Preparedness for when

westcoastscot

I guess there's a reason why our forefathers lived on herring, oats and kale! I'm going back to basics this year, try and get those right before trying more risky stuff.

In my work I support all kinds of folks some of who are not UK nationals and residency checks appear to be being made more and more lately, including for those who came as children and are now adults.

I've also done a bit of training for my job with the child trafficking unit and it's heart-breaking.

Thanks for the link CAKE - MAR did you not have success with some tomato seeds from them once?

WCS

pineapple

the_cake wrote: »

Re growing veg in "challenging" (!!) conditions - I have had great success and lovely tasting veg from the Real Seed Company in Wales ... will attempt a linky: http://www.realseeds.co.uk/about.html
Hurray, seems to have worked. They are a very interesting company, and all their info. is relevant and very helpful. Cannot recommend them highly enough.

I had great success with their tree cabbage seeds. They even grew in the hanging baskets! :rotfl:
Also bear in mind seeds aren't an expensive outlay, don't take much storage space and might be a useful barter item if things got really bad

westcoastscot

Ooh I like the look of tree cabbages - anything that can continue a year or two is better here - I have perennial rocket that has never stopped producing. Shall def give them a go! Thanks Pineapple

Just had a wee browse and there appears to be lots of perennial vegetables - shall have a good look tomorrow, but wondered if anyone has any experience of them?
WCS

GreyQueen

westcoastscot wrote: »

I guess there's a reason why our forefathers lived on herring, oats and kale! I'm going back to basics this year, try and get those right before trying more risky stuff.

In my work I support all kinds of folks some of who are not UK nationals and residency checks appear to be being made more and more lately, including for those who came as children and are now adults.

WCS

Yeah, we're seeing all sorts, such as Brazilians pretending to be Portugese and Algerians pretending to be French. There were a helluva lot of French ID docs stolen from their govt the other year and all Brit LAs were primed to treat any French identity docs as potentially hooky, as in if we had any presented to us, we'd immediately have to call the fraud investigators. Think there were a few hundred thousand loose and in the wrong hands.

We'd also have ex-pat Brits coming back to the UK, some who'd been gone anything from 10-30 years and walking into the office expecting to get a council home immediately. Never mind the 10,000+ on the register already. People don't understand that your habitual residency status impacts on your rights, even in your home country. Every time I go to my hospital clinic I get asked if I've lived the UK for the past 12 months, f'rinstance. Dunno what the answer would be if I'd lived abroad, prolly the sailor's elbow.

Mar, 'fraid it's looking like you'll need to get close up and personal with the dreaded k*le.:rotfl:It's highly nutritious, I'm told, although I have my suspicions of anything the dreaded woodpigeons won't eat. Mind you, gimme a woodpigeon and I can dismantle it bare-handed in under a minute and turn it into a pie in a few more. Now I have done this, I find myself looking at the blasted things with a distinctly-carnivorous eye.

Which is also extended to the squirrels (Cyril the Squirrel and Cyril Jnr) who have adopted my parents' bird feeders as their fave takeaway spot. The two cats seem a bit discombolulated by verminous things which climb as well as they do and show no fear; you can see them sitting a few feet apart on the fence studiously-ignoring each other.:rotfl:

Squirrel apparently tastes like chicken. There seems to be a natural law that unconventional meats have to taste like chicken and unconventional greens have to taste like spinach.

Oooh, just has a thought; let a packet of rainbow chard set seed in your garden and enjoy self-sown chard forever after. I give a lot of it away but I'm running outta chardtastic friends. Never happens when your strawberries glut, funnily enough.

bluebag

mardatha wrote: »

RAS - would you kindly, when you have spare time, give us some advice on growing stuff in poor climate/poor soil areas? Or even in changing conditions as we're all experiencing now.
I don't suppose the whole of even the south of England has soil where you can shove a seed in and voila next day you have a perfect plant .. and so many new growers look at the gardening catalogues and believe them :rotfl::rotfl:
I've given in, I'm going to have to grow whatever poor deluded mad vegetable that likes being up here. Probly turnip!

Mar, I'd be prepared to bet real money that you can grow kale effortlessly!:)

Perplexed_Pineapple

Hi to all, I've been lurking and trying to catch up on the earlier posts (I've read the first 4000, there are some great tips and information in there thanks!). De-lurking now because I thought this article I came across on food price hikes would fit in well with the current subject under discussion:
telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9779693/Waitrose-boss-Britons-should-brace-themselves-for-massive-food-price-hikes.html
(put http and www at the front, I'm not allowed to post proper links as a new member)
Good luck to all you properly prepared people, some of your posts are a real inspiration to get organised :T

GreyQueen

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9779693/Waitrose-boss-Britons-should-brace-themselves-for-massive-food-price-hikes.html

Just viewed that article and stuck the linkie for our mutual convenience. Thank you, Perplexed Pineapple, scary stuff indeed. Bearing in mind that so many of us have incomes which are static or falling and it's getting very worrying.

Never mind, I'm sure if we take our waifs and begging bowls to the gate at Chequers, that nice Mr and Mrs Cameron will spare us some crumbs from their table. After all, as the sainted Mr C keeps reminding us, we ARE all in this together.

pineapple

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

Hi to all, I've been lurking and trying to catch up on the earlier posts

OMG there's a perplexed version of me! :eek::eek::eek:

GreyQueen

pineapple wrote: »

OMG there's a perplexed version of me! :eek::eek::eek:

PMSL! Love it!

There's a perplexed version of me, too; I see her every time I look into a mirror.........:rotfl:

ginnyknit

Well Mr C did visit NW hospitals today and roll his sleeves up, so obviously they had him helping, which means he is getting his hands dirty - do they honestly believe he would look better like that and portray someone who would help :mad:

Well bu**er it all Im off to bed as Im freezing, hope Im not getting Ds's lurgy as Im feeling very under par. Will sit in bed wrapped up with my hoggy and make another list.