THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

DigForVictory

Sudden realisation that this Prepping gig is in no way New - in 1603, Olivier de Serres wrote "No man need ever have an ill-provisioned house if there be but attached to it a dovecot, a warren and a fishpond."

Said man (ahem, person) needs to know what to do with such birds, rabbits & fish as he can catch of course, but 90% of survival swings on knowledge rather than kit.

As for what Monsieur de Serres would do in the event of a zombie apocalypse, let alone TEOTWAWKI, remains an intriguing mystery. In his shoes I'd have added a vineyard & learned to distill spirits. (But then I approve of women being able to brew Mickey Finns.)

thriftwizard

in 1603, Olivier de Serres wrote "No man need ever have an ill-provisioned house if there be but attached to it a dovecot, a warren and a fishpond."

And presumably, some staff to help stock, cull & maintain said dovecot, warren and fishpond?

Karmacat

DigForVictory wrote: »

Sudden realisation that this Prepping gig is in no way New - in 1603, Olivier de Serres wrote "No man need ever have an ill-provisioned house if there be but attached to it a dovecot, a warren and a fishpond."

I still like it, though And staff would be eager to be employed at such a wondrous enterprise :rotfl:

My own non-wondrous enterprise has a lot fewer weeds at the moment, and lower, thinner hedges, and stepping stones made of old pieces of roof tile and concrete to aid in future weeding I can't get over how much work was needed to cut back so that I could start to see the shape of the garden again, and realistically if I'd had to be growing things, I'd be dead of starvation already I have a few priorities this month that have to share my time with the garden, but I'm not letting go of this progress.

[Deleted User]

But it's the beginning of the hungry gap Karmacat and everyones plots look bleak and empty. We still have some leeks but they'll soon start going up to seed, we still have a few parsnips but they're suffering badly with canker and we still have a few celeriac but they're increasingly becoming home to ever increasing colonies of pilly bugs. We can still harvest and use some of them but I'm pretty certain the nutritional value and edible qualities (increasingly fibrous) of the standing crops deteriorate substantially at this time of year. However, to compensate for it nature has sprouted the nettles, the top 6 leaves are what you pick, the dandelions are beginning to sprout new growth, the hairy bitter cress is flowering but the rosettes of leaves are big enough to make it worthwhile gathering them, the cleavers is abundant and the bramble leaves are big enough to harvest for teas as is the new growth from yarrow and this month should see wild garlic in profusion in the places it grows. There are also huge amounts of lawn daisy leaves and increasingly flowers along with primroses and violets both leaves and flowers of both these are edible. All would keep the wolf from the door and provide much needed vitamins and minerals until the new crops of 2017 are ready. Grow mustard and cress on the windowsills indoors, sprout mixed pulses on the windowsills indoors and use up anything you've still got laid down from the autumn and it ought to keep body and soul together!

Man cannot live by it alone BUT the rhubarb on the allotment is on the move and the early stuff will be available to use within the month too!!!

Karmacat

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

But it's the beginning of the hungry gap Karmacat and everyones plots look bleak and empty.

Aww, thank you MrsLW - everything had been submerged in brambles, grass thats snaking along the ground a yard long, that sort of thing I must have dug up more than 100 sets of roots, and there are still plenty that need more work. I *have* uncovered my rosemary and lavender, my single ragwort for a local moth that only eats ragwort, the garlic I planted *two* years ago but wasn't well enough to harvest I've rescued the blackcurrant from the dead, my lemon balm didn't die as I thought it had, one rhubarb plant is going crazy, and the weirdest of all - I have some salad burnet in a little windowsill box put straight onto the ground, and its gone crazy (in a good way) - its even had babies, which I'll try to transplant.

The bleakness was seeing everything so submerged in brambles and grass, it was horrible. Now its not bleak - I can see life :j:j:j I'm much happier

Will plant perennials, and will try some more foraging, but there's still some structural work to do in the garden itself - there's a slight slope, and my soil is slowly disappearing into next door's garden, because there's no retention. Cue old chimney stacks, old bricks, old tiles and unused builder's kipple to reinforce the boundary. Good fences make good neighbours and all that

Save

Si_Clist

A little light reading about "fake news" and so on for those of you into this sort of thing ...

http://jonathanstray.com/networked-propaganda-and-counter-propaganda

mardatha

Don't know Si Clist, I used to get it right from the mill and it was always oiled so we didn't call it anything. Just wool lol.

maryb

Start of the month so I did a bit of a stock up when I went to Leedle. I was rocked back on my heels by how much more the bill was than I was expecting. Either the price difference is a lot less than it used to be or inflation is starting up. Think I'll do a price book and see - I did one about four years ago so it should be a useful comparison although my buying habits have changed since then with DDs growing up etc so hard to compare directly. I'll certainly stock up a bit more than I have been on the basics when I see a price that is a real saving. Not good news unless it's just seasonal. We shall see

mardatha

Yep I had the same kind of thing in Aldi a few weeks ago. Huge shock.

jk0

Recently I have been drawing £200 at the cash point, and receive it all in £10 notes. This has happened at HSBC and Nat West.

Is this another step on the road to withdrawing cash? Presumably if I actually wanted to get £20 or £50 notes to stash somewhere, I would have to go to the counter and explain why. Is that the idea?

Anyone else received loads of £10 notes when asking for much higher values?