Preparing for troubled times ahead - Advice on what is needed.....
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The ring of led lights meant for parasol poles work as a really decent table lamp if put on top of a candlestick. I have solar powered ones that will happily run for six hours. Good enough light to read with, to sew under, etc.,
Last power cut I put one in the middle of the kitchen table and we all just sat around that reading, sewing, on laptop, etc., until bed time.
Solar powered lights can be easily changed out with ordinary batteries if they're running low if you still need light when they fade.
Caravan owners often have a solar panel that they set up in a window. Even on pretty overcast days that small panel easily charges AA batteries, phones, etc.,
I fancy one of the flexible sheet type ones, just in case
Last power cut I put one in the middle of the kitchen table and we all just sat around that reading, sewing, on laptop, etc., until bed time.
Solar powered lights can be easily changed out with ordinary batteries if they're running low if you still need light when they fade.
Caravan owners often have a solar panel that they set up in a window. Even on pretty overcast days that small panel easily charges AA batteries, phones, etc.,
I fancy one of the flexible sheet type ones, just in case
"Not that long ago" is interesting. Our cottage only got mains electricity within lifetime. The neighbour we take eggs to used to plough our land. With shire horses. So much that is taken for granted now has only been around for a very short time. Of course much is a massive advance and not everything is environmentally destructive, but I agree that a rebalance is inevitable. The idea that the books will be balanced by "growth" is just a pyramid scheme.
Hard assets are a good idea, though its not yet too late . I'm still putting hard assets in where I can.
Money in the bank isn't much good if you can't access it cos the atm is down.
Whereas seeds compost, and tools, water containers and filters, lighting and skills which might be hard to buy once things go whoopsie, if you have them you are sitting pretty.
A week before we had the big blow, I kitted out all my friends with a gas stove and torches, and all they had to do was get gas for the stove and batteries which all but one did.
After the storm, she told me she couldn't afford them as she had just bought a massive tv and had no money., and complained about being cold and hungry.
I asked her how her unusable TV had helped her out in the blackout , with keeping her warm and fed with some light. She had been told after all. She had to agree she had been foolish, and now has a working torch, (no spare batteries)and one can of gas. She thinks she has done enough now.
Sigh. Horse, water, drink!.
I've just added a fire blanket and extinguisher , 2 tinned carrots , Mung beans and a tin of pineapple yesterday. Not a great amount, but it all helps.
Friday was one more pack of rechargeable batteries and a tin of 22 pellets.
Nails screws wood and chicken wire on Monday.
Just keep going as much as you can do each week, but have a to do list, and get the most important items first, whether that means a water filter, fuel, solar recharger, food, or tools and seeds for a garden.
Have a power out weekend, where you switch the mains and water off. Write down what doesn't go well and make those solutions your priority, go from there.
Do you need other entertainments for the kids, or yourself. Books, art supplies, educational construction kits.(try the stuff from the centre for alternative technology in wales) wool and sewing stuff small craft kits etc to make things with.
A simple bag of plaster of Paris would keep my kids happy in the woods making plaster casts of animal tracks. Simple stuff realy.
It can seem overwhelming if we try to keep the same lifestyle as we have now.
Simplify, simplify, simplify
. You'll wonder how you ever lived like you did before the square box went silent!
I fancy one of the flexible sheet type ones, just in case
That's exactly what I've fitted to the shepherd's hut - it follows the curve of the roof. That feeds a large leisure battery that will charge phones and keep the LED lights going for weeks if we wanted. The lights are on a dimmer so we can do 'subtle' if we want to and we still have the choice of oil lamps.
Fitting out the hut has rekindled my interest in small off grid - with the wood burner we can cook on and the solar 12v power we could survive quiet well down there
Depends on your level of pessimism and what you are trying to do. Many here would view solar panels, insulation, a wood stove, tools and rechargeable battery banks as assets. Others, in other places, might think of stocking up on beans and bullets, and some might be thinking about concrete, lead and NBC gear.
Personally I have wished that I had taken enough brave pills to put money into land or property. Gold is the classic refuge, commodities tend to go up in value. These assume that the world isn't ending, just that one is in a long period of high inflation and high energy prices.
In financial terms they say an asset is something that generates positive cash flow, which is what one wants. I suppose it could also be argued that something that prevents negative cash flow is also an asset, which comes back to insulation and wood stoves. If everyone starts trying to do the same thing it gets expensive, like everyone doing DIY during lockdown 1.
This thread has shown some very interesting comments, the inevitable was always going to be inflation and increasing cost of living.....that I saw 10 years ago, it has just really increased pace now.
