Preparedness for when

nuatha

mardatha wrote: »

Nobody who will build raised beds for us, but I can do bags and tubs and let the grass grow around them. Or try to get some bl**dy energy back and go for it again next year. ty xxx

Raised beds are simple to build
In our case 6 foot long boards that were 6 inch wide, and some 3" square timbers, sawn into 18" lengths. Each bed needed 9 boards (three cut in half to 3' long.) I pre-drilled the board ends and screwed them into place, but the same job could be done with hammer and nails.
Four 6 foot by three foot beds was a easy mornings work (buying the wood from a timber yard was half the price than from a DIY shed).
The downside being that these sizes (the height was to allow either of us to work seated, the width was comfortable reach from either side) meant that each bed takes a ton of soil to fill it (literally).
Someone posted a link regarding straw bale gardening a few weeks back. Which might be worth considering, and as the bale rots at the end of the season just compost it.

None of us can do everything in a day, and ME makes it harder to achieve much, the principal reason we went for raised beds is that it makes our gardening much much easier - the beds are four year old and still don't need digging, they get a light forking over to add compost and that's it.
HTH

[Deleted User]

Cold shudder down the spine of the day for me is the news item saying that they are going to 'relax' the safety rules at the Dungeness B Nucelar Power Station to enable it to keep operating until 2020, apparently the bricks(I think) that contain the rods are allowed to erode by 6% before being deemed replaceable and they want to up this to 8% and are possibly going to review that upwards too to allow the plant to keep operating perhaps until 2030 as if it has to close there will be the probability of power shortages. Why oh why have TPTB allowed it to get to this point without taking action to ensure our power supply? the coal fired generating stations are gone, the gas ones are under threat, the incinerators are extremely unpopular with the communities that have to suffer them and all the nuclear generating stations are getting older and have finite life left. Where are the replacements??? Why haven't the new generating stations been commissioned??? What are the implications and dangers involved in tweaking the rules to enable ageing Nuclear plants to keep operating outside the existing safety limits??? All my life I've not considered myself a political person, that is rapidly changing as my outrage at the actions of or lack thereof of subsequent governments has left the infrastructure of this country rusting and in decline, GRRRRRRR!!!

jk0

Yeah, I had an idea about 'low effort' raised beds overnight:

Would it work, if instead of putting soil/compost in them, you just used them as a shallow compost heap for the next year? Then plant your vegetables in the now rotted compost in 12 months time.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Am on a flex day today to recover from doing a full day's training yesterday - my employer wants me to do this as they know a full-day wipes me out. I was too tired to even put the pooter on last night, how bad is that? Just lay on the sofa like a noodle, reading a space opera.

Nan's still on the stroke ward, which someone who knows about these things informs me has a good reputation. They haven't been able to get her to stand yet, the nearest was sitting upright on the side of the bed for 5 mins on Monday morning. She'd totally mentally-unimpaired, which is such a blessing, and was greatly cheered by visit from a GDD and GGDD on Monday and my parents on Tuesday. Auntie is going today and not sure who is going tomorrow.

This particular hospital is their regional one but is about 45 miles from me and it's frustrating without a car as getting there would involve a nightmare of buses which would segue very poorly with the two (several hours apart) hours when visiting is permitted. We continue to keep our fingers crossed but no more news than that. Thank you all, once again, for your good wishes for her; it's deeply appreciated.

Weather here seems to be fairly-appalling with an option open for more-appalling later. I'm winning with the cold but still needing more rest than normal, so propose to ease into the day and see what I feel like. I suspect it'll be too wet for the allotment but not too wet for a trawl thru the chazzers, particularly the Everything 50p Chazzer, from whence I have emerged with mucho smiles in the past.

I've a background in textiles etc and have even done some work packing stuff away for longterm storage in museums (I love the smell of acid-free tissue paper in the morning ) so have been giving some thought to what would be sensible to lay up in terms of clothing/ fabric supplies for the future. Here's my tuppence-worth, please join in.

