Preparedness for when

charlies-aunt

We have a fig tree that has "been" in the family in the guise of successive plants grown from cuttings since some time in the 1920's when my great aunt took a cutting from the fig tree growing in the walled garden of the posh family where she was working as a ladies companion.


Needless to say - this posh plant has spent a lot of time slumming it with our very working class family!


Ours fruits every year, producing delicious large purple/brown figs and manages to survive the bitterest Lincolnshire winters. Very low maintenance

daz378

going through my stores found one packet of noodles dec13 and 4 packets feb14 ... i think il risk it...... currently got a FB in oven and a tin of peas poured in middle....cut to smoke alarm going off in hall ..in middle of post.

sorry neighbours.....lot of stress in work....still onwards and upwards

thanks Bob .... will buy a few more canisters then

stay safe

armyknife

Before I refreshed this thread in the browser, it was on 1086 pages, same as the date the Doomsday book was completed; co-incidence, I think not. :-)

Hard_Up_Hester

Morning all
I read this thread daily but don't often post as I don't usually have anything worthwhile to add.
However, last night I went out to a talk by Richard Sandford, http://www.lowerlovettsfarm.com/.
The talk wasn't as advertised, but it was fascinating, the reason I'm posting here is that Richard spoke a lot about bottling/canning & dehydrating. He used a Weck water bath & jars, they come in all sorts of sizes & looked better to me than kilner or mason jars for various reasons. He also had a steam juicer with him and a Stockely dehydrator, which he really rated. I just thought some of this may be of interest to some of you.
Hester

D&DD

Morning all
ooh Hester thankyou so much he was the fella growing toms on GW last year and I lost the bookmark when I changed computers I bet that was a really enjoyable talk. I got a steam juicer years ago when I got my first dehydrator from Tchibo but have never got round to using it!


Daz they'll be fine hope you enjoyed your pie


AKnife lol spooky


Si your woodstores/shed is a thing of beauty how neat are you??? My entire house and garden looks like a breakers yard ATM due to flitting backwards and forwards and not having enough hours in the day to finish either..


Well DS2 is going back again Tuesday for another trial he was so excited when he got home he had a brilliant day and he got paid!!! Sounds like a wonderful firm to work for and very interesting stuff,it's perked him up no end just to know he can do something


Damp and dark here this morning so I can bake again for now,I did a Maryberry shortbread from the GF mag white choc and cranberry was lush but no one else liked it so I had to eat it all...shame as I did it all from stores as I had some tinned butter to use up so would have been a good thing to add to my SHTF menus but they didn't like the additions they prefer it just plain,all the more for me then!


I'm playing with Bread in the bag recipes today...

Si_Clist

Hard_Up_Hester wrote: »

He used a Weck water bath & jars, they come in all sorts of sizes & looked better to me than kilner or mason jars for various reasons.

:question: What's reckoned to be special about a Weck water bath and jars, and why do you say they looked better to you than Kilner or Mason?

Enquiring minds need to know

maryb

I like the look of the Weck jars because they have glass lids and I'm a bit uncertain about what's in the lids of the Kilner jars - though I did email them and they eventually confirmed to me that they had checked with the supplier and there was no BPA in the lids. The supplier is in China. Kilner themselves didn't have a clue until I asked

Just had a look on Amazon and the Weck rubber seals are made in Germany and specifically state they are BPA free.

I think you could probably get similar seals in any French supermarket and we go there pretty often. I know the French are pretty aware about the risks of BPA - there was a note on the back of a till receipt saying it had no BPA. (Till receipts are one of the main sources of BPA that the average person encounters on a regular basis, that and the lining of tinned food).

Jars like that without the seals, with the glass lid just placed on, are also good for storing stuff in the fridge and/or reheating in the microwave without nasties from plastic leaching into the food

Si_Clist

maryb wrote: »

I like the look of the Weck jars because they have glass lids and I'm a bit uncertain about what's in the lids of the Kilner jars - though I did email them and they eventually confirmed to me that they had checked with the supplier and there was no BPA in the lids. The supplier is in China. Kilner themselves didn't have a clue until I asked

Ah thanks. BPA is an awful long way down on the list of things that we worry about here, but I do like Kilner's apparent assumption that because their Chinese supplier says there's no BPA in the lid seals, there's no BPA in the lid seals.

Ahem. China. Milk. Melamine ...

elantan

I'm loving the look of those Weck glass jars, does anyone know if they are suitable for pressure canning? I saw on their site they sell water canners but was looking more for pressure canning tbh ( although should really see about getting a water one as well)

ginnyknit

There is nothing as wonderful as warm figs fresh from the plant - yum!

I am doing the vertical planting this year and have used a huge canvas picture that Oh brought home from a friends restaurant - originally to go on the living room wall but I have taste so it went out to be burned - he just added a hanger and cup hooks to support the canes that go through the milk bottle handles. I think the mesh pocket thingy that someone mentioned would work as it is perfect just filled with compost. The vertical growing works well for me as the planting end of the garden only works for certain crops and we have huge amounts slugs which are indestructable. This year am hoping for lots of strawberries from this.