What Preps are you doing this week? Part 8.

[GillyBee]

Vertical Veg has a very detailed guide which may help with ideas.
https://verticalveg.org.uk/what-you-can ... dy-spaces/

[diamond lil]

Great help, ty. I know Scottish rasps can grow without sun and if I had the room I'd grow some. But green leaves and herbs will do nicely

[peejay]

Spent the day doing an ATV/Quad bike training course as part of the local Woodfuel group volunteering so that had some useful knowledge & I got my cert. Shame I then got an email tonight saying they've had to cancel all sessions for January though it Iwas expected. First aid is next course, waiting for a date but will no doubt be delayed a while now.

[Arzosah]

Both of my swanky new fences, partway of both sides of the garden, are done! They did one each day, amazing. Both the existing fences collapsed without a fight, my god they were ready to be gone The garden looks like a mud bath, I'm so glad I never bothered doing anything to move forward with the raised beds. Now, I have lots of material to be used, partly for the raised beds, and partly to reinforce the border where the biggest new fence has gone. The land slopes slightly towards that side - it's only a foot or so, but imagine your soil drifting to next door's, and you'll see my problem

So these are my materials, and my solutions:
- 3' lengths of concrete, that used to anchor some fenceposts - probably be laid on their side as a "retaining wall" for the soil. It should also help isolate the posts from the soil.
- maybe 8 fence posts, need to be cut down by a foot or so to get rid of the rot - I'll see if a bed wall needs a double layer (in width - it will definitely need at least two in height) 8 may not go very far at all!
- assorted *big* *thick* chunks of wood I've scavenged with permission.
- the old decking at the far end of the garden. It's rotten. It has unknown groundcover and raspberry shoots growing through it, and it hides an enormous ants' nest. It needs to go, half of it has actually rotted away already. What I'm thinking is actually salvaging the rotted wood to sort of make an edging between the beds and the new fence, so that weeds can be seen and dealt with really quickly. I have ordinary bark chippings for the garden itself.

[jansman]

Both of my swanky new fences, partway of both sides of the garden, are done! They did one each day, amazing. Both the existing fences collapsed without a fight, my god they were ready to be gone The garden looks like a mud bath, I'm so glad I never bothered doing anything to move forward with the raised beds. Now, I have lots of material to be used, partly for the raised beds, and partly to reinforce the border where the biggest new fence has gone. The land slopes slightly towards that side - it's only a foot or so, but imagine your soil drifting to next door's, and you'll see my problem

So these are my materials, and my solutions:
- 3' lengths of concrete, that used to anchor some fenceposts - probably be laid on their side as a "retaining wall" for the soil. It should also help isolate the posts from the soil.
- maybe 8 fence posts, need to be cut down by a foot or so to get rid of the rot - I'll see if a bed wall needs a double layer (in width - it will definitely need at least two in height) 8 may not go very far at all!
- assorted *big* *thick* chunks of wood I've scavenged with permission.
- the old decking at the far end of the garden. It's rotten. It has unknown groundcover and raspberry shoots growing through it, and it hides an enormous ants' nest. It needs to go, half of it has actually rotted away already. What I'm thinking is actually salvaging the rotted wood to sort of make an edging between the beds and the new fence, so that weeds can be seen and dealt with really quickly. I have ordinary bark chippings for the garden itself.

That’s what I like; repurposed materials. I think you are on the right lines there Arzosah.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Well it's blooming cold here in East Yorkshire with the lovely weather girl threatening a fair bit of snow / sleet tonight into tomorrow,

Glad I got the diesel heater for the workshop running a few times a day is keeping the frost / damp out (proved when I went into the play house where the semi ferral cat resides and it's water was frozen had the workshop frozen it's have killed a fair few tins of paint ) the cat is tucked up with a hot water bottle tonight under a pile of pillows it's got as a bed and a 8 hour candle lantern in there to help keep the frost off and just lift the ambient temperature


Cars fully kitted now for snow as is the wife's screen wash mix boosted tonight checked my car over at work in day light cleaned and reapplied rain X

Bring on the snow

[diamond lil]

Awh poor wee cat, I hope she isn't too cold. We had a big ginger tom living in our stick box for a few years, I loved him. He took care of the rat we had under the chicken coop then. He turned out to be tame and cuddly, not feral at all. An outdoor cat is very handy.

[Rob]

After reading lots of things on this site I decided to buy a food dehydrator. It arrives tomorrow, so this weekend will involve experiments with different food types.

I desperately want to stop eating chocolate, so I thought this might be a healthy snack.

Can any of you recommend uses for the machine which would help if shtf?

Cheers

[jennyjj01]

After reading lots of things on this site I decided to buy a food dehydrator. It arrives tomorrow, so this weekend will involve experiments with different food types.

I desperately want to stop eating chocolate, so I thought this might be a healthy snack.

Can any of you recommend uses for the machine which would help if shtf?

Cheers

Hi Rob,
My most prolific dehydration is of carrots and onions, followed by sliced mushrooms and tomatoes used in many meal options.
Buy veg in bulk while it's cheap and plentiful. Yellow label veg is fine to dehydrate.
Dried veg is easily good for storing for a year. Just rehydrate with a 30 minute soak in boiled water before using. I actually USE my dried scoff to rotate it into regular use.

Some users dehydrate soups or whole meals. If you do that, please report back your results.

Always blanch carrots for a couple of minutes before dehydrating.. Stops them going black.

Dehydrate onions in a place where the smell is acceptable, like a garage or shed. The smell can linger on the dehydrator.

Dehydrate 5mm slices of apples, oranges, bananas and bigger chunks of pineapple. These make brilliant substitutes for sweets. The flavour is massively concentrated and of course, they would last months if not so moreish. Rinse apple or pear slices in lemon juice first. It stops oxidation and doesn't impact the flavour. Oranges can be completely dehydrated, over 24 hours, or quick juice reduced in about 8 hours if you intend to eat them soon.

Use tupperware or jars, or vacuum seal in bags.

Other than that, there's lots of good hints and tips on this forum and on YouTube.

[Rob]

Thank for all the great feedback Jenny, I will definitely be trying some of your ideas. I didn't even think about the veg and how many options you can use them for!

Thanks.