THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

[Deleted User]

my beans are just about finished but they (moonlight) have provided enough for meals for the whole winter and beyond. I took two plants out and chopped them for my hotbin, which was full to the brim last night but very hot. Four bean plants left to go, I never leave winter prepping to the last minute, I hate having to do it in vile weather

There is an elderberry tree on the way in and a blackberry running through it and such a fermenting smell around it now, with dropping fruit. If I were a wasp I would be in there, munching but I don`t see wasps, yet. Bumble bees have reduced in number, from spring

So what today? It seems as though the prepping day seems to evolve with my mood. Maybe I will just be checking my food stores, flours and so on

ivyleaf

kittie wrote: »

ivyleaf, the rollers are at the top and bottom of each glass shower door. The doors each move and they meet in the middle. The rollers are fixed to the screen and run in a groove :cool:

Oh I see! Thank you for explaining. I haven't seen that type of curved screen, only the type that you see on a P-shaped bath, that swings outwards to give you enough room to get into the bath, so I couldn't think what sort of rollers you meant

ivyleaf

maryb wrote: »

It has a real end of summer feel at the moment, doesn't it? All the berries are out on the hawthorns and cotoneasters and I never remember it being this early

My hellebore already has a flower bud on it :eek:

thriftwizard

Actually, when you think about it, it's a bit scary that the Daily Wail and Hexpress haven't published their usual scare stories about a ghastly winter being en route. Surely it's normally this time of year when they first forecast metres of snow? The fact that that hasn't happened makes me want to stock up on salt & snowboots...

maryb

Lol yes, one year they'll get it right.

I was thinking it must be because the spring was so warm the whole cycle had shifted earlier but then I was out walking today and I saw loads of elderberries, quite ripe. And yet I remember the elderflowers were in bloom until quite late on

[Deleted User]

straight from the horses mouth this morning, farmers, two elderly farmers, farmed locally all their lives. They said that this is the earliest in living memory for the change in season. The dryers are on as they have had to take their arable crops in, the straw is still wet and cannot be baled so the heaters and conveyors are on full blast. Must be costing them a fortune as normally the combines whizz around each field and do all the work in one pass. I was just on my way back up to the allotment after having a gentle look at my parsnips this morning. Blimey heck, I managed to get one out then, it was about 15" and I know I cannot prise these things out if the get bigger, sticky clay further down

Now I have 1/3 of my parsnip crop up and have prepped for winter ie cut, little boil, part roasted and frozen. I`m going to get another 1/3 up tomorrow, as I see more large plants there. I`ll leave the smaller ones for a week or so but I want to get a green crop in and get it all tucked away under cover for winter as soon as

I also have a hellebore in bud and am going to be very careful squeezing past the elderberry bush as hungry wasps will be swooping very soon. More maintenance prep soon, sika wood preservative has arrived, luckily I can spray that on. I am prepped up to the hilt tbh, as much as I can be. Its been very hard work for the past few months but the upside is the forthcoming hibernation

maryb

Kittie do you still get Piers Corbyn's weather forecasts? Did you find them reliable?

Back last time we had a bad winter I seem to recall you got some very nice snow boots. Do you remember what make they were? Mine have a hole so I might spring for some new ones - that should guarantee a mild winter!!

elona

I found a blog by David King who forecasts based on what nature is doing and he says everything is 21 days ahead , that there might be good weather in Mid October but a very hard winter.

Youngest dd phoned at 4.30 to say she was driving down to stay with me tonight so had a mad dash upstairs to change the bed , put out nice towels and refresh the upstairs bathroom.

Put a wash on with her pjs and towels etc and the machine halted just before the end, got stuck and the door won't open :eek: Decided to leave it tonight and try again tomorrow.

The machine is about seven years old and has started to get a bit unreliable and has done this before a couple of times so rather than have the aggravation I bit the bullet and ordered a new Bosch machine which arrives on Monday.

Really should not plan to start saving as every time I do something needs fixing or replacing. :mad:

GreyQueen

In my part of the forest, the rowans have had fruits on them for ages, the blackberries have been producing for weeks already and the allotment already has that autumn-ish look to it as things go over and ground is being cleared and prepped. In the last few days, the leaves of the various curcubits (all jumbled in one big bed, pumpkin, squash and courgettes mixed together) have started to go. Mind you, that bed has been incredibly productive and I was startled into swearing last night when I saw the size of some of the stuff lurking there, never succeeded so well with butternut squash.

Every August, there is a day when I sense autumn. It can be early, mid or late month. It's hard to quantify in words, a degree of extra dewiness before the sun burns it off, a slight chill in the air, mayhap the distant aroma of a bonfire, the slight crispy browning around the edge of leaves...........

I'm now on holiday for a 2.5 weeks and will be using the time to do a number of things. Firstly, while the air is still relatively dry, I will put wood treatment on the shed and on the cold frame. The latter needs a minor repair to its planking on one end, Mum took the measurements a few weeks ago and will be cutting and drilling out the screw holes in her workshop shed, and I will bring the finished planks home and do the work. I also have some fencing posts ready to replace rotten posts - I have two 33 m fencelines which are a hot-potch of scrounged materials, and bought ones, as and when funds become available. I jokingly call them Trigger's Fences.

I'm starting to plan my planting for October (broad beans onto the curcubit bed, I think) and also to think about next year's planting. Before then, various soil improvements, an ongoing project, will be undertaken, specifically the strategic use of bonfire ash and the additon of more barley grains.

I have also got agreement-in-principle that if the next door plotholder gives up (in conversation, they have indicated a possibility of leaving the area) I have first-refusal of their half-plot. A friend is very interested in co-working it with me and we're getting a bit excited about planning 'our farm'.:rotfl:

I'm wryly amused at the preppers who think that when SHTF, then they'll start gardening, as if any random piece of ground can be transformed, instanter, into a productive veggie patch and as if there is no skill to managing plants (and perserving the surpluses for later use).

As to whether the winter will be a hard one, I hope not, as this country has a shocking surplus of winter deaths over normal mortality, compared with much colder places. Also, due to extended supply lines and JIT groceries, many will be ill-prepared for shortages due to roads being blocked.

I will be going to a bootsale this coming Sunday and I have a small but select list of wants, including a few more small water carriers (10 litres would be ideal) as I intend to switch out the current majority method of using 2 litre bottles, as they can be awkward in certain places.

[Deleted User]

I`m prepping in a subtle and different way today, instead of savings just happening, I am going to be actively saving from today. Starting by transferring some savings to an account where I get 1%. Not brilliant at all but I like these no nonsense accounts where money is not tied up long term. A house move will be on the cards and yes I know it is more difficult with age but it will happen, so I am saving for that, with the help of m/s money, helping me plan ahead. Its exciting as well as daunting but at least saving is a positive move forward

In the meantime, I am going to continue to lift and prep large parsnips today and second week in september will spray to preserve all my remaining external wood. I have early eating apples, all off the tree but these earlies don`t store for long, so this weekend I will set to and dehydrate them. On the farming news this morning about the difficulties wrt crops rotting and that is the case here, they are managing to get crops in but only now really suitable for animal feed. The ones who only grew for the bio digestor are laughing as their income is safely in their pockets. To me, growing specifically for the digestor, instead of food crops, is so wrong but it is all about money