Elastic - this perishes, which means things supported by elastic such as waistbands in trousers, jammie-bottoms, and undies, would need some other means of support. The traditional answer to this has been the drawstring. The post-oil future will not feature comfy knickers, I am afeard.............:rotfl:Also, remember that elastane (brandnames like Lycra and Spandex) is elastic woven into other fabrics to give them stretchiness and once this has perished, your clothes will look and feel most peculiar.

Synthetic fibres - like the ubiquitous fleeces, will be a problem if we're using naked flames like woodstoves as they'll catch sparks and get melt holes. Woolly jumpers are a better bet, for those who don't have allergies to wool. They are also darnable and, if home-made, able to be pulled out and re-worked.

Denim jeans - invented as workwear, became a high fashion item. Cotton kills on the hills as the saying has it. Cotton, especially thick cotton, can be a beggar to dry, which is a problem I recall well from wintertime in a house which didn't have central heating. We may want to think about having alternatives to a jean-based wardrobe.

Footwear - eventually rubber boots will perish and if there aren't any more to be had, we will be back to leather footwear. Wooden clogs, worn either on their own or over leather shoes, were once common here as they were in the Nederlands. Shall we look for footwear with long-lasting and repairable qualities, remembering that the excellent adhesives now available are pretty modern products of an industrial civilisation?

You can see at bootsales those metal doodads for mending your shoes at home; the have three 'feet' - one man-sized, one woman-sized and one child-sized. These were once part of most households' equippage - we have one at my parents' place (in the shed). You could lay one of these by now, paint it prettily as a doorstop and bring it into use as/ when needed. Could be had with change from a fiver now, in the future - who knows?

Zips - these will eventually wear out and if the supply at home cannot be replenished from the haberdashery counter/ canniablising old clothes, we will one day be zipless and folorn. Never let a good zip in a knackered garment escape.

Just a few thoughts to start the ball rolling.

Greeninkpen, yes, it's hard to know where to turn with regard to making capital expenditures to ease life in the future. It's the magnified form of prepping, isn't it? You might get it wrong and you have spent more than you should have and lost the opportunity for what else you could have done with that money.

I rent my home, so am removed from many of the big decisions about how/ when/ what with I should replace the boiler/ the shower/ whatever with. But I do that on a smaller scale with appliances, of course.

It's a hard one to call. I don't think any of us are in the gadzillionaire bracket where we can throw it around without thought to the consequences. I guess it comes down to probability; is it probable that energy will cost more in the future than it does now? Is it probable that water will be more expensive? Is it likely that young adult children will live longer at home/ return frequently after having left? Am I likely to stay in this home for decades, how suitable is it for multi-generational living, how suitable is it for my own old age?

A woman who works as an OT told me that her aged parents were struggling to get in and out of the bath, so decided to have an over-bath shower fitted. She knew from professional practise that there is often a short gap from can't-get-up-out-of-the-bath to can't-raise-legs-high-enough-to-step-in and-out of a tub to use an overbath shower. So she advised them to skip the intermediary stage and go straight to a shower.

They didn't particularly enjoy this advice (none of us is going to relish infirmity) but they followed it. My parents' also followed their builder's advice and had a 3ft sq shower cubicle. A 3 ft sq shower tray, compared to a 2 ft 6" once is a world of improvement, and would enable a plastic stool to be placed in there and a person to sit to shower herself if standing was going to be a problem.

[Deleted User]

Morning GQ catch up on yourself, anything workwise be it in the flat or on the lottie can wait for you to do it so have yourself an easy day. Those shoe mending 3 footed dodahs are 'COBBLERS LASTS' (please don't take it personally!)and you can always see them on Fleabay if you put in a search for cast iron. Clothing has been fastened with many things in the past from the saxon broaches on the shoulders and waist cords through drawstrings, laces (as in corsets/shifts/doublets etc) threaded through eyelets in garments, wooden and horn toggles and loops or buttons and buttonholes so many ways to overcome soggy 'lastic problems. The fabrics would probably have to be natural fibres, wool, linen, cotton (if we're lucky), felt, leather, even nettle fibre could be made into attire and footware but we need to maintain the skills to work with these fabrics and actually learn how to hand sew or use a hand crank sewing machine (only viable until the last needle breaks though) and after that hope someone can still make bone needles and bradalls and work wood and leather for shoes, bags, belts etc. It's going to be interesting for a generation used to Primarni isn't it?

