Fill the sponge

[Jamdice]

Hi All,

More than likely the first member from Guernsey on the forum and hopefully I wont be the last. I certainly have at least one like minded colleague which I will certainly be showing the site so he will hopefully he will bring his knowledge and experience with him as he most certainly has more than me.

Watched a lot of programs and done a good amount of reading on the subject of Prepping however I have not yet begun setting my own wheels in motion.

That said, any suggestions where I should start?

Jamdice

[pseudonym]

Hello and welcome to the Forum.

Where to start?

What are you prepping for firstly, as that'll determine what you need to learn/buy/make, etc

Have a read of the Forum, to get a feel for what interests you.

I arrived here via Bushcrafting so my skills/minset cover that aspect.

HTH

[Yorkshire Andy]

welcome....

and where to start..........

What are you preparing for exactly? As its no good preparing for everything as it will cost you a fortune and just get silly...


start with some basics....

Water (stores of)
Food (long life food that you can rotate in with your weekly shop Buy what you eat , eat what you store)

some way of sterilising water and a backup way cooking food and some form of safe emergency lighting (led lanterns for example) .....

you can then look into additional shelters incase your house is out of action (eg house fire)


and take it from there,,

the above should allow you to "survive" short / medium term crisis such as bad weather like been snowed in, or in the event of unemployment and unable to afford a full weekly shop....... or the town centre flooding the local supermarket or a big power cut....

[Jamdice]

Thanks for the very quick responses

Like I said I'm a bit of a sponge and I like to know at least the bare minimum of pretty much everything. Bushcraft certainly is a big interest to me but unfortunately due to the size of our largest 'forest' being not much more than 4 football pitches and a very popular nature reserve and dog walkers favourite it is also a war time memorial tourist attraction so its very often a hive of activity.

I recently purchased an area of land which was adjacent to my garden so it does give me double the room I had before. I would like to keep chickens here as they are such a good and reliable means of food whether in an emergency or not. My ultimate aim would be to be completely self sufficient in the long run.

I'm going to continue to read through the forum and educate myself a bit more and to get a better idea what exactly it is I would like to 'specialise' in and get back to you again soon.

Jamdice

[tigs]

welcome to the forum

[nickdutch]

Get a small supply of tesco value tinned foods for a short (or long) period of time, learn how to make olive oil lamps, stock up on batteries from the pound shops for the LED lanterns. Oh, yes, and also get LED lanterns from the poundshop. Think about those portable briefcase stoves, alcohol stoves and a supply of fuel for them as well as looking into stoves and water heating tools that don't require purchasable fuel (like wood stoves and kelly kettles). Get a basic first aid kit and add bits to it bit by bit. Think about smoke alarms (says he remembering that he hasn't got any yet!), carbon monoxide alarms, some basic fire protection and add to that bit by bit.

Have stuff that you could use to start a fire, think about learning to shoot a slingshot (which is great fun even for people like me who haven't killed anything with one yet!) and a slingbow.

its a journey more than a destination.

[Jamdice]

Think about smoke alarms (says he remembering that he hasn't got any yet!), carbon monoxide alarms, some basic fire protection and add to that bit by bit.

This did tickle me somewhat as I'm a firefighter 'by trade' so I would be a tad disappointed in myself for not having these things already I'm very thorough when it comes to doing things like this as I see that if something is worth doing its worth overdoing and doing properly. Its very good to have all these tips and advice offered up and it is certainly being taken on board.

- I have a piston 3 air rifles kept in good serviceable condition (beneficial habbit to have that comes with being a firefighter) with only 1 of them requiring a scope
- Fishing equipment is in good supply as my sister fiancee owns a fishing shop (would be daft not to have at least something like that stocked living on an island)
- Only 1 multi-tool so far which I would like to have back up for sooner rather than later
- I have a 16' Loftus Bennett boat which I can launch within 4-5 minutes from house to the slip as it is on a trailer permanently (for sale from pressure from 'the boss' but I hope to sweet talk her round to keeping it)
- Doubled my garden size a couple of months back now so a veg patch is planted and well under way
- Chickens with the remaining space in the additional patch by the end of summer with any luck
- Handheld VHF which is mainly for the boats social use but could always come in handy
- Substantial first aid training which I would like to add a good few extra 'bush' skills to as I'm only really prepared for something I can use pharmaceutical products on as opposed to improvised solutions
- Guy from my work has a compound box which I'm trying to lever from his grasp with a cheeky price offering as it doesn't get any use now his phase is over

Thinking about it now I'm more prepared than I first thought which most certainly is a nice feeling. Can never be too prepared though can we so the slog shall continue along with my own quest for further knowledge and practical skills.

Jamdice

[nickdutch]

All I know is that I am more prepared than I used to be and I have a long way to go and many more things to get my hands on. Time energy and money constraints abound.
But one step at a time things will be sorted and I will be ok if things get tight

[Arzosah]

Welcome jamdice - how lovely to think you're more prepared than you realise, once you started listing it all after nick's feedback Reading the forum is your best bet to find out areas that people prep for and that you haven't touched yet, but look forward to your joining in and sharing what the new learning is like.