Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

A small jar of honey for wounds and burns and some peppermint tea for billious days also maybe some ginger tea for the same. Glucose tablets for the BOB if you can have them, give you instant energy and are very light to carry.

JayneC

Hi all,

Not seen the volcano prog but will take a look thanks for the mention.

Re: the grid getting to the point of not coping, this is what prompted bro to get a genny and he has 'insider' knowledge of the industry so knows what he's talking about.

Mar - I live next to the North Yorkshire Moors, (t'other side of Yorkshire from pineapple tho) I love it here:D

Mrs L apparently the vastness in choice of food has led to us eating less variety as we can stick to the same old thing all year round. Locally grown seasonal food would probably be much more varied as we'd have to eat what was in season rather than choose the same thing all the time.

On my dog walking wanderings I've been looking out for forageable (not sure that's a real word:p??) foods in my locality. Found garlic mustard, more wild raspberries and wood sorrel today. I was thinking that there's not much around but then when I actually started thinking about it there's actually quite a lot. I thought I'd make a note of what I found and where. Off the top of my head as well as today's finds there was; wild garlic, shaggy inkcap mushrooms, hawthorn, brambles, rowan, elder, sweet cicely, cleavers, yarrow, chickweed, plantain, nettles, apple, medlar, cherries, sloes, wild strawberries, feverfew. There's also an ornamental bush that I can't remember the name of but I know the berries are edible.

Most of this is growing on the park at the top of the street and others are within a half hour walk. I'm sure there will be more, I must start varying my walking routes to see what else I can find
I also live on the coast so there's some seaweeds and shellfish as well as crabs and actual fish (mackerel I believe are easily caught here).

Definitely think that it's colder for longer now. There was a sharp frost when I walked doggie last night (around midnight as I'd been babysitting for DD2) grass was sparkly white with it. A few years ago you could be fairly confident that danger of frost had passed by end of April, now it seems there's regular frosts throughout. Most of the trees are still leafless and blossoms are only just coming out.

Whilst babysitting I occupied myself by watching documentaries as I do (it's the only time I get to do it;)). There was Collapse, basically about how the financial system as well as oil supply are both on the brink of failing sprinkled with corruption within the USA govt depts ( the guy was ex CIA). Then End of the Road, about the impending collapse of currency and dirty dealings and corruption around gold sales and price fixings, rounded off with A Crude Awakening, about how we've peaked with oil production now and yet many of the worlds developing countries are just getting started in massive oil consumption, so the downward slope is probably going to be great deal steeper than the ascent. A cheery evening all round:p They're all on Netflix if you want to take a look. Very interesting.

[Deleted User]

I think if the climate changed and growing conditions changed along with it, as they probably would, what I meant was that we would have to make do with the food that WOULD grow, and not have the choices available to us at present, of locally grown foods, not imports. Does that make sense? I suppose changed growing conditions might mean that we could grow different crops to those we do now, but I'm not sure what. We would have to see which things were successful and which weren't at the time.

katieclampet

Some interesting points about growing food and climate/weather changes. However I wonder whether there is actually enough arable land to grow enough food for everyone? I have no idea of the figures but I find it difficult to imagine producing enough to feed everyone at our current population levels.

I also read the article in the DM, about applainces which monitor output and could be switched off if power demands are too high. Another reason to stick with my basic, but functional appliances!

katie

ps horrible wet, windy and COLD weather here today.

mardatha

Think I'm doomed to a life of turnip and kale then Mrs L...:eek::eek::eek:

D&DD

I suppose it'd be a lot different Lyn even now you're hearing of crops failing in places where they've always grown certain things..

It makes sense to try and eat locally and seasonally I may ponder this further a bit this evening and come up with a few menu plans made with just british grown or homegrown produce for a week or two and see how my lot cope,I don't think we'd have too much trouble apart from the usual problem of his nibs' strawberries!!

As I said before I think bread would be our sticking point here too as Hovis already said they can't source british wheat for their bread atm due to a poor harvest..

Just thinking off the top of my head I suppose bananas and pineapples would be off menu,although there are growers here in the U.K now for most other fruits

Will have to dig out my wartime books and see what sort of things they were short of then that they couldn't grow themselves.

JayneC

You probably have a point Mrs L

Katie I think using current methods of production would likely mean that it would be difficult to grow enough. However if different growing methods such as permaculture were used and all available land ie amenity land such as parks and communal green areas were given over to edible growing I think we could produce enough. Also current methods are wasteful as around half of all produce is discarded at farm level as it's the wrong size, mis-shapen, blemished, etc, etc, but entirely edible. Plus we (as a nation) supposedly throw away around a third of the food we buy, so I think that we could easily produce enough if we weren't so wasteful. It would probably mean that more people would have to take responsibility for producing their own or get together within the community to work together. Which is no bad thing IMO.
It's also worth considering trying to grow more perennial crops as these are generally more resilient and on a plus require less energy and maintenance too.

Is anyone else having the feeling that there's more urgency these days. I've been recognizing for a while that things are likely to get bumpy with peak oil and climate change,etc but there definitely feels like there's more urgency to have things in place. Maybe it's just me??

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

Mrs LW, I have been forced to interact with the Minions of Satan (aka the TV Licensing authority) yet again last week as they were threatening me with court.

Firstly, the people sending you the letters aren't the TV Licensing Authority.

They are a private company, operating under the trade mark "TV Licensing", which is owned by the BBC.

Secondly, have you signed one of their question and answer forms, when visited?

Could you please tell us, how the letter begins?

daz378

are theTPTB reminding us that the days of taking the basics for granted are gradually ending ... or is just the media picking up on the societal consciousness .... 27% unemployment in spain , increase in the use of foodbanks .......been checking up on my stock/tub of batteries ... low on AAs and some tripleAs run out this year , 4 packs of AAs when i next go out... arent my sunday nights very exciting

[Deleted User]

pineapple wrote: »

It shouldn't be up to us to try to convince them.

It isn't up to us to convince them of anything.

They have no power of entry and, contrary to the impression given in their letters, they cannot make you allow them to caution you, nor can they make you submit to an interview.

My advice is to just ignore the letters, and the people they send to knock at your door.

Don't answer the door to them.

If you do accidentally open the door to them, close it again without answering any questions, and don't, under any circumstances, SIGN ANYTHING.