. So the value to us would be what we could do with the land not what its price is. I suspect many though don't see the actual value of land or a house for that matter, e.g somewhere to live, grow stuff etc. They simply see £ signs and can't imagine a world where property prices only go one way.


Ali x

That is a far more sustainable idea than most. My only potential concern would be rates. Would you be able to cover those?

Frugalsod

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

Just wondering where you sourced your food barrels as all the ones I have seen have been around £20 a go which is hardly cheap. Although if I was storing large amount of grain etc I suppose long term they may be worth it.


Ali x

eBay believe it or not.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dry-Box-25Kgs-50L-Dog-Cat-Pet-Rabbit-Food-Meal-Airtight-Storage-Container-Bin-/330873373439

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-15kgs-Dog-Cat-Pet-Rabbit-Bird-Food-Meal-Air-tight-Storage-Container-Drum-Bin-/330873014858

craigywv

Regarding flour storage i have dedicated an entire freezer to flour only, kept in shed with electric cable running into house freezer was free given to me bashed up a bit and costs approx 30 quid a year to run which in my opinion is about 2 months shop bread value so well worth it. I know if shtf and no electric it would be useless but until then its fine. I have never had damp problem as the flour is well sealed. This might suit some people who are thinking of storing while the powers on xxx

GreyQueen

themarsbargirl wrote: »

Perplexed Pineapple-i suspect that you are wrong. At least as far as LHA goes they include 'assets' such as land ownership, I can see JSA having similar restrictions of some sort.

She's right - land is counted for HB (or LHA if you rent privately) and CTR. As a local authority customer services peep, I've been dragged into some ugly wrangles between the benefits dept and the public. Dunno about JSA as I've never worked for the Dept of Work and Pensions.

If you do think you might need to claim means-tested benefits, you'll need to be scrupulous about your record-keeping if you have assets, including land. Of course, if your intention is to achieve a modicum of self-sufficiency so that you won't need to rely on state support, then more power to your elbow.

We're having a lot of thefts from the allotments, including several dozen examples of several different kinds of poultry in a single night. It's not little people, it's well-orangised banditry. You don't rustle 50 hens, several turkeys and bunnies and bantams at random overnight on a single night. And I expect we will be seeing produce theft in due course *sigh*

Ach well, can only keep on keeping on and hope that the geezers who were planning on lying in wait for the thieves overnight manage to get a few smacks in before Lawran Order gets involved to tap some wrists.