THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

maryb

Oh and use the sawdust from cutting and splitting our logs plus ash from the fire to fill the hole

Cappella

It would depend how long it lasted I think. We have a compost loo on the allotment, and many bags of sawdust. Not too hard to rig one up here in the shed, disposal would have to be in a large hole well away from the house though and our garden here is only just big enough. Need to give this a bit more thought.
Water wouldn't be a major problem. There's a spring on the allotment and it's fit to drink (had it tested). We could refill our 5 gallon containers and barrow it to the house at a pinch, though I'd be more inclined to move cooking operations down there. Moving large containers of water at a time of possible civil unrest would be very risky surely? We have camping cookers and trangias plus the open fires and a trivet and we also have a wood burner in our biggest allotment shed. Lots of beeswax candles already made and we have plenty of wax, wicking and mounds to make more (we currently have 7 hives) so lighting would be covered.
We also have, as MrC has just reminded me, (he only just remembered:o) an outside cast iron 'hearth' dating back to the time we were Medieval re-enactors. Must empty the shed here and see if it's in reasonable condition though. Haven't thought about it for years!!
Think we'd be ok for several weeks, wouldn't like to have to dispose of toilet waste for much longer though.

pineapple

Well I would already have a good supply of solid fuel but I would try getting my hands on more. Plus I would go scavenging for wood. But I also think my neighbours would help out - they are the farming Arthur Daleys of Cumbria and can get their hands on anything! There is also a river close by - time to test my water purifiers.
I love my multifuel stove. The flue is at the rear which means I have the entire top for pans/kettle.
I find wood too expensive though - plus I think it is more difficult to keep the stove on overnight. Have been using smokeless Hetas approved fuel which is also expensive but recently discovered a low ash low smoke alternative at half the price. It was recommended by my chimney sweep who assures me it is safe for my stove and chimney liner.
As for sewage well I don't have a sewage service anyway. Me and next door share a septic tank..
Btw did anyone post on this? With Brexit and possible higher import costs in mind Morrisons are on a push to recruit local suppliers so they could be back to more seasonal local veg. Every cloud and all that...

[Deleted User]

I hope that they won't subject local suppliers to the same stupid cosmetic standards they impose on the farmers they use to supply fruit and veg now??? I'll never understand why a straight carrot is superior to a twisty one, a carrot is a carrot is a carrot and they all look the same in soup!!!

Si_Clist

Living_proof wrote: »

... the worst part of the process was clearing up all the 'slaters' which seemed to get into the logs!

Sorry, but I have to ask ...

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I'm sad, I covet lorry loads of logs that pass us on the road, I covet a stack of wood ...

Well in that case, here's some log !!!!!! for you

[Deleted User]

Oh my goodness that is BEAUTIFUL!!! how very cleverly done, thank you !

Slaters, Pilly Bugs, Chuggypigs are all colloquial names for Woodlice!

westcoastscot

mardatha wrote: »

I burn smokeless eggs, 2 bags a week @ £17 a bag. But that heats my radiators, my livingroom, my stone walls, gives me tons of hot water, and dries my washing overnight. I use hardly any elect and there is no gas here. For us, we think it's expensive but worth it in comfort, too many powercuts up here to depend on electric heating. Also I can burn a lot of my rubbish too which saves ua ll work.

We're the same, but £18 a bag, and we have a load of logs every couple of months for about £70. Our stove is on 24/7 - I clean it out once or twice a week, so it's very little work for the joy it brings :-)

ALIBOBSY

OH and I are after a log burner, we have a friend who is a qualified fitter and in fact has had hubby as a labourer so to speak on jobs with heavier, bigger stoves so we could probably do it fairly cheaply. But everytime we save up something more urgent seems to come up and clear us out :mad:

Not sure about the scenario, have one of those camping stoves and a supply of gas bottles and a bbq. Plus a store of bottled water and canned/packet food, but a long time without even water we can boil would be tough.

We are in walking distance of a river and have a carrier, but again would be hard work, although no different to what many people in other countries do not sure I would risk the stuff from the water butt-could put tubs out to catch rain tho.

Dependant on time of year we would have some fresh veg from the garden and eggs from the chickens.

Mind you on a more positive note just watched Sarah Beeny on channel 4 declare that we live in the "uk's best place to live" .

Kids and I screaming at them showing our high street and our lovely park :j Even some of the streets we drove home down just a few hours ago :cool:

Annoyed my eldest as she was pointing out the high number of jobs as OH and I turned to him and asked see we told you there are jobs here, go get one-blown his excuses out the window lol.

Ali x

thriftwizard

In MrsLw's scenario. we wouldn't struggle too mightily. We have the stove & plenty of logs stored, although it's a multi-fuel model anyway, but I like to use the ash on the garden. Time of year would be a consideration; in summer, heating shouldn't be necessary, only cooking & making water safe, but even in winter we're not that cold down here that plenty of layers wouldn't keep us warm. Especially if those layers included some good old-fashioned wool. We have a number of solar lamps and lamp-strings, enough to navigate round the house at night and do a bit of task-lighting.

Water is available from a nearby chalk-stream, and we have plenty of camping water-carriers; I'd play safe & boil it or use a drop of Milton, but it is pretty clean to start with. In summer I'd probably cook outdoors & have a number of different options for achieving that; a pot-belly BBQ stove which can do a lot more than just BBQ, a Kelly Kettle, camping stoves, the van etc. etc. and I'd rather like to build myself a pizza oven too.

However, there are a lot of issues that would come up if the situation went on for more than a few days - washing, for example. It'd be worth thinking about how we might have to arrange our lives differently if we had to do with limited power for some time...

ALIBOBSY

On the theme of us living with plenty I recall reading that pretty much all of us living in western countries are in the top 1% of world income.

Puts things into perspective when you think 99% of the world would see even the poorest of us as "rich" or "well off".

Ali x