THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

dND

mardatha wrote: »

Not had a drop of rain here for weeks. I'm gobmacked !

It's barely stopped here in SW France. 3 months of rain over winter and roughly 2 out of 3 days raining since :eek: It's actually getting very tropical; hot sunshine in the day (finally) followed by massive thunderstorms in the evening.


My wonder now is, what is the knock-on effect for the UK. The ground here isn't warming so if the landmass of Europe is colder going into winter, what will that do to the Jet Stream?


My gut feel is that it will descend and that will track in more winter storms and bring down colder weather from the north. So maybe a return to cold winters with snow (and hopefully not the start of another mini ice-age).


We definitely live in interesting times, (some of them man-made, some not).


Right, no time to sit at the computer, I need to crack on with sorting out the damp that is beginning to permeate the house, something I've never had before in my 11 or so years living here :huh:

Cappella

None here either Mardatha. Our area of Manchester has so far had the driest May/June on record. The allotment and garden are showing it too. Germination was good, but plants are looking stunted despite being watered. It's been forecast but never arrived. Supposed to rain on Thursday and for the gardens sake I really hope it does. Made me realise how much we take it for granted though. There are no hosepipe restrictions yet, but the water buts are almost empty so I'm going to use the hose and fill them before restrictions come in again.

[Deleted User]

We've not had rain for weeks either down here in Hampshire but we are due some on Wednesday according to todays forecast but it will only be light on the back of a weakening weather front coming down from the north. My poor fig tree has only embryonic leaves and all his figs bar one have dropped despite us watering him. I think the ground water table must be very low here at the moment.

GreyQueen

I've been lucky so far, there's been enough rain to keep things a-growing but not enough to keep the water butts topping over.

There was light rain overnight Sat-Sunday, it was hazy until 11.30 am on Sunday when the sun came out and it's been clear blue skies ever since. Things on the lotties are growing gangbusters, good things and bad things.

I was handweeding my parsnips and beetroots on Sunday morning and found a fair few of those small grey slugs. You know what I did, of course..........:rotfl:

On preptastic matters, I am catching up with some undone tasks (oh the joy of annual leave) and then plan to go through my candle stash and remove the really really heavily scented ones to carboot. I have a lot of candles and the stinky ones would be a PITA to deploy in earnest as I'd end up with a splitting headaches from the perfumes in them.

I'd like to find some more of those 100-hour candles as you have a lot of bang for you buck, especially for those of us with tight space constraints.

Hope everyone has a great day, rain or shine, may your gardens flourish. GQ xx

mardatha

We haven't had bright hot sun all the time, we had days and days of luminous bright white mist. I think that helped the plants but it didn't help me lol - was like living in a milk bottle.
dND the Scots weather forum already said we'd be in for a bad winter this year. The fabulous quote from one lady was:
"And as for next winter, here's yer forecast: nae sunspots. Go big in huskies, bread and milk." :D:D

DigForVictory

Yet when I read these words of wisdom to my husband, he grouses that time spent in Costco makes me late for everything including the evening meal.
Some people get really snicketty when you don't realise they have run out of Pepsi Max.

Sons have asked for porridge oats & pot noodle as well as huskies bread & milk... (Not realising *they* are the huskies, seemingly.)

[Deleted User]

A new thread by Cuddlymarm on Preparing for Brexit which seems a very sensible thing to think about, any applicable ideas from us?

Cappella

Mardatha said:

Go big on huskies, bread and milk

Have no huskies sadly but the border terrier makes a very acceptable lap warmer on cold nights. Not too useful at pulling a sledge to rescue us in the event of heavy snowfalls though

MrsLW - haven’t read the thread but am concentrating on making sure that, as always here,mthe pantry and freezer are well stocked, and the Allotment is As productive as possible.
MrC has just taken off 80lbs of honey and the hens are laying well - bit too well - so I think we’ll be ok. Concentrating on eating seasonally and traditionally, and having no waste at the moment, and have plenty of frugal recipes under my belt, just hoping for the best really but also trying to anticipate the worst.

[Deleted User]

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

A new thread by Cuddlymarm on Preparing for Brexit which seems a very sensible thing to think about, any applicable ideas from us?

Organise a street party?

maryb

It struck me again today that part of prepping is anticipating that things might be different next year just as part of the ongoing cycle. Last year was awful for elderflowers but this year you see them wherever you look. So I have been making elderflower cordial while the sun shines. Lots of it. The difficult bit is deciding how much is overkill. I think hindsight will show me I achieved that

And because the elderflowers are so plentiful, I can see me making elderberry syrup in the autumn - folklore suggests its one of the best cough remedies around