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THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

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  • Karmacat
    Karmacat Posts: 39,460
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    AOT sorry to hear that about your transport problems - my mum was very lucky with the buses round her, there were so many people with mobility problems using the bus to get to the shops, the drivers got used to waiting till everyone was safely seated.

    I still pay on the buses, when they're available, and the big news for me is that a Sunday service between my town and the town my sister lives in is being reinstated :j it will finish at 6pm or so, as it does during the week, but neither of us are keen on parting later than that for ordinary visits, so no problem.

    We've also been talking about inflation ... I've just ordered an Asda delivery for Wednesday (and I managed to get a £1 delivery slot, even at this notice, very pleased!) and the smartprice tinned potatoes have gone up from 20p to 32p! What was that about a 2% inflation rate?
    2023: the year I get to buy a car
  • Thank you MrsLW, for recipes and seeds. We have dodgy internet access here, so I have lost several prospective posts, and not always bale to reply promptly.


    I somehow feel happier using plants I have reared myself, as I know the Castle grounds are exercise space for many doggies (and their owners!), including Bonnie and me. The leaves are looking very healthy, I will wait for the flowers, and then see about the various recipes. I think I read somewhere that the plant is called Alexanders as it was used in his army's horse feed, then later the seeds arrived in Britain courtesy of the Roman army in their sacks of horse feed. A good story anyway! and obviously a very useful plant.


    The old medieval garden area has lots of useful forage plants, including a huge walnut tree (the nuts usually disappear rapidly in September ?squirrels, ?children), brambles, rowan, elderberry, and little wild plums, perfect for adding to gin.
  • ivyleaf
    ivyleaf Posts: 6,431
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    They are often found in the ruins of monasteries and castles as they were grown as a 'pot herb' and were brought to the UK by the Romans when they first invaded the island. They grow very well in coastal areas and are amongst the first plants to show leaf in the spring the Latin name is Smyrnium Olusatrum.

    Oh, thank you! i'm surprised that I've got to my age and not come across them.
  • stoozie1
    stoozie1 Posts: 656 Forumite
    Delurking to ask a question.

    I harvest wild garlic for pesto, but as mentioned above I have some concerns about the patch being on a very common dog-walking area. I usually rinse them in cold/hot/cold/hot water until it runs clear and then cook til 90degrees C.

    Do the preppers here feel this is adequate?

    Thanks in advance!
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  • ArthriticOldThing
    ArthriticOldThing Posts: 534
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    edited 25 April 2017 at 8:57AM
    Karmacat, when I first moved here nearly 30 years ago the bus service was fantastic and so much better than where I had come from. Unfortunately over the years the number of buses has been reduced drastically and some made to cover such large routes than they cannot be relied on. The long journeys mean that drivers often get behind time and speed around to try and catch up. Not good if people are unsteady on their feet as I am.

    I've noticed the inflating prices!! Relying on online shopping as I do I've also noticed that the cheapest delivery price had increased from £1 to £2 - with a minimum spend of £40!!!!

    Prepping now for me is very necessary as am unable to go out often so must have a good store cupboard.
    Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, Do without.
  • jk0
    jk0 Posts: 3,479
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    Anyone else noticed the headlines about Britain no longer using coal for electricity generation?

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/21/britain-set-historic-first-coal-free-day-since-industrial-revolution/

    It's not just a one-off. It seems to be ongoing: http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

    As I type, we are generating 19 GW out of 38GW demand with gas. We used North Sea gas that would have lasted us for 100 years of cooking & central heating to generate electricity back in the nineties. Now we are (presumably) using someone else's. This while there is still coal in the ground.

    I know politics, climate change and CO2 obsession is behind this. However, this seems dreadfully wasteful to me.

    I should declare an interest here, as I have shares in Drax. Even that is a fiasco though. They now import wood chips from America to burn instead of coal.

    Any thoughts?
  • mardatha
    mardatha Posts: 15,612 Forumite
    I think it's incredibly stupid. Because some politician wants to be seen as the saviour of the planet - while half the planet is still burning coal like mad - we have to all sit on our coal seams and pay through the nose for expensive heating!! It's ok for the politicians, they can afford it. But it's not moneysaving and it's not sensible! Look how many jobs were lost when the pits closed, how much tax income the govt lost, and how much coal India, China, and the rest of them are still burning daily. To me it's incredibly short sighted and wasteful... plus all our utility companies are now foreign-owned, we are paying through the nose for heating and the profits are going abroad.
  • I wonder if there's been a study on the comparison between the carbon released from burning coal and the carbon released when burning wood that has been grown, processed and then transported round the globe to where it will be burned to produce electricity? The real answer of course is to reduce our consumption of electricity en masse and to insulate our homes properly, be aware of how long we spend under a shower, how much electricity is consumed by leaving things on standby, how many gadgets we all have that are powered by electricity etc. etc. IF we all used less, put on an extra couple of layers instead of running our homes so warm, had less of an obsession with showering/bathing at least once a day and learned (as our forebears did) to wear our clothes more than once before automatically throwing them into the washing machine and then the rumble drier every time we might, only might slow global warming and leave this poor planet in a better state for our children and grandchildren. The global economy wouldn't like that though, not so much profit for the big power suppliers and their shareholders, oh deary me, how sad that would be!!!
  • jk0
    jk0 Posts: 3,479
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    Yes, you are correct Mrs L. http://www.thegwpf.com/this-green-make-believe-is-devastating-our-environment-and-our-budgets/

    However, the laws that subsidise wood pellets ignore the CO2 from transporting them.
  • I've been pondering all day a thought that popped into my head after seeing a discussion on the news this morning. Topic was cars and insurance and the 'expert' was talking about how cars nowadays are so technical that the crumpled bumper of 40 years ago now contains sensors, parking aids, lots of High tech electronics and expensive materials and on top of that the manufacturer of the vehicle is likely to demand that the damaged vehicle be mended and sorted out at a regional repair centre of their choice and when we checked for our car (not needed just a paper exercise) we'd have to take it to Basingstoke and if we didn't they would actually charge us £500 for NOT using their repair centre, outrageous!!! 40 years ago we'd have gone to the breakers yard and He Who Knows would have replaced it himself on the drive!

    Where this is leading is to simplicity in all things as much as life in 2017 allows you to be. We live a relatively simple life, our needs and wants are pretty much what we have and we are content with that. We supply as much of our daily food as we can, gets a bit samey when some of the crops are giving us 'plenty' but being inventive with flavourings makes even a glut of courgettes acceptable. We don't hanker after lots of exotic and far flung holidays or trips, having said that we're going to Iceland for a week or so this summer but we're doing B & B and driving ourselves about rather than expensive hotels. We aren't into clothes, leastwise we buy practical and hardwearing things when we DO need to replace something but not for their beauty, only for their longevity and protectiveness hopefully they are warm and comfortable too and waterproof, can't be doing with leaky coats or boots. We are quite happy to buy second hand, I absolutely adore finding a 'treasure' to me at a charity shop or a boot fair and books, oh yes, life without books is unthinkable and virtually all of mine have come second hand and they are valued as jewellery would be to some folks. SO, a simpler life and how to achieve it in the material world of out Jonesing the Joneses but being much happier with the Good Life would seem to be a very good thing to try for in 2017 and it might be a good time to take a long hard look at what Is and Isn't actually necessary in your lives for happiness, comfort and wellbeing and maybe reorganise your values and ambitions and adjust your horizons back to where you can find them closer to home and start to live a little less well???
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