But the 'dig for Britain', so to speak was really pushed thanks to covid, where it was difficult to get food (well it was for us), and the dependancy in which we rely upon others to provide us with food and tools, etc......which really opened my eyes, the taking things for granted.
Since covid (and while still full time employed), I have emptied a barn of three generations of rubbish, created a garden from a spoil heap, physically ripping tons (estimated to be at least 15 tons) of rubble, tile, metal, concrete, wood, electrical wire, glass and roofing materials by hand, leaving relatively clean soil behind.
Built raised beds (I still need to finish these), planted 70 fruit trees, nut trees, bushes, and retaken nettle infested ground to grass again for my young children......but now, I am questioning why do we all have to start from scratch, everytime and every generation of family? I will be directly signing everything over to them, to break this mad cycle....if we are still here and there is something to hand over, as we are at 9m above sea level!
But the 'dig for Britain', so to speak was really pushed thanks to covid, where it was difficult to get food (well it was for us), and the dependancy in which we rely upon others to provide us with food and tools, etc......which really opened my eyes, the taking things for granted.
Since covid (and while still full time employed), I have emptied a barn of three generations of rubbish, created a garden from a spoil heap, physically ripping tons (estimated to be at least 15 tons) of rubble, tile, metal, concrete, wood, electrical wire, glass and roofing materials by hand, leaving relatively clean soil behind.
Built raised beds (I still need to finish these), planted 70 fruit trees, nut trees, bushes, and retaken nettle infested ground to grass again for my young children......but now, I am questioning why do we all have to start from scratch, everytime and every generation of family? I will be directly signing everything over to them, to break this mad cycle....if we are still here and there is something to hand over, as we are at 9m above sea level!
I think that we are still awaiting the inflationary 'hit' that could be traced back to the GFC of 2008 and artificially created low interest rates skewing everything from that point onwards - with all the Q.E that occurred at that time and keeping the Interest rates so submerged we have created a longer problem down the road.
Covid created more of the same responses and has added fuel to the fire in many way yet we have yet to really feel it yet as Inflation lags behind the reality somewhat.
If the War in Europe remains unresolved it will be yet another 'reason' for bankers to do what they do best - create debt and control it further - and governments and their Central banks will feel less likely to call forth interest rate increases.
Just my opinion.
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More generally I've taken the attitude that if I might want/need something then I will buy it now because it'll likely be more expensive 6 months/a year/etc from now. Or putting it another way: inflation is devaluing our currency so it's better to stockpile useful assets than money. That doesn't mean down to the last penny, obviously and it doesn't mean stupid throwaway items either.
If I had a crystal ball when we bought this place I'd be rich now. We bought here because property and land were relatively cheap. It was cheap because it was too rural to commute to any centres of employment. Things ticked along for a few years & land prices increased. But the compulsory work from home in the lockdowns totally changed the game. Now rural properties weren't a bar to decent jobs and good salaries - that of course is driving prices much higher. A place with a nice house and a few acres is like hens teeth now and sells as soon as it's on the market.
There too many possible ways the modern society can go haywire to make a list that covers it all. I think a few points are fairly universal though:
- heat
- water
- food
How to ensure each depends on the situation and surroundings. Very different to a single house rural surroundings or apartment building in city area.
Financial prepping is more difficult and I have no experience on that.
Small scale electricity is so useful that anything pruducing enough for charging phones, radios, LED lights or any of various small gadgets makes life easier. Photovoltaics is easiest, also small wind generators can be bought as ready to put up. Both work best if connected to a proper size battery that provides some continuity.
For short times one can mostly fall back to camping and just use the gear most people here already have. Depends of course on a lot things but I think it would be a realistic scenario for most things. If Vlad and Joe start to present their canned suns nothing much can be done.
- heat
- water
- food
How to ensure each depends on the situation and surroundings. Very different to a single house rural surroundings or apartment building in city area.
Financial prepping is more difficult and I have no experience on that.
Small scale electricity is so useful that anything pruducing enough for charging phones, radios, LED lights or any of various small gadgets makes life easier. Photovoltaics is easiest, also small wind generators can be bought as ready to put up. Both work best if connected to a proper size battery that provides some continuity.
For short times one can mostly fall back to camping and just use the gear most people here already have. Depends of course on a lot things but I think it would be a realistic scenario for most things. If Vlad and Joe start to present their canned suns nothing much can be done.
I will be trying to make UCO type candles so if anyone could advise how to do it that would be very helpful! Silicone moulds?
Buying a solar panel look at the cost per watt, flexy ones are often the most expensive. And of course you won't get the stated output on any of them I wondered about a small turbine but would need planning. But if you built one that looked like a garden ornament would anyone come looking? Scoraig wind has a manual on building your own.
