Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

It's a question of reading the booklet and then deciding if your own little machine is dehydrating things properly at the temperature they recommend . I know with mine I sometimes have to dry for longer than the given time but that's because we can't grow uniform
sized and shaped produce the way that commercial growers can. My rhubarb comes in thin and thick stalks and the thick ones take a bit longer to dry than the thin ones. I'm mightily impressed with just how efficiently dehydrators do their job, it's a very sensible way of storing excess produce and yes petal, practise does make perfect, Doris xxx.

meanmarie

I have one of those round dehydrators and dry apples in slices every year.....I dried rhubarb a few years ago and found that it didnt rehydrate very well, so can I ask you Lyn how you rehydrate yours as I really like to have some through the winter?

I dont post much but always read and have learnt much from other posters, so thank you all.

Marie

daz278

if there is a another election this year......could labour fight it on the platform of not invoking article 50......still democratic

milasavesmoney

My thoughts about prepping are a bit different than some. I think keeping abreast of political tides is paramount. There are many types of disasters such as earthquakes, floods, terrorists etc. But logically uncertainty of the financial future should also be talked about and prepped for...not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well.

Many are expressing how upsetting life after the EU looks to them. Wise voices are saying we have lived through great hardship and come out the other side. Don't discount these voices as irrelevant. They are standard bearers saying this can be done. They know, because they have done so during hard financial times. They are not the past. They are the lesson to be read and learned from.

Gardens, dehydration and canning (bottling) topics may be safer for the next few days but in the long run hashing out and understanding the best you can these historic events together, though you come from different walks of life and are different ages, is the greatest form of prepping. Be tolerant of each other and give grace to each other in your comments. You are a mighty group of intelligent people that I admire immensely. I say put you thoughts, concerns, fears and information on the table. Discussion in friendship (a safe place) is so very important at a time like this.

Please accept this comment as being just another way of looking at things as I do realize I am on the outside looking in...

And I had to replant some of my tomatoes as quite a few got blight.

moneyistooshorttomention

Re the rehydrating of dried rhubarb - that had me googling and Google came back with instructions on how to dehydrate rhubarb (nowt about rehydrating it).

From which it said that one dries it in the first place by:
- cutting in 1" chunks
- steaming it till slightly tender
- drying it at 125-135 F

So I'm guessing the rehydrating problems are down to drying it differently to that? - eg cutting it in bigger chunks or not steaming it long enough.

Glad I checked that first - as my rhubarb is now in its 2nd year and starting to turn out a reasonable amount of it and I've been planning on drying some. So I shall do as per Google and see how it goes.

That will be my dehydrator going again today. I had it going yesterday for the strawberries (as I'm getting so many of them from the garden at present and have already frozen loads). Never had dried strawberries before actually:o - have decided, as expected, that I do like them (dried to crispiness).

[Deleted User]

Hi MEANMARIE I rehydrate my rhubarb overnight and then cook it before I make it into crumbles or whatever else I'm making. Rhubarb is a tricksy beast and tends to go to mush so perhaps is best made into fruit fools or mixed with something else like apple slices to give a better texture to the finished dish. Best results in the dehydrator are raspberries and blackberries which I dry whole until they are completely crisp, they make a nice addition to cereals and are really nice crunched up as a snackerel!!!

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Wise words, mila, thank you.

For me, the key to preparing is mental flexibility. This should not be confused with physical flexibility as it's perfectly possible to have one or the other but not the ideal, which is both in goodly quantities.

If you are rigid in your attitudes and habits, such as always having to do a certain thing on a certain day or time, or in a certain way, life is liable to throw lots of pebbles into your sandals to upset you. There is also the far greater risk that you will be unable to adjust in a timely manner to sudden and unwelcome events.

Those sudden events could be intensely personal, such as losing your income or a health problem, or they could be intensely local, such as a catastrophic weather event. They might even be pan-regional or global, such as pandemic disease or financial meltdown.

If you consider the possibilities beforehand, you may be able to identify some areas where you could make simple changes to increase the resilience in your own life. You may want to make some more comphrensive changes, such as retraining to leave a failing industry, for example. You may even have to think about relocating from one area to another; I wouldn't much care for living in Las Vegas with Lake Mead in its present low state, for example.

[Deleted User]

MILA thank you for an extremely sensible post.

No politics from me and no anecdotes to demonstrate exactly that times HAVE been much tighter and more uncomfortable than they are and might become again.

I ask myself the question 'what do I NEED to live and be comfortable?' the answer is really very little. I need a roof over my head, food to keep me alive and therefore enough income to clothe, warm and nourish me. I need a stout pair of waterproof shoes, good serviceable clothing, a warm waterproof coat and medications to keep me healthy. That really IS all I NEED. Of course there are many things that would make life much more comfortable and pleasant and books, my mobile phone, TV, music, the internet and all of you to play with are just a few. The difference between needs and wants is often very difficult to divide, I've managed to do it and it sounds simplistic written down on the screen. We've lived in an age of affluence and indulgence for decades now so the prospect of that situation changing must be very unsettling unless you've lived through the austere period before the affluence as many of us have. Life will go on, we as humans will make it good, as good as it CAN be made and appreciate those things we DO have more than all the things we currently have that we often take for granted. Treats will be just that, occasional welcome happinesses and not several times a day every day of the week events. It might even be good for us?

moneyistooshorttomention

To which - GQ - I would add "a distinct degree of cynicism".

It's a very handy survival tool (whatever is going on) to assume that:

- most people most of the time will put their own personal interests first, rather than going for whatever is the Correct Option (whatever that might happen to be). But there are people who will try to work out what the Correct Option is and go for that - even if it conflicts with their own personal interests.

- some will authoritatively state that the "answer to x is y" - but a moments research indicates that it isnt at all (even about something quite factual - visions of middle-aged person authoritatively telling me the other day that "capers come from nasturtiums" (duh!) and kept right on assuring me of that - even when I pointed out that they dont and what is actually the case is that a caper "substitute" can be made from nasturtium seeds - but they arent capers. To use just a very minor example of this.

- never believe someone telling you you "cant do something", "arent capable of doing something", "arent entitled to Normal Whatever-it-is". Work out for yourself, and as objectively as possible, what the facts on that are. Maybe the person saying you cant have something is saying so because they havent got it themselves - rather than because you really cant. (One reason Stephen West MP is no softie would be because of the number of times someone from his background has probably been told by others in similar positions that "it's not for the likes of us/you arent capable/any other reason why they could think of" and had to turn round and tell himself "They may not be able to - but that doesnt mean I cant".

mrs-moneypenny

Mila thank you for a lovley wise post.

One of the things I'm prepping for is dd3 is getting married next year, I have about 14 months to prep and one of the things I'm doing is a practice run for growing flowers to cut for the table deccys etc. DD loves gerberas so I'd bought some plants and have them growing if they are successful I'll go into full production next year, I've got lavender and a few other cottage garden type flowers, for some reason not a single sunflower grew and I planted two packs of those seeds. Need to pick some more sweetpeas later to keep them flowering need to see if I can keep them going till September.
I gave my mum some spare seed potatoes and she told me last night that she's already had a couple of meals off them, nice tasty egg sized ones she reports so she'll be happy to grow them again if I have spares next year. Hint hint
Also need to plant more spinach as that's getting close to used up.

Got work soon so better get a shift on

Have a good day all