Emergency Preparedness Guides

[Woody girl]

Perhaps it’s a topic that’s allowed on prepping forums, then? As far as I’m aware, it’s against the Bushcraft UK forum rules, though perhaps I can be corrected on that.

Let's not get snippy, it was a great thread untill now.
Let's bring it back to practicalities. The politics don't matter, they can be discussed privately with family and friends, we are all aware of them. It's the ideas that matter. The hints and tips we can give that may not have been thought about by others.
Personaly I like this thread and would hate to see it shut down because someone gets nippy about things.
Please,
We need to stick together and support each other, not bite heads off, or have huffy fits.

 

[Chris]

Let's not get snippy, it was a great thread untill now.
Let's bring it back to practicalities. The politics don't matter, they can be discussed privately with family and friends, we are all aware of them. It's the ideas that matter. The hints and tips we can give that may not have been thought about by others.
Personaly I like this thread and would hate to see it shut down because someone gets nippy about things.
Please,
We need to stick together and support each other, not bite heads off, or have huffy fits.

I wasn’t intending to be snippy, though I see it may have been. To @RonW ’s credit it wasn’t him who started us down the political discussion route.

And @TeeDee ‘s initial post was clearly the result of replying to an older post out of context and I fully agree with his latter post about ‘Keep off the Grass’ signs!

Amazing what posting reductive and inflammatory images from Facebook can do to a conversation. Thank heavens this forum is mostly a refuge from all that

Perhaps I’m just grumpy today. Agreed though, doesn’t need the topic further derailing so I’ll go and grumble at the garden.

 

[RonW]

Ok, let's turn away from politics and tackle another, perhaps most important, issue of prepping; community building.
One thing I, as an immigrant, am facing is the lack of social cohesion and/or acceptance. It is not just being a migrant, but also holding views that many in my hostcountry see as outdated or even offensive.
I know every western country faces its issues with that (yes, I know; politics), but how to mitigate that? How do you build community when cultures are incompatible or even hostile?

 

[Woody girl]

I wasn’t intending to be snippy, though I see it may have been. To @RonW ’s credit it wasn’t him who started us down the political discussion route.

And @TeeDee ‘s initial post was clearly the result of replying to an older post out of context and I fully agree with his latter post about ‘Keep off the Grass’ signs!

Amazing what posting reductive and inflammatory images from Facebook can do to a conversation. Thank heavens this forum is mostly a refuge from all that

Perhaps I’m just grumpy today. Agreed though, doesn’t need the topic further derailing so I’ll go and grumble at the garden.

I'll forgive you.
Have a cuppa and watch the birdies in the garden. Chill out, and enjoy a bit of nature. Best cure going!
I've just planted my peas and dwarf French beans this afternoon. Prepped the hanging baskets for planting baby tomatoes and begun to make my terracotta cooler.
Keeping busy and being productive.
Times are getting worrying, and there is a tension in the air we have to be mindful of, and do our best not to inflame the situation with grumpiness or fear.
Now my back is killing me again after all that shopping and gardening, so , an easy salad meal, and early to bed.
Tomorrow is another day, and I'm hoping the co op gets a delivery very soon. Shelves are still empty apparently, tho I havnt been down for two days, so just relying on hearsay. Its been a week now. So I'm glad I've got more than 3 days worth of food in the house!

 

[Philip Sheldrake]

Fearmongering, or paying attention to the science?

 

[Chris]

Ok, let's turn away from politics and tackle another, perhaps most important, issue of prepping; community building.
One thing I, as an immigrant, am facing is the lack of social cohesion and/or acceptance. It is not just being a migrant, but also holding views that many in my hostcountry see as outdated or even offensive.
I know every western country faces its issues with that (yes, I know; politics), but how to mitigate that? How do you build community when cultures are incompatible or even hostile?

If it helps at all, I was born here and I find myself completely politically homeless.

What I find helps me is to remember that people in my community mostly all have similar desires and the same human needs and emotions. Most of us want to look after ourselves and our loved ones, have a roof over our heads, have a sense of purpose and to have enough money or resources to be able to do the things that make us happy.

I don’t think we have evolved as quickly as the world demands of us. How can we possibly have a full understanding or even an opinion on half of the stuff going on around the world? We can’t. Those who claim to have an answer to it all are lying.

Humans evolved in smaller communities. We had tens of thousands of years of it, and only in the last maybe 200 years have global affairs been foisted upon us, nowhere near long enough for us to meaningly evolve to accommodate it.

What can we actually do? We can contribute to our immediate community. We can be good and honest people to those we interact with daily. We can look out for out neighbours, and not leave litter on the ground next to a bin because it isn’t our problem. We can go and pick it up and put it in the bin and in doing so we’ve made our community that bit stronger.

If someone’s values don’t impact you, leave them be. Do not tolerate the intolerant, those who would try to force their values upon the collective values of your community.

We can build communities by realising that 99% of the stuff we hear in the news and on social media is deliberately designed to make you angry at someone else in your community so that you don’t notice how much has been stolen from you by the real enemy.

If you go somewhere like the Bush Moot you really see what community is. People of all backgrounds and persuasions coming together, respecting each other and sharing skills and knowledge.

(Ok genuinely going to the garden with a beer now. )

 

[Woody girl]

Ok, let's turn away from politics and tackle another, perhaps most important, issue of prepping; community building.
One thing I, as an immigrant, am facing is the lack of social cohesion and/or acceptance. It is not just being a migrant, but also holding views that many in my hostcountry see as outdated or even offensive.
I know every western country faces its issues with that (yes, I know; politics), but how to mitigate that? How do you build community when cultures are incompatible or even hostile?