When we lived in a camper van for a while the 13kg calor propane bottle was only used for the gas hob, no oven. For two of us that reliably lasted six months as an example.
As long as someone can still buy an Iphone for a grand and kumquats in the supermarket, as well as post here, I don't think doing anything is too late. Nothing will most likely happen to most people.
Plenty of properly northern communities have no young people apart from incomers, crofts with a few sheep on to still milk the grants a bit but otherwise most don't use what they have much. Cheap old houses probably with a chimney, cheap land that someone once fed themselves from. Earning from a normal job may be difficult if not impossible, but plenty of people still earn enough if a bit of land is important to you. Buy a bit, plant the trees for shelter then the fruit, work on moving there at some point?
Buying a solar panel look at the cost per watt, flexy ones are often the most expensive. And of course you won't get the stated output on any of them
I wondered about a small turbine but would need planning. But if you built one that looked like a garden ornament would anyone come looking? Scoraig wind has a manual on building your own.When we lived in a camper van for a while the 13kg calor propane bottle was only used for the gas hob, no oven. For two of us that reliably lasted six months as an example.
As long as someone can still buy an Iphone for a grand and kumquats in the supermarket, as well as post here, I don't think doing anything is too late. Nothing will most likely happen to most people.
Plenty of properly northern communities have no young people apart from incomers, crofts with a few sheep on to still milk the grants a bit but otherwise most don't use what they have much. Cheap old houses probably with a chimney, cheap land that someone once fed themselves from. Earning from a normal job may be difficult if not impossible, but plenty of people still earn enough if a bit of land is important to you. Buy a bit, plant the trees for shelter then the fruit, work on moving there at some point?
The easiest wind turbine type to make is the Savonius. Cut steel drums in half, overlap them .25 dia and put the next set on top in 90 deg. The efficiency is not very high but it starts to turn at low wind speeds and has decent torque. It does require a an up gearing if something like car alternator is used as a generator. Apparently also not as deadly to birds as some of the fast horizontal axis ones.
I think the biggest threat to our way of life, ( and probably more so for those trying to live off the land ) is climate change.
Weather patterns are changing, earlier springs high winds and flooding, extended heatwaves. All of these are prone to destroying hard work put into gardens and crops.
Understanding the micro environment is often not taken into account either, that includes soil health, insects,- both pest and benificial, and companion planting.
Zoning is important too, even in a small garden. For instance,
One thing I've noticed is how many people stick a compost bin at the bottom of the garden, making a trip to it with food waste a real chore when it's wet , cold, and snowing, !
I can recommend taking a permaculture course, even if you don't yet have land or a garden. If you can't afford the money or time for that, just find the permaculture manual available to order online.
Weather patterns are changing, earlier springs high winds and flooding, extended heatwaves. All of these are prone to destroying hard work put into gardens and crops.
Understanding the micro environment is often not taken into account either, that includes soil health, insects,- both pest and benificial, and companion planting.
Zoning is important too, even in a small garden. For instance,
One thing I've noticed is how many people stick a compost bin at the bottom of the garden, making a trip to it with food waste a real chore when it's wet , cold, and snowing, !
I can recommend taking a permaculture course, even if you don't yet have land or a garden. If you can't afford the money or time for that, just find the permaculture manual available to order online.
Do the candles you make need to work in UCO lanterns or are you just looking for something roughly that size?
Interestingly I did my "end of Winter top up" on propane last week. Calor won't accept any online orders for cylinders now. Local suppliers will swap an empty cylinder for a full (identical) one but won't sell any extra ones or accept new customers. This has been worsening for a year now, but, for the first time, there's now a 3 to 4 week wait to have bulk tanks filled.
I've just sold my woodland in Sussex, it went in 5 days! Some bloke from London is going to dig a hole ( no building permission available) and live there 'off the land' he reckons. Having spoken to him I get the impression he thinks a Nightshade is found on a bedside lamp and Hogweed probably tastes of Bacon, but he's bought a book and watches YouTube, so that's ok.
Good luck to him, I give him 3 months max.
It's a hard row to hoe right enough. Even as country folk, trying to be self reliant has been incredibly tough - and that's with an income, helpful neighbours etc.
The most important thing any prepper* needs, and what just about all of them lack, is a sense of proportion and sanity.
*By 'prepper' I am not referring to those who live in remote locations and need a good level of resources due to where they live.
No.
I am referring to those paranoid and deluded ones who think the world is coming to an end at any minute. You know who you are.
*By 'prepper' I am not referring to those who live in remote locations and need a good level of resources due to where they live.
No.
I am referring to those paranoid and deluded ones who think the world is coming to an end at any minute. You know who you are.
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