Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

The rain has got heavier and, finally, the temperature is falling. :cool:

Also, it doesn't feel as close as it did before.

GreyQueen

Pretty much the same situation here, rain is starting and the vile grey humidity we've been under all day is starting to lift ever so slightly.

I've seen a lot of June days like this over the years. What worries me when the weather is like this is that we'll go into a Full Smith Period and have the potato blight fungus activate and start spreading.

I'm signed up for Blightwatch and last had a Smith Period alert on 1st June. The next level up is Full Smith which is two consecutive days of minimum air temperatures of 10 degrees celcius and relative humidity of 90% or above for at least 11 hours.

mila, the potato blight is phytophthora infestans and it is endemic in the UK and Ireland. It also effects tomatoes. By effect, I mean utterly ruin. It arises in the west of the country and travels across on the prevailing winds. This was the major culprit in the infamous Potato Famines of the nineteenth century, it's a real horror to see and to deal with.

:eek: So, lovely peeps, even if your gardening is limited to a couple of pots of tommies on the patio, keep your eyes peeled for the dreaded blight.

moneyistooshorttomention

nuatha wrote: »

I didn't think think you (or GQ) were referring to refugees, or in any way implying that refugees shouldn't be helped.


Though I'll admit to being curious, I appreciate you not spreading details of the techniques used - though I suspect they are findable online.


I believe the criteria should be fair all round.
I know that as a couple with no children there was no help available when Herself and I lost our home because the landlord refused to maintain it and it was not legally habitable, fortunately we were able to find a private let out of the area and then buy back into the area we had been living in.
Ironically we bought an ex-council house.

This afternoon I heard of a change in a local authority's housing policy. When asking what your connection to the area is, they specifically ask for current and previous family connections, even down to what family are in which cemetery, hopefully this means that what little social housing is left in that area will go to locals.

With the Government now threatening to force what are actually private landlords to sell their housing stock the supply of affordable housing is going to shrink even more rapidly. I can see that HMOs and capsule hotels are going to become the housing norm - another Victorian value that's being resurrected.

Valid points.

I think that is pushing it by that local authority to ask which cemetery (ex) family members are in though! I think "locals" should come first for public sector housing - but my definition of "local" in that context is someone being able to prove that its their region of the country. In my case - I could readily prove I'm West Country - so I could show a cemetery a couple of hours drive away in the area:) (both sides of my family going back several generations of being West Country - before you hit "other British" (ie Scottish) and some hundreds of years before you hit "other nationalities". So far back that my parents dont think we were ever anything other than British - but I can see we have two different nationalities WAY back....). I think it starts feeling very uncomfortable in all sorts of respects if people start trying to define "local" as meaning within literally a few miles and I wouldnt agree with that personally (as I see it as part of a way of thinking that goes for backing people because they are "our tribe" - rather than backing whoever is actually the one in the right iyswim - who may very well not be in "our tribe").

So I'd go@
- "local" (to the Region)
- same nationality (ie British)
- those whose passport is a British one (though they arent British by birth etc).

Then see if there is any housing stock remaining.

I could hazard a pretty fair guess at what tactics GQ means by "gaming the system" besides the most well-known one - but I wouldnt publicise them either.

I do wonder increasingly how even the hardest-working people are supposed to be reasonably housed one way or another unless they are on very good income or are a couple on reasonable income in cheaper part of country.

Cappella

GreQueen - we lost our potato crop to blight three years in succession All that work and effort for nothing For the past three years though we've bitten the bullet and grown 'sarpo miro' which have given us a good yield and proved very resistant to the dreaded blight. Our stored potatoes last year kept well until the end of February They don't have the flavour of some of our preferred varieties, and seed is pricey, though becoming less so, but We've been very happy with them.. Other plot holders have lost most of their main crop, but the sarpos have come through for us. ( I am NOT an agent for a potato firm!!)
Might be worth trying where you are?

Our earlies (Charlotte, pink fir apple and rattles) haven't been as badly affected; I think they must miss the worst of the blight because we put them in very early. Do you notice a difference in this, between early and main crops or have we just been lucky?

What veg would people recommend to replace potatoes, if necessary, in a preparedness situation? More pulses would help with protein, but I'm not sure what would give such a high carbohydrate yield as the spud.

mardatha

Does anybody else feel that life is changing really fast and that things have got away from us now? Like a bike without brakes going down a steep hill..

[Deleted User]

I believe rice is a reasonable source of carbohydrates.

As for protein, mushrooms are a good source.

Cappella

Originally posted by Bedsitsit Bob
I believe rice is a reasonable source of carbohydrates.

I have MUCH rice in my store cupboard, also pasta and cous cous:) So I'd be ok short term.
I think I was wondering more about what could be feasibly grown in the UK several years after a natural disaster, in order to feed a hungry population, given that potato blight could easily rob that population of the potato; and assuming that stored staples were dwindling fast.

[Deleted User]

Cappella wrote: »

I think I was wondering more about what could be feasibly grown in the UK several years after a natural disaster

The aforementioned mushrooms would be a good choice.

They grow indoors, so safe(ish) from further disastrous effects, and with a pretty rapid growing cycle.

Cappella

Thank you BedsitBob. We've never grown mushrooms, may have to trial them later this year

daz278

having studied and lived and worked in Germany my natural inclination is to remain , however issues connected with the European influx as not affected me directly ..yet.... although for the moment for a carer my pay and conditions are quite good.... though the leave campaign as given me pause for thought and i now accept there are risks to staying. But would Europe not be obliged to help us if our net immigration continued to be 300k plus ? how may years could uk cope with this? would there be a marginal level that would deter future migration.... probably a shattered infa structure..... its all confusing