Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

... I've managed to pick up a pair of spare (and indeed, higher capacity) batteries, for a very reasonable £12-09, with free P&P. :cool:

Cheapskate

Evening all

GQ, I have long been envious of your archery classes, but have now discovered an archery club near me - and they do beginners' classes, group tasters, etc. - I so want to do this! The question is - do I entice my slightly alternative WI to do a group sesh,, or do I do it alone and keep my powder dry? Selfishly, I want to keep it to myself, but I can see the value in more people gaining extra skills.

My very late spuds are finally sprouting, including some I must have missed harvesting last year - is it ok to leave them? Pea and French bean seedlings doing ok, hope to plant in this week. Apple trees are finally having a decent crop, but only half a dozen plums have survived earlier winds. A friend has an allotment, deeply envious as there are such waiting lists near me, but I can have shedloads of strawberry plants, and maybe some rasp canes come the autumn/winter! :j A local farm is doing a beef box scheme this autumn, for which I have signed up, so need to make some space in the freezer (20kg of assorted cuts to come!), so not looking too shabby on the fresh food front compared to previous years.

TP is down to about 50, soap to the last 4 bars, likewise bottles of shampoo/shower gel - should I worry yet? Am I to be defrocked? :rotfl:

Hubby and I have recently begun the 5:2 intermittent fasting plan, the science behind it is reassuring re general health, weight loss is a happy side effect! It dawned on me that it could be good practice for a time when food may be in short supply - if we have retrained our bodies to do without food a couple of times a week or more, it could be useful in lean times. I have been stunned to find that I haven't felt really hungry on the fast days, bit peckish but it passes, so it shows (to me at least) that it's a good thing to let your digestive system have a break now and again - after all, we weren't designed to stuff ourselves 24/7.

A xo

nuatha

Cheapskate wrote: »

Evening all

GQ, I have long been envious of your archery classes, but have now discovered an archery club near me - and they do beginners' classes, group tasters, etc. - I so want to do this! The question is - do I entice my slightly alternative WI to do a group sesh,, or do I do it alone and keep my powder dry? Selfishly, I want to keep it to myself, but I can see the value in more people gaining extra skills.

If you suggested a group taster to the WI and they implemented it, you could always blame them when you took up the hobby (and possibly find a couple of like minded WI members)

Most groups that do regular programmed activities are pleased to have new suggestions for speakers and activities and introducing a relatively innocuous one may lead to other relevant ones in due course

Cheapskate

nuatha, knowing our members' taste for unusual activities, it would go down a storm! We've done, variously, wine tasting, belly dancing, knife throwing, car maintenance, welding, burlesque... told you we were a bit alternative! Think they'd def go for a taster session, and I bet a few more than me would become members!

nuatha

Cheapskate wrote: »

nuatha, knowing our members' taste for unusual activities, it would go down a storm! We've done, variously, wine tasting, belly dancing, knife throwing, car maintenance, welding, burlesque... told you we were a bit alternative! Think they'd def go for a taster session, and I bet a few more than me would become members!

Would they accept a male [STRIKE]member[/STRIKE] participant.
Sounds like the ideal basic prepping skills group.
just add some baking and preserving

Seriously, sounds like an excellent group.

Possession

I was thinking of joining our WI, it's a 'lite' version and seems to have a lot of younger members.
Just seen this great idea, wish I'd seen it when I had 2 pallets!
http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/how-to-make-a-recycled-pallet-vertical-garden/

jk0

Possession wrote: »

I was thinking of joining our WI, it's a 'lite' version and seems to have a lot of younger members.
Just seen this great idea, wish I'd seen it when I had 2 pallets!
http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/how-to-make-a-recycled-pallet-vertical-garden/

I had an idea the other day for old pallets, that I have not tried as yet:

Remember we were discussing raised beds? I wonder if I could carefully cut the pallets in half to form the sides of the raised bed. (You might need to add some more screws/nails in the centre posts, as these will now be half as wide.)

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Wow, cheapskate, your WI group rocks! I'd definately sound them out about a group taster session with the archery club. It's a pretty common entrance into archery, I came via that route from a freebie taster sesh at the sports centre. Lot of people are harbouring vague notions that they'd like to have a go at something and need a prompt to actually do it.

Saw this in the Guardian yesterday http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/20/how-losing-out-on-an-allotment-made-me-get-creative-about

Maybe some useful ideas for the spacially challenged?

Yes, if you have potatoes which have grown from last year's crop, and they will grow from the tiniest missed-marble, leave them to mature and have at them. They don't know they're not supposed to be doing what they're doing, and will grow just fine. Although it's recommended to remove every spud, even the marbles, when lifting the crop, ther will inevitablly be tiddlers which just escape your attention.

My tatties are coming towards the end of their lifecycle. It's now 18 weeks since they were planted (chitted for 3 weeks prior to that and planted good and deep). They're 'second earlies', mainly Kestrel, with a top-up of Nadine. I shall be able to tell them apart at harvest because the Kestrels have violet eyes, summat like Elizabeth Taylor, but minus the bling.

My trusty The Vegetable Expert says 13 weeks for early spuds and 22 for maincrop, so the fact that my second earlies are starting to go over at 18 weeks is about right.

Tater tops are funny. They'll grow away pertly for weeks, and then you'll suddenly notice that they're sagging slightly and starting to sprawl. A few lower leaves will start to turn yellow, and the haulm (tater top) will gradually wither away to a few dry sticks.

I'm really hoping that the blight will stay away and they'll have a chance to finish naturally this year. A row of about 4 plants are going over faster, so I wonder if they're Nadines, and they will be my first ones to lift. There's no law which says you have to lift them all at once, btw, it's more sensible for a gardener to take them as needed, unless blight is in the air, in which case you want them outta there asap.

13 days ago, I sowed runner beans in pots along the shed windowsill, which is a line of repurposed shelving along the inside. This was to prevent the mice stealing the seeds and the slugs and snails nipping the tops out. After 6 days of neglect, the stems of some of them were just starting to loop out of the soil. For those who haven't watched runners grow closely, the plant emerges with a loop of stem, then raises its head and opens out its pair of seedling leaves, which will be the biggest ones on the plant. The dangerous stage is if something gets them before the leading stem of the plant starts twining up the support, or eats the seedling leaves to lace, as its all over if that happens. And they're very attractive prospects to gastropods, dammit. :mad:

Yesterday, I opened the lottie shed up and frankly cussed; the beans which I hadn't seen since Sunday were now anything from 4-6 inches tall. Have transplanted them and will sow some more to infill the almost inevitable losses due to critters. Will be checking on the little darlings later today and hope nothing has been chewing on them.

Convos with fellow allotment gardeners have revealed that the mice are mega problems this year, with people only managing to get peas and beans started if they have sown them in pots or t.p. tubes away from the site, and peas are needing to be incarcerated in netting tents to keep the birdlies off. And Land of Ice will sell me just over 2 kg of them for £2 - I don't think I shall try again, its too much work for too little reward.

Hokey, little more interwebulation, then must hie me back up there to my little patch of heaven. Well, mostly heaven, 50% of it is infested with horsetail and it's being menaced on three sides with encroachments of tall grass, brambles and nettles etc from wild allotments.:rotfl:I will win because I can move faster than the plants.

jk0

This is worrying:

http://news.sky.com/story/1286583/cashless-high-street-ditches-notes-and-coins

[Deleted User]

I'll bet that, if you went into one of those shops, and wanted to buy something costing £10,000, they'd soon find a way to take the payment in cash.