Preparedness for when

pollys

Thank you for the warm welcome and the information re the kelly kettle.

I too prefer to store things in glass and just yesterday purchased a kilner jar. Thank you for the information with regards to the jars in Ikea.

Pollys

D&DD

*waves to all new posters and lurkers*

Great idea re the trolley Boultdj many thanks I'll line the box with a bin liner as MrsL suggested then I can just stack them by the compost bin to dry completely.

I presume I just break up,sprinkle and dig it in then?? Soo if anyone spots a lady in marigolds walking across a field dragging a halfbuilt trolley piled high with cowsdung, that'll be me then, feel free to say hello..or run away accordingly :rotfl:

Paul thanks for the linky very helpful.

I'm sorry to hear so many are struggling atm I'm going to be joining you all soon as we lose around £500 a month shortly when DS2 leaves school..:eek:
Think that's one of the reasons I'm trying to prep so much currently I know I can't cover all the bases but what I can will help in the long term I hope.

elaine241

Hello to all our new readers, hope you pick up some good advice & you will always find friendly help and support here.

It seems my thoughts concerning a "preppers book club" may be useful although I would like to keep it on this thread, nice and tidy!! Please post your recommended books fiction and non and also those that are a complete waste of time!
I have been sorting my mountain of books and come across loads of gardening books (veg/fruit/greenhouse),
The Home Herbal, Barbera Griggs a handbook of simple remedies,
The Victorian Kitchen Garden Jennifer Davies
Th Wartime Kitcen & Garden also by Jennifer Davies, both give ideas for growing veg and kitchen economy.
River Cottage Handbooks on Veg, Preserves and Mushrooms
Good old "Food for Free" Collins Gem
and a very old WI book home skills, pickling, drying, salting & Crystallising
It seems my years of CS & Boot Sales have already got me started on prepping books without me really noticing! LOL

I am having a look at how to survive TEOTWAWKI by J W Rawles although USA based he has a website survivalblog.com where there is a bookshelf section where he recommends prepper reading. Although this may be a bit OTT for some he starts with a list of lists! which sounds familiar although the automatic weapons and geiger counters etc wont be bought anytime soon! a lot of it is adaptable for UK and less extreme prepping. Anyway I have only just started reading so I will let you know.

I have Patriots and the other one( cant remember title!) on order from the library as I like reading about SHTF as well as learning to survive it! Please post any good fiction that you have read. I think I may invest in a Kindle as Ama*on seems to have quite a few titles.

Keep safe & Warm hope spring springs up on us next week! I can finally put away my thermals!

dandy-candy

Just wondering if anyone is growing their own food? I have had such poor success these last couple of years that I have just bought in loads of tins this time around. I might grow lettuce and tomatoes, and some extra herbs, but other than that I won't bother.
How about anyone else?

[Deleted User]

Hi DANDY CANDY don't think that last year was typical, we have a big garden and an allottment but last summer was disasterous and we had very little to show for all our gardening efforts. Some things are definately easier to grow than others and things like courgettes grow to triffids if you let them get the upper hand. As the years go along we are being much more sensible about what we do grow and trying to only grow things we know are successful here where we live. We have given up on lots including carrots as it's not worth trying, but we always get good crops of leeks, cabbages, courgettes, runner beans (if the pigeons don't eat the young plants) parsnips and soft fruit. I always think if we grow enough of what will succeed here, we'll save enough cash to be able to buy in the things that won't!!! Cheers Lyn x.

D&DD

Dandy quite a few of us here have veg gardens etc and we feel your pain regarding crops over the last few years,some have been dire haven't they?

I still stock up on shop bought stuff if I spot a bargain eg approved foods had dried onions a while back for pennies so I bought these and used the space saved to grow shallots for pickling

Do you have much space? Mine is a tiny garden but I love to cram lol none of this spacings lark here if there's a gap it's filled.

