THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

[Deleted User]

Which bits are scaremongering Kittie? climate change and unpredictable weather patterns are a fact of life at present and farmers are subject to the rule of both the EU regulations at present (we are a small island, how can we be bound by the same rules as a large European land area?, I've lived there and the weather is quite, quite different to ours) and our own Politicians and civil servants dealing with farming and countryside matters from a desk in London possibly without any prior knowledge of how farming and the countryside actually works. Set aside coming back in to production won't replace all the orchards that have been grubbed out for subsidies for quite a few years, trees take time to mature to the point of fruiting and I doubt there will be appetite to knock down all the buildings that have been put up on what was regarded as surplus to needs farmland. Add in the need to produce greater quantity of all things to feed an ever increasing population and I think farming is in a difficult place right now.

[Deleted User]

cause is the mini ice age, which we are now entering, I spoke about this many years ago. Characterised by rapid swings and a dying sun and is a natural phenomenon.

Beautiful productive orchards near me have been grubbed out and are now flat arable, worked by one or two labourers in big crop-spraying tractors, then the whole lot is cut and immediately transported to the bio digestor. The whole area is now owned by a consortia of young men and women in suits who live in london. The subsidy for them is £000s k, while this is a business and is money for old rope. They must be laughing their heads off while sipping champagne

Once we are out of europe then subsidies will be brought down or removed except for farmers who need them, such as upland livestock farmers. The uk can indeed support itself with agriculture but not peaches, mangoes and aubergines or small green beans in the middle of winter. We are in for a major change and I hope in my lifetime

moneyistooshorttomention

kittie wrote: »

tbh, all this is unnecessary scaremongering and stirring. We are simply going back to the weather we used to have ie more cold and varied but our home growns will have to reflect that ie the os non-exotic fruit and veg. Cabbages, potatoes, raspberries. This sort of diet is far better for us, what we have evolved to eat and yes we go back to fermenting, dehydrating and glass greenhouses to grow the most exotic ie tomatoes and cucumbers. It is about time we stopped growing crops for fuel, used our own farmland and got the able unemployed back to work, picking crops. Farmers and arable subsidies are to blame for most of the farming ills. Lets get back to basics and we, the uk will survive and thrive

By and large I agree with this - though I'm surprised at just how many people that could grow a bit of food themselves and don't (note to self - must see how the sprouting broccoli and kale plug plants are getting on out there:)).

There is a snag re getting "able unemployed" out there picking crops. I can agree in theory obviously - but, in practice, am all too well aware that I would have done my best to get out of doing so during the periods I was unemployed (too much like hard work & out there in all weathers). Hastens to add that I wasnt sitting on my backside - as I was doing a lot of voluntary work - but it was indoor work/of my choice. So, in all fairness, I couldnt push people to do work I know I wouldnt do myself....and a view that's been confirmed by seeing the obvious ill health (by the look of it from arthritic type conditions) of many that spent much of their working life from farm work and the like now that I've moved to a more rural community.

[Deleted User]

I hope one result of leaving the jurisdiction of Europe will be a much greater diversity of the varieties of foods we can grow. Not being subject to only being able to grow half a dozen breeds of wheat for instance and being able once again to grow food for it's flavour and hardiness rather than shelf stability and longevity in storage. It will undoubtedly be a huge and much needed shake up of the system in every conceivable way particularly for the supermarkets and as in wartime there will be a way to feed the nation healthily and perhaps working on the land will not be accompanied by the same stigma it seems to have now and our young folks will feel that same pride in being part of the agricultural community that our forebears did and actually want to be part of the farming community again.

It would be very nice to see herds of milking and beef cattle grazing the fields again and sheep on the uplands and marshes the way did many years ago wouldn't it?

DigForVictory

Reminds me, I still have not yet wassailed my apple trees nor had a thoughtful look at the plum, nor yet taken cuttings from the edible hedge (hazel, gooseberry, tayberry, almost anything that'll stand & bear fruit & possibly prickle the neighbours).

These things take time to really get into production, so I think part of my Easter worship will be trying to get more plants propagating.
(Says she with a dehydrator & several packs of apple rings from last year left, but only by diligent self discipline!)

I'd love to see more animals grazing in the fields - in this valley the escape artists graze on the verges.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm not aware of any stigma of working on the land. It may be going right over my head. Personally - I admire those that do = provided they are doing things "naturally" (ie organically etc).

I just know it sounds like a lot of hard physical work - and hence avoiding it personally.

Karmacat

kittie wrote: »

cause is the mini ice age, which we are now entering, I spoke about this many years ago. Characterised by rapid swings and a dying sun and is a natural phenomenon.

kittie, I'm not sure where your information comes from, but the sun isn't dying ... it's approximately 4.5 billion years old, about halfway through its lifetime. I'm no authority on the shorter swings it undergoes, but I'm pretty sure on this.

mar, I'm totally shocked that you grow the green stuff :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

The allotment losses where folks think it's fine and dandy to just wander in and help themselves are happening already even down here where we do still have jobs and on the odd occasion we find that a lorry has been driven in and a gang put in to take all of a particular crop, in one very odd year it was blackcurrants and every single bush on site was stripped overnight and also one Christmas the lorry gang stripped every holly tree in the village, be it on the footpaths or in folks gardens, even one overhanging the allotment track. We have the reverse of our livestocks getting out and grazing on the verges, the livestocks here are roe deer in quite significant numbers who not only decimate front gardens and also back gardens if you leave the gate unlocked but get in on to the allotment plots despite there being deer fencing all round and munch their little heads off there too, compounded by a couple of muntjack who can get in almost anywhere and boy do they have a hearty appetite!!!

[Deleted User]

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Is anyone else planning on getting in a very good stock of tinned fruit and veg just in case we get some crop failures or shortages this year?

Dried rice and pasta are useful store-cupboard additions.

Aldi Everyday Essentials spaghetti is currently 19p per 500g packet, and has a very impressive BBE date, if you take any notice of those things.

[Deleted User]

My Geiger Counter has been dispatched. :j