GreyQueen

Cobblers' lasts, yes that was the name I couldn't remember. You do see them frequently secondhand. Dad had to do some DIY shoe mending in the past, and we still have the last.

Yes, the Primarni generation is going to have a heckuva shock. I don't care if I'm considered old fashioned about some things, because it's no more than the truth, but the throwaway clothes culture shocks the hell out of me. I was rendered speechless when I first encountered it IRL......

Am now dressed in my (60% secondhand) ensemble and am about to take a donation bag into Hoxfam before browsing some of the cheaper chazzers. I shall shoot the breeze with the Magic Greengrocer whilst I'm over that end of town and will report back anon.

I shall be about an hour, have the tea ready for me, and I shall share my (mis)adventures.

Hmm, think this might well be a day for the waterproof shell jacket. Shall I tell thee how I love thee, waterproof jacket? Let me count the ways....

[Deleted User]

Off skips GQ down the high street, clad in jaunty shell jacket, skipping away singing 'Nymphs and Shepherds come away, come away.....' clutching in one hand bag od worthy donations and scattering rose petals (possibly shredded cabbage leaves to be OS) in her wake..... now that's a picture to keep you awake for the day isn't it???

Frugalsod

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Probably, says the cynical me, because there's a lot of profit to be made from allowing it to happen. TPTB don't really consider whether it's wanted by the vast majority of people or not, only what is in it for them!!!

They are probably looking at it as an opportunity to show how valuable they are to any prospective multinational. Though we really need a solid and permanent ban on any minister ever working for a multinational that they have voted for beneficial legislation that helps that company.

GreyQueen

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Off skips GQ down the high street, clad in jaunty shell jacket, skipping away singing 'Nymphs and Shepherds come away, come away.....' clutching in one hand bag od worthy donations and scattering rose petals (possibly shredded cabbage leaves to be OS) in her wake..... now that's a picture to keep you awake for the day isn't it???

Lyn, dunno what you're on, my love, but it sounds like good gear.........:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Imagine instead a tall and rather greying woman with her hair in her eyes, striding womanfully about her business. I am just in and didn't bother to unfurl the jacket's hood from it's collar so hair is a trifle wet. Which doens't really bother me, just considering it a freshwater rinse.

Well, it's cooler than it should be and a few hardy shoppers are out. Mr MG tells me that people are buying less salad and more veggies, as is the norm with the cooler weather. I agreed - don't akshully consider salad to be a meal, more a garnish, but I have been accused of having a blokish attitude to food before.

Will now be At Home for a few hours before nipping out to have a cuppa up at a pal's shop. I like to do business locally and keep my finger on the pulse of the very local-to-me economy.

My trip was pleasingly fruitful and I am £4 the poorer but have a huge bag of fruit and veg and 6 items of clothing. Some with tags, which will be taking a trip around the washer shortly. I have been adding to my eclectic collection of 'sleepwear', all of which is sourced 2nd hand. I am a woman of style and can work a look where the pj jacket has a penguin print and the pj trousers a plaid.:p

Mr Pratchett, as always, is our go-to man for advice in these circumstances; http://monksofcool.org/index.html

Not giving a damn about a lot of things frees up a lot of productive energy to be used elsewhere, don't you find? If only I'd've known that thirty-odd years ago.

I have tea. No cake, just tea, but it's all good.

[Deleted User]

I've mentioned previously, about a nearby house, which has half a dozen large (maybe 4' x 3') solar panels on its roof.

This has got me wonder, could these solar panels keep a fridge freezer running, in a long term power cut?