THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Karmacat

GreyQueen wrote: »

Keep the rowan. I think in folklore it protects your home from witches. Or being struck by lightening? One of those things.

Awww ... not in that place, GQ - its only a foot from the back door, which is on the side of the house. It just doesn't work, sorry There are two on the rec. ground outside my house. I'll go sing songs to them

I have come over all unnecessary and am going to bed shortly. GQ x

Ouch, glad you're taking care of yourself



xxx

thriftwizard

And, while you're waiting for Armageddon, you can have some fun/hone your skills in the back yard with it.

You've seen our garage door, then, where some of the Offpring practised their undoubted skills... but we won't mention what happened when their friend, an ex-Guardsman, trotted home with his air-rifle held jauntily over his shoulder. To be fair, they allowed the residents back onto the estate before midnight....

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I also left out the bit that if anybody is taking potshots around here and they're spotted, the local constabulary will be informed that the pellets are indeed leaving the boundaries before yet another cat, fox or another small child is wounded or killed. I have used the things for humane pest control and I'm a damn good shot. but I have no time at all for them being used in an urban setting.


***********

I'm going to be poorer again in the morning.

I'm buying a decent tent. Sensible man, he came in from the garden and asked if I could look at the one he was thinking about replacing it with. Too small, single skin and barely waterproof - I've had experiences of waking up in a tent where it is raining inside, getting a soggy sleeping bag from condensation and being so cold I though I was going to die of hypothermia. Plus the obligatory getting frostbite, getting soaked and contracting a severe respiratory illness due to parental stupidity regarding camping with the Guides (no, of course the equipment list is just made up to cost money, it has nothing to do with keeping children warm, dry and healthy, she will be fine with a nylon bag from 1969 :cool:). The replacement will actually be waterproof. And I am sorely tempted by the special offer on Polar Proof in the shop for my fleece and hat.


In other news, I've got another pound of blackberries to stick in the freezer.

Cappella

Jojo - Good camping equipment can make the difference between a fortnight of misery and a fortnight of good cheer. I've always loved camping but it's just not possible now. Which festival are you planning to go to?

I'm still picking a lot of brambles, but will have to stop soon. I've filled a freezer shelf with apple and bramble wartime recipe crumbles and pies, made jams, jellies and cordials and there are still tons on the bushes. I'm wondering what they'd be like dehydrated, but the seeds put me off.
I'm planning to spend the day prepping for winter and making three new draft excluders. There are very noticeable gaps under our internal doors since, after some hard thinking, we had the carpets replaced with this vinyl planking (lots of spillages when MrC's hands get shaky we're making it harder to clean easily). I need to think about making thicker curtains with thermal blackout linings for the living room as well. The present ones are very old, very thin and I doubt they'll survive another washing.

DigForVictory

Hear hear to proper camping gear - Himself is something of an armchair mountaineer but that kit made a significant difference when the path was undercut beneath him & he fell 10' into a meltwater stream. He was not hypothermic despite a 6 hour wait for the mountain rescue to come & haul him off his side of the mountain while they were practicing on the other side. A minor fact that made pinning his broken leg bones much easier for the hospital. (To give you an idea of how he loves his kit, he took the relevant boot off to prevent "some scalpel wielding enthusiast" from having to cut it off him [said from his bed in A&E, awaiting said enthusiast to come & inspect the job], and complained on my arrival that they'd cut his new Ron Hills... I made eye contact with the chief nurse, rolled my eyes, said "there there" a bit while the pethedine got a grip & then had a guided tour of the X rays from the relevant nurse. Then got his full rucksack off the floor, onto a commode & adjusted so I could justabout walk carrying it. Happy times...

Means our lads putter off to Scout camp with mostly military surplus green kit, (some sandy outbreaks!) and are required to account for every item coming back. They've learned young not to shrug if the headtorch isn't where they thought it was.

I checked Wikipedia on the rowan & while it has definite associations with doors, you can get away with quite a lot under folklore especially if you reference absent other-country relatives... Says she cheerfully eyeballing handy recipes & thinking this one has the widest range of uses.

Oh aye, Bob, this is on the splashscreen of some software I use:
"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible exceptions of handguns and Tequila.
Mitch Ratcliffe"

My axe throwing is unlikely to put meat on the table, but I treat the neighbours with caution.

Karmacat

I like that recipe, DfV! Especially the attitude I'd certainly pick the rowans on the opposite side from the road, if you see what I mean, and there's a huge hawthorn that gets weighed down with haws and thats right in the middle of our little nature reserve.


I've been out for 4 hours or so to a local village that has lots of arty associations, nothing really prepperish, but we stopped at a garden centre for a cuppa tea - my cake was rhubarb and rosehip flavour, and I can't tell you how delicious it was! And they were discounting their herbs. I got one mint full price at £4, because I want that version, and I got two small leaved mint and one fennel, all four for a total price of £7.98. V pleased

pennib

I've come out of hibernation for a while as there was talk about bottling/jams etc. As we have such a lot of apples and not enough freezer room to keep it all I bottle them in jam jars. Just opened one from 2016 and still alive! :T Also did it with rhubarb. Tried with runner beans....a big failure, couldn't get rid of all the salt.

Scrimps

Ive been re- lurking on this thread recently. We're expecting our second child and its kicked the prepping into gear. DH is also more on board than he used to be. Nothing major but I like to just ensure I always have enough food in the house if the shops run out (it took a long time for the southwest to restock during the winter snow) or we dont get paid for a month or something, we will have enough.

Im also prepping for two hungry mouths to feed in the coming years and have been looking at buying fruit trees for the garden. I eat a lot of apples so will be putting a couple of small ones in, and a pear tree also. Im not sure about plum trees - Im a bit worried about excessive wasps. We already grown a bit of veg but the slugs get a lot of it. Our garden isnt particularly productive due to my lack of input tp be honest so I really want to up that and really working on the slug and snail population! Nemaodes have helped with the slugs and i really need to start snail patrols when its wet, they took all my young carrots! I used to be able to kill them but cant bring myself to do it now so I will relocate them to the local grassland.

If anyone has any thoughts re the fruit trees/productive and a prepping to be able to feed yourself as much as possible with a small family, id love to hear them.

Living_proof

Scrimps wrote: »

If anyone has any thoughts re the fruit trees/productive and a prepping to be able to feed yourself as much as possible with a small family, id love to hear them.

Hi Scrimps, year after year I see apples on trees left to rot so this year I asked on Freecycle if anyone had a surplus could I have them. A lovely lady with seven apple trees contacted me and I took away 40lbs after just an hour or so of picking. There were plenty left but I am still ploughing through processing them. I find the best way is to keep a few for eating and then stew them with skins on in the slow cookers and then use a hand liquidiser to mash them. I have a dehydrator so can dry them as fruit leathers which will keep for ages if kept dry and can either be rehydrated for apple sauce etc. or put in a smoothie, etc. I have even cut them into strings and used as sweets (although there is no sugar added, just cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves). If you have the freezer space you could of course freeze them raw and cook them at leisure. In the meantime, the apple trees you have planted will be gradually coming into their own.

moneyistooshorttomention

Re plum trees - I've got a couple and I just find wasps a problem if a bird has had a go pecking at ripe plums. In those cases - I just have to be a little cautious in case a wasp is feasting on the pecked plums. They don't touch the non-pecked ones.

So - I would say that it's not a problem - as long as you pick up any lying on the ground pretty quickly - in case they are of the pecked variety (just in case of a feeding wasp). Also take a good look at ones you are about to pick from the tree or be ultra-cautious and wear gardening gloves/rubber gloves when picking just in case.