Preparedness for when

Butterfly_Brain

How brilliant is this



http://www.instructables.com/id/VERTICAL-VEGETABLES-quotGrow-upquot-in-a-smal/

bluebag

I found looking at a lot of the stuff they did in Cuba very clever, they grow on every scrap of arable land, road verges, rooftop gardens, if there is space for soil they grow food on it.

Many families raise guinea pigs and rabbits in urban areas for food as they turn low quality food into good quality protein quickly and in minimal space.

I think some kids would need to toughen up if that really became neccessary though.

meme30

We live in Co Durham, so a mixture of arable land and stuff just fit for sheep depending how high up you are.
Lots of it very rural and lots of it pit villages with old housing which were built by the Coal Board. These houses were built for mining families and many have decent sized gardens compared to modern houses. Ours is about the size of a tennis court.
Thirty years ago when we moved here, most of our neighbours were working miners. Their gardens were all mini allotments, they grew most of their veg and some kept rabbits to eat. We have no miners working here at all now and most gardens are lawn and flowers. It would not take much for these to be returned to producing food again but it's the skills level of our younger neighbours that I wonder about. Yes they would have the brawn but maybe not the nounce!

When looking at unused land can we also include the Golf Courses! I know that sounds daft but I passed three yesterday and after reading on here just kept thinking 'what a waste of land!' The one in our village is part old arable land and 'banky' land used for sheep. Lots of blackberry and bilberry bushes on it but people are discouraged from picking them. It was started by miners and was part of the village, now it's for those who can afford it.

On the other side of the road to it is the site of our village hospital. It was built with funds raised by the local miners and intended for the treatment of all the locals, young and old. When we moved here it was run by the NHS. It had a Physio unit, X-ray. Out Patients dept and four convalescing wards for long term care. Our local council sold it to a developer who demolished it five years ago. Yesterday there were signs that they are starting to develop the land for housing:(

Such a lot of short sightedness, such a lot of greed! :mad:

Uniscots97

I can see a lot of youngsters turning to the older ones to get help on how to grow things. Unfortunately the majority out there can't see what's in front of them! I can't wait to get another job (applied for close to 100 now) and I can't wait for people to go back to work and then decide whether they want to see me or not. I'm lucky I have a stockcupboard and some stuff in reserve. But once I'm back in work I'm going to build up a savings cushion. I have some pension money but I'm hoping I don't need to touch that for the bills at the end of this month (i.e. hoping I have a job by then!!!!!).

[Deleted User]

google ` Sudden Stratospheric Warming` if you want to know more about impending freeze. It isn`t yet definite but SSW is all over the net now

Hats off to PC if this comes about, we knew it on 17th dec, all due to solar cycles. Met office is spouting warming poppycock as usual, shtf will hit their fan one day. All on course so far, pressure building as forecast on 17th

Am getting increasingly concerned re farming as now groundwater is bubbling up all over the place ie more sodden now than ever. Houses not flooded in the conventional way are now having water come up from the ground

Cheapskate

Morning folk, not been around for a bit, but trying to get back on track with all sorts of OS.

The altering weather (more rain, more often round here) and the change in land use (bottom of the road, more neighbours paving/decking gardens so no soakaway) means that I'm planning to alter what/where I grow stuff in my garden, as the bottom end is regularly flooded now. Will have to grow more stuff in tubs, do some raised beds, hang things from the garage sides, etc. More and more people I know are growing edible plants, keeping chickens, buying from local farms, listening to what I've learned on here (the biggest surprise! :eek:) so I think the penny's beginning to drop re changes being very long term, if not permanent.

My pantry is fairly full, as are the freezers, but need to plan cooking more efficiently as our energy firm has put up our DD to £135 a month from Feb! :eek::mad: Think our TC will go down a fair bit from April, so will be saving as much as possible until then, so we have a tiny safety net to build on during the summer, in prep for next winter - I think fuel bills are really going to soar by next autumn, not seen owt yet!

Our village is a real demographic mix - singles, couples, working/non-working, families with 1 or 2 parents, retired, etc., lots of comers-in over the last decade so I can't tell how different parts would work together (or not) if the SHTF in a big way. Would be interesting to find out!

A xo

[Deleted User]

I am knitting and turned al jazeera on, so interesting. S Australia temperatures are + 45. Terrible typhoon (hurricane) hit the philippines and surrounding areas a month ago and 6 million people have been badly affected. whole villages wiped out. Ongoing torrential rain badly affecting millions in India and so on

Why don`t they say any of this on our news? All we get are the usual conflicts. Is it because of potential refugees? shtf could well be around the corner as we get overladen with people and short termism building on land that we could use to grow food. Developers have already bought farmland, as told by local farmer in my last village, some of his land had been bought.

Iceland copes because of natural warm water and greenhouses, we don`t have those resources. What worries me is swinging from soaking to freezing to baking. Our bodies adapt relatively easily when young but we lose that ability when older

[Deleted User]

Morning all, we are the only people I know of who actually garden our plot for food in the road here. We do know other people in the village who do the same but they are all older than us (yes really it is possible!!!) and have always done so. Most folks have lawns, decking, patio or just paved gardens. There is a lot of unused potentially productive land not being used in the UK. I am always surprised that so few are trying to be just a tiny bit self sufficient, if you put in a fruit tree for instance, you only dig the hole once and then give it a prune once a year, everyone with a garden could find room for a small apple, pear or plum, but no, the space is just not used. We have the allotment too and are beginning to have more pilfering of crops than ever before from the site. I wonder if most people feel it is easier to take the crop someone else has grown and looked after rather than try growing thier own? I can see the situation escalating as time goes on, such a pity, we'll have to put security fencing round the site in the long run, such a shame. I don't have a clue how to motivate people into trying to help themselves, but that is what we need while there are still older folk with relevant skills to pass on. If that doesn't happen, we will be on a very sticky wicket indeed!!! Cheers Lyn xxx.

missrlr

Thievery of all variants in on the increase. We have had much more opportunistic (open windows / unlocked doors) thefts and distraction thefts. Also bag snatching - not nice but how long until this gets more violent and people are seriously hurt?

mardatha

Meme I grew up in a place like that and to this day I won't hear a word against the miners because they looked after their own - which few do now.