Preparing for troubled times ahead - Advice on what is needed.....
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A stockpile of essential food is high on my list.
I will start to use my illegal E scooter more to save using my car when I can. This is work related. I have already had a ride to Toolstation in a police car……
I have been exploring the proper cycle routes in town but these are bizzar and abruptly end forcing users out into traffic.
There is noticeably less traffic on some roads as folk fill their tanks and gulp at the cost.
My heating bill is going up by £650 PA, an increase of £54 pcm so if I can save £13 a week I will manage to stand still, hence the E scooter use which costs pennies to charge. A backpack for my basic ‘fix-it’ tools and I’m away.
I have a good and productive veggie garden so lets hope there are no late frosts.
So top of my list is personal ‘E’ transport and pressure on the authorities to make their minds up in allowing owners to register, train and be able to insure them. Particularly where they are not available for hire.
I can’t ride a push-bike as my titanium knee-joint will not allow my leg to bend enough to pedal!
S
I will start to use my illegal E scooter more to save using my car when I can. This is work related. I have already had a ride to Toolstation in a police car……
I have been exploring the proper cycle routes in town but these are bizzar and abruptly end forcing users out into traffic.
There is noticeably less traffic on some roads as folk fill their tanks and gulp at the cost.
My heating bill is going up by £650 PA, an increase of £54 pcm so if I can save £13 a week I will manage to stand still, hence the E scooter use which costs pennies to charge.
A backpack for my basic ‘fix-it’ tools and I’m away.I have a good and productive veggie garden so lets hope there are no late frosts.
So top of my list is personal ‘E’ transport and pressure on the authorities to make their minds up in allowing owners to register, train and be able to insure them. Particularly where they are not available for hire.
I can’t ride a push-bike as my titanium knee-joint will not allow my leg to bend enough to pedal!
S
Now lets see:
Sako TRG in 338 Lapua mag
Lates FIN AK47 variant
Some 9mm self loading
Enough ammo.
Visible light bins/night vision, microbolometer IR.
Leka's variant of camo and under and between layers.
BW gloves. French balaclava. Haix mil boots or felt lined rubber.
A small gas burner and spirit burner/spirit gel burner. Whatever military cooking set happens to be at hand.
Food, anything edible goes, can't be very picky.
Sako TRG in 338 Lapua mag
Lates FIN AK47 variant
Some 9mm self loading
Enough ammo.
Visible light bins/night vision, microbolometer IR.
Leka's variant of camo and under and between layers.
BW gloves. French balaclava. Haix mil boots or felt lined rubber.
A small gas burner and spirit burner/spirit gel burner. Whatever military cooking set happens to be at hand.
Food, anything edible goes, can't be very picky.
Full out shortages and high costs of everything, and /or possible over spill in relation to the current conflict in the east / Russia etc
In which case, if you don't have it already, it will become very difficult to procure in the short term.
May be best to do an inventory of what you have already and look at becoming very frugal with what you have vs what you use. For example, cut back on the use of expensive or hard to find things and be more inventive in the use of other things.
I already have a freezer full of nutrient and calorie dense food, dry stored foods, water and fuel. I have a generator in the garage.
If you don't have ways to procure food from the environment I'd maybe look at fixing that. Fishing rods and Gill nets, air rifles or FAC rifles and ammo.... if you don't have an open fire or wood burning stove in your house, build a fire pit in the garden and stock the wood.
In the event of war, forget it. If you're not prepared or trained to fight a professional armed invasion, you're only gonna get in the way and likely get yourself and anyone around you killed very quickly......
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My advice for anyone wanting to be more self sufficient is straightforward.
Go to your fusebox and switch it off ( leave your freezer on but tape it shut). Turn off anything using mains gas. Turn off your water at the stopcock. Don't eat anything that you didn't grow or procure / preserve yourself. See how you get on for 24 hours. Your priorities will present themselves to you. We love trying to live self reliantly but it's a journey, not a destination. If you have a woodburning stove ..great. Do you have wood that you felled yourself? Do you have the ability to maintain your saws and axes? Can you make replacements? Can you mine the ore to make replacements? Nobody is truly self sufficient, but it's easy to become more self reliant. It's something to do because it's interesting and the knowledge is fun to acquire rather than out of worry imo.
Go to your fusebox and switch it off ( leave your freezer on but tape it shut). Turn off anything using mains gas. Turn off your water at the stopcock. Don't eat anything that you didn't grow or procure / preserve yourself. See how you get on for 24 hours. Your priorities will present themselves to you. We love trying to live self reliantly but it's a journey, not a destination. If you have a woodburning stove ..great. Do you have wood that you felled yourself? Do you have the ability to maintain your saws and axes? Can you make replacements? Can you mine the ore to make replacements? Nobody is truly self sufficient, but it's easy to become more self reliant. It's something to do because it's interesting and the knowledge is fun to acquire rather than out of worry imo.
I understand the sentiment but;
At the moment I don't have much anything self grown stocked, on the other hand:
- I have a working well
- I have quite a lot of self felled wood
- I have a wood burning stove and wood central heating
- I can maintain my sharps but not make new saw blades
- I have iron ore about half a meter deep in a bog 100 m from the house
- I have not tried to make that into iron but I know the procedure and have seen it done, it is on the "to do"-list
- I have a lake 400 m away that has a lot of fish to be netted
- In an emergency I can shoot a deer or elk
It is really not that difficult and 100 years ago that was everyday life in some parts of the country (not in Helsinki
) but it is a lot of hard work and of course the basic knowledge. I really would not like to go to pre-industrial level of technology but I am somewhat confident that I would manage for a while but the reality is that not for very long.