I find one of the best and most reliable crops in the past few years has been the soft fruit and its often one of the priciest around here to buy.
It doesn't need much looking after either.

Elaine I'll take a deep breath tomorrow and post my fiction list I have here..its almost as lengthy as the non fiction!:o

I do love Alex Scarrow,Jonathan Mayberry and Scott Seigler I have way too many books in 'solid form' without what I have to plough through on my kindle..

If anyone is looking for a different kind of zombie book Dying to Live by Kim Pathenroff (and sequel) is brill as is the DogBlood trilogy by David Moody.

BigMummaF

I'm liking the $upa$crimp@ Cha11enge that's been on Ch4 weekdays; lots of tips in the hour on all sorts of things.

A good one t'other day was:-

• Line the underside of two pallets with either weed suppressent fabric or--probably a LOT cheaper--those heavy duty sacks you can get from builders merchants, made of a plastic-type of raffia.
• Place the pallets together, with the 'bottoms' facing each other, & use screws/nails to make a solid join. It's best to build this in the place you intend to keep it as it gets heavy, & to have the slats horizontal to the ground.
  
• Fill the gaps inside the 'bottoms' with soil & plant with whatever you choose. Other plants can go down either side, by making a little hole in the 'liner' between the slats.

I hope you can understand my description of a square, narrow & vertical planter :rotfl: as apparently it is particularly good for herbs, strawberries, tumbling toms & lettuce across the top. It doesn't take up that much room & is easy to water, & obviously a talking point when the neighbours hang over the fence

ginnyknit

I saw that Mumma, it looked a really good idea for strawberries especially. It would certainly brighten up the garden planted with flowers and herbs and be good use of a small space. I have reserved a piece of plastic to give it a go if I can find a couple of pallets.

I am crossing everything that we have a better year, we are due one. 3 years ago I had excellent results and now as I said , have lots more soft fruits mainly for DGS's benefit but they are due a really good crop this year. If you only manage salad stuff and herbs its a huge saving on your shopping bill. I look at it that with minimal outlay every dish of veg is a bonus. My blackberry foraging has been stepped up every year now and thats a real benefit, not just from the pennies saved but the health option of Hm jams and pies. Every jar of simple jam without additives etc is a big thing to me.

The work involved is paid back by seeing DGS peering into the raspberry canes then gently taking a fresh raspberry out of my palm as if its a precious gem.

mysterywoman10

This thread is amazing so many amazing good ideas.

Pigeons are nice to eat though my OH calls them B52's we cover all our crops with nets that we can. Last year was a disaster though but this year isn't set to be much better the way things are going. The ground is just so saturated. All our potatoes are chitted and would normally be in the ground by now. We've had a lot of success with broad beans as well, one of our best crops and they are easy to grow. Last year's crop was well down though on previous years.

A small pond is well worth considering as well, we've bought our frog spawn back from the allotment to stop it freezing, so it's in the shed. We are hoping for a bumper lot of frogs to keep the slugs and snails under control. Our allotment also has communal bees.

OH has an air rifle, but I've yet to led him try it out, but if needs must. His brother in Cornwall rarely buys meat. Shoots his own rabbits, pigeons etc and catches his own fish.

elaine241

Dandy Candy pls dont think the last year is the norm for growing veg! I have grown my own for years and last year was the first I just gave up! The only thing I bothered with was some of my fruit and herbs the veg were disasterous and I just thought sod it and bought Al*i specials and yellow sticker veg that I then froze or processed. But as they say what doesnt kill you makes you stronger! and this year I have taken a deep breath and will start again when Wales thaws out!
DD&D (what does that stand for?) I will wait with bated breath for your list and then see if my library has any of them in stock! I seem to be reading constantly at the moment.

Big MUmma F it sounds useful but I am a bit confused! Superscrimpers have a scrap book on CH4 and maybe that idea is on there with pics to make it clearer for us mentally challenged ones!