I guess that depends on what ethnicity you are, and how long you have been here.
Personaly I have several naturalised black south African friends, so it's not a problem for me....unless they were to start waving certain flags and threatening young girls having come into the country illegally. If they are legally working, or studying and attempting to integrate into society. Not a problem.
But then, sadly, that is a politically slanted question due to certain events.
A hard question. Dare say you're fine here, but wider society can be brutal to those who are different, and, contrary to belief, it has always been so. Even the Irish had a hard time once.
Even I, white, British, etc, have suffered prejudice, as I rode a big motorbike, so must be a hells angel, or some sort of degenerate !(I was a motorcycle riding instructor and ran my own school for 10 yrs!
I've been refused service in pubs while on the bike, but next day, dressed to the nines in a dress, make up etc, been served perfectly happily.
It's an odd world.

 

[Woody girl]

Small amounts of basic supplies getting through now to the co op.
Bread, milk, a few veg and some fruit. Tinned beans and soup...no cheap ones mind, only the expensive varieties.
Fish and meat are minimal, sausages and salmon fillets..again max price varieties.
They sure know how to maximise profit from a disaster!
I'm not playing though, max spend today, 65p for yellow sticker mushrooms, and £1.00 for yellow sticker g/f pizza, which I've never bought before, and won't be again! It was awful!!!! Glad I didn't pay full price. Sadly the bin had more of it than I did.
Mushrooms are for the dehydrator, to add to my store of dried foods.
Small power cut today, only 10 mins, so not a big deal. No idea why.
Plymouth, Barnstaple, and Exeter have all had big power outages in the last 7 days.
It's ramping up, Very slowly. Reminds me of the frog in the pan, being slowly brought to the boil.

 

[oldtimer]

It's just a reminder of everyday life eighty years ago.

 

[slowworm]

With all this dry weather and not being on mains water I've taken the opportunity to stock up 100l of bottled water just in case, and before too many drought stories empty the shelves.

I'm also trying to keep all our water butts topped up whilst mulling the idea of extra storage in the shape of a wildlife/swimming pond...

 

[Falstaff]

With all this dry weather and not being on mains water I've taken the opportunity to stock up 100l of bottled water just in case, and before too many drought stories empty the shelves.

I'm also trying to keep all our water butts topped up whilst mulling the idea of extra storage in the shape of a wildlife/swimming pond...

Apparently you might need planning permission for a large pond/swimming pond. As always it depends upon the area and council politics.
If you dig one out you need to have a plan for what to do with the spoil. There'll be a lot of it, and probably not of much quality for agricultural use.

 

[Pattree]

Long ago we dug a pond to collect irrigation water at Caerleon golf course.

The council owned the land but the Water Board still placed a water rate on the pond.

It irked because the pond was only about 50M from the River Usk. If we hadn’t collected water it would have gone into the salt water river and be unusable.

We paid.

Farms just down the road from here have dug reservoirs and piled the soil around the edge to form a high bank - but the reservoirs are lined = pricy..

 

[slowworm]

Apparently you might need planning permission for a large pond/swimming pond. As always it depends upon the area and council politics.
If you dig one out you need to have a plan for what to do with the spoil. There'll be a lot of it, and probably not of much quality for agricultural use.

Having recently done all the plans and forms for a couple of small planning apps I'm familiar with the vagaries of planning and frequently the pointlessness of it in many situations like ours.

It is something I will bare in mind of course and funnily enough the main comment on both our plans was the idea we should collect rain water (we do anyway) so I'll take the approach that I'm doing what has been asked!

I'm also aware these days of the constant aerial scanning of peoples properties so the pond will blend in. It will anyway as it'll be water storage pond that will be aimed mostly at wildlife.

Spoil wise, we have several acres and can use as much spoil as we can get. I've mostly added hedgebanks in the fields, loved by plenty of critters.

 

[Woody girl]

Hearing parts of Spain are offline with no phone service either.
Bristol has also had a big power outage, and another cyber attack on a food distributor for major supermarkets.
I've been offline for almost a week as I used too much data, not a big deal for me, but missed checking in here.
Been on another visit to the Range, and topped up on certain supplies I still can't get localy.
Also bought another 10 litre water container with a tap, and a new solar shower bag. My old one has several patches, and a slow leak, so needed renewing.
Moved my small water butt to outside the back door to collect washing up water, without having to cart it up the garden.
Water preps are now sorted.
Also a small chalk board to be able to write down, and
see at a glance what needs doing. I'm always loosing my notebook.! And it can he used indefinitely, as long as I can find chalk.
The sand for the terracotta cooler has been bought, so that's the next project.
New Solar lights also picked up, and now charging in the garden.
Two large jars of mayonnaise bought from tesco, still no mayo in town. Can't have egg mayo, tuna mayo or home made coleslaw without mayo!
Hanging basket tomatoes are another project for tomorrow, as is a new herb garden area, I feel herbs do much better in the ground rather than pots, so there is to be a rockery style herb garden. Spent a small fortune buying new herbs in a specialist nursery, to get the best plants to start again with.
I have my eyes on some large rocks around and about, just need to collect them.
Still trying to find the perfect buckets for my off grid washing machine. Meanwhile using a tin bath for bigger stuff. It works, but its had work carting the water, but the washboard works well, especially for grass stained knees on jeans.
(Thank goodness I was once in a folk band! )
I'm realy just tweaking stuff now to make things easier for myself..come the inevitable.

 

[bearbait]

Preparing for self-reliance for when some sort of catastrophe hits is definitely becoming a little more widely discussed. This one an article from the Grauniad yesterday:

‘People were buying crossbows faster than I’d like’ – how prepping went mainstream in Britain

Once, getting ready for the apocalypse was for the paranoid. Now, in the face of cyber-attacks, climate breakdown and nuclear threats, the UK government recommends it. Should everyone have a survival kit?

www.theguardian.com