I have lived from a hammock for more than a week many many times in temperatures from -10C to +30C, so i guess a week without power and water in my own home would be no problem. I have a river nearby and a waterfilter so shelter and water are taken care of....
The only problem are other people i need to deal with.....
The only problem are other people i need to deal with.....
It's all a matter of degrees I suppose and above all, time. We live a very self reliant life, growing and preserving our food, cooking and heating on wood we fell and season, making things like soap etc.I understand the sentiment but;
At the moment I don't have much anything self grown stocked, on the other hand:
- I have a working well
- I have quite a lot of self felled wood
- I have a wood burning stove and wood central heating
- I can maintain my sharps but not make new saw blades
- I have iron ore about half a meter deep in a bog 100 m from the house
- I have not tried to make that into iron but I know the procedure and have seen it done, it is on the "to do"-list
- I have a lake 400 m away that has a lot of fish to be netted
- In an emergency I can shoot a deer or elk
It is really not that difficult and 100 years ago that was everyday life in some parts of the country (not in Helsinki
But, we cheat. We do use freezers that run on mains electricity ( we pressure can, dry cure, clamp, dehydrate, pickle etc. too, but it takes time). We use chainsaws for a lot of saw work ( we have crosscut saws but hand sawing takes time). We use a washing machine. We have wash dollies, mangle, washboards etc. , but washing bedding, by hand, in Winter, with hand made soap on water heated on the wood stove is BRUTAL. The washing machine is truly a game changer. In a world where we had none of these aids, exhaustion, dirt and disease would, in my view, account for as many people as hunger and cold.
Definitely and proud of it too.
But many years ago I did almost all of the sawing by hand, I know quite well what it is, that was when a bit younger.
Ah, the clever Finns invented "muuripata" that is a vessel of about 100l volume heated by wood, very efficiently too. Warm water is no problem. I have two of those. And a 10l kettle on the stove gives you that much hot water while you makin the daily dinner. Actually my (wood) central heating also produces hot water but that does require electricity for the pumps. I get space heating without pumps, not quite for the coldest winter.
Oh we have wash coppers to heat water too ( although I like your design more), but again it's time, time to heat water ( 100l takes ages in my experience, particularly when cold from the well), time to hand scrub clothes, wring them, rinse them, mangle them, etc. It can all be done, but it's exhausting drudge without some modern aidsDefinitely and proud of it too.
But many years ago I did almost all of the sawing by hand, I know quite well what it is, that was when a bit younger.
Ah, the clever Finns invented "muuripata" that is a vessel of about 100l volume heated by wood, very efficiently too. Warm water is no problem. I have two of those. And a 10l kettle on the stove gives you that much hot water while you makin the daily dinner. Actually my (wood) central heating also produces hot water but that does require electricity for the pumps. I get space heating without pumps, not quite for the coldest winter.
Take out cash, to cover in the event card transactions are hit by cyber attacks.
Make hard copies of documents or details you might have otherwise relied upon accessing online.
Get stock of something to light your home in the event of black outs.
Make hard copies of documents or details you might have otherwise relied upon accessing online.
Get stock of something to light your home in the event of black outs.
Lots more self ego stroking in this thread than is probably useful to the OP request for advice.
I think Chris advice is spot on and the advice to take stock and think more about what you DO have rather than what you DON'T.
As a few here have commented upon -self sufficiency is almost an impossible utopian holy grail.
Trying to compare living in more sparsely populate rural wild game rich areas of Mainland Europe to population dense Middle England isn't going to work.
Focus on what you have and the best way to safely mitigate your concerns over the next few months. Not years.
I think Chris advice is spot on and the advice to take stock and think more about what you DO have rather than what you DON'T.
As a few here have commented upon -self sufficiency is almost an impossible utopian holy grail.
Trying to compare living in more sparsely populate rural wild game rich areas of Mainland Europe to population dense Middle England isn't going to work.
Focus on what you have and the best way to safely mitigate your concerns over the next few months. Not years.
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Hmmm... in the summer about 45 min, in the winter an hour. Starting from snow it does take ages, I rather make a hole in the ice.
The sensible advice is easy, food for two weeks and some cash and fuel if one has a place to go. Depending on where one lives some thought for no electricity or heat. Get together your outdoor clothes and sleeping gear. There is not all that much more one can do when expecting the unknown.
Speculating is much more fun.
There is no harm in dreaming of getting an allotment. The demand for allotments has outstripped supply in the last two decades With more time on our hands and so much better living conditions growing something that one can eat is always a bonus.
Barter works.
Not everyone can buy a smallholding either I agree but there is no harm in dreaming. Sometimes it becomes reality. Truly!
I am learning about town life and how houses and streets form community and the spirit that prevails in certain situations where folk who live close together rally round one another. ‘Community spirit’ is a well known phrase. I have experienced so much kindness and support from the community that I work around!
Yes the next few months are going to be an eye opener but we are heading towards spring time and warmer weather not November and in for a Beast from the East type of winter ahead. And your flat hasn’t got cockroaches or worse still bed bugs
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Today is a great drying day. Get it outside and on a line. Here in East Anglia it is bright sunshine with a good breeze and things are drying nicely.
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As times may well be financially difficult I am chopping and burning old fence posts and rails for the first time in my life.
One armful per evening keeps the temperature gage at or near 20 degrees with last night being as low as -4 degrees outside.
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One armful per evening keeps the temperature gage at or near 20 degrees with last night being as low as -4 degrees outside